UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

ONLINE MERCHANTS GUILD, ┐ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ │ > No. 20-5723 v. │ │ │ DANIEL J. CAMERON, in his official capacity as │ Attorney General of Kentucky, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Frankfort. No. 3:20-cv-00029—Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, District Judge.

Argued: March 10, 2021

Decided and Filed: April 29, 2021

Before: BATCHELDER, MOORE, and BUSH, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ARGUED: Matthew F. Kuhn, OFFICE OF THE KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellant. Aaron K. Block, THE BLOCK FIRM LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Matthew F. Kuhn, Brett R. Nolan, Victor B. Maddox, OFFICE OF THE KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellant. Aaron K. Block, THE BLOCK FIRM LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, Paul S. Rafelson, RAFELSON SCHICK, PLLC, Boca Raton, Florida, Mark A. Gilbert, DEATHERAGE, MYERS & LACKEY, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for Appellee. Sarah A. Hunger, OFFICE OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL, Chicago, Illinois, Christopher E. Ondeck, Jennifer E. Tarr, PROSKAUER ROSE LLP, Washington, D.C., Kelly Landers Hawthorne, Chantel L. Febus, PROSKAUER ROSE LLP, New York, New York, for Amici Curiae. No. 20-5723 Online Merchants Guild v. Cameron Page 2

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OPINION _________________

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some sought to capitalize on consumers’ fear and uncertainty by charging outrageous prices for hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, masks, and other cleaning and protective products. In response, the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Attorney General, Daniel J. Cameron, announced that his office would enforce the Commonwealth’s price-gouging laws against Kentucky businesses involved in such schemes. True to his word, the Attorney General opened civil price-gouging investigations into various Kentucky-based merchants, including at least one member of Plaintiff Online Merchants Guild (the “Guild”) that was selling goods to Kentuckians through Amazon’s online marketplace.

The Guild brought suit against Attorney General Cameron to challenge the constitutionality of Kentucky’s price-gouging laws as applied to sellers on Amazon, invoking, among other things, the extraterritoriality doctrine of the dormant commerce clause. Accepting that the Attorney General sought only to enforce the Commonwealth’s price-gouging laws against Kentucky-based sellers in connection with sales to Kentucky consumers through Amazon’s platform, the district court nevertheless granted the Guild’s motion for a preliminary injunction, concluding that enforcing the laws in connection with Amazon sales would have impermissible extraterritorial effects. Because we conclude that the Attorney General’s enforcement of Kentucky’s price-gouging laws in this fashion is unlikely to run afoul of the dormant commerce clause’s extraterritoriality doctrine, we VACATE the preliminary injunction and REMAND for further