CC Breadth and "Indirect" Limit

Question 1

CC has ___ limits on what Congress can do so maybe best for __

Answer 1

no real, branches to fight over

Question 2

Why do corporations want interstate commerce expanded defintion?

Answer 2

don’t want to deal with bunch of dif state laws

Question 3

Why do we need some limits on CC?

Answer 3

otherwise federalism no longer, fed not govt of limited powers

Question 4

CC one area where SCOTUS has taken a ___ and ___

Answer 4

hands off approach, bowed to popular will

Question 5

Originalist thinking about CC and N&P

Answer 5

important to understand notions of state govt at the time

Question 6

Courts want to let the federal govt ____ BUT don’t want Congress to have ____

Answer 6

“do good things”/be effective, general police power, undermine federalism

Question 7

Comstock shows that Courts often favor interest in ___ over ___

Answer 7

letting feds do right thing, preventing gen police power/state sovereignty

Question 8

1st broad category that Congress may regulate under CC

Answer 8

use of channels of interstate commerce (Darby, Heart of Atlanta motel)

Question 9

2nd broad category that Congress may regulate under CC

Answer 9

instrumentalities of interstate commerce even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities (Shreveport)

Question 10

3rd broad category that Congress may regulate under CC

Answer 10

activities having a substantial relation to interstate (jones)

Question 11

Raich held that CC ___

Answer 11

covers marijuana grown for personal use

Question 12

Lopez held that CC __

Answer 12

does not cover guns in schools

Question 13

Jones Court said that CC allows Congress to facilitate interstate commerce by ___

Answer 13

eliminating potential obstructions and restrict it by eliminating potential stimulants

Question 14

In Lopez and Morrison, the court rejected the argument that Congress may regulate ___

Answer 14

noneconomic activity based solely on the effect that it may have on interstate commerce through a remote chain of inferences

Question 15

Interstate Commerce used to be a question of doctrine but now because of ___ it is a one of _____ so ____

Answer 15

substantial effects standard, economics, defer to Congress

Question 16

Modern approach to CC is to ____

Answer 16

equate commerce and economics (meaning unstable however fixed it may look)

Question 17

Thomas concurrence in Lopez

Answer 17

substantial effect if taken to its logical extreme would give Congress police power over all aspects of American life

Question 18

Hamburger: If the Consti intended the CC to include anything with a substantial effect on interstate commerce, much of __

Answer 18

enumerated powers in 1,8 would be superfluous

Question 19

What’s at stake in CC (7)

Answer 19

avoiding concentration of power, localized self-govt, geographic diversity, competing sovereignties, protect for individual rights, negative liberty, policy experimentation

Question 20

Gonzales O’Connor dissent

Answer 20

enforce outer limits of CC authorityt to protect historic spheres of state sovereignty from fed encroachment

Question 21

Garcia, Powell dissent

Answer 21

fed civil servants may have little to no knowledge of States and localities affected by their rules, also not accessible to people living there

Question 22

Under Gonzalez, Congress can act to ___

Answer 22

make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper to regulate commerce

Question 23

The dilemma presented by N&P is that it can be construed to ___

Answer 23

permit almost anything or add nothing to other congressional powers but it does not seem to fit easily into any inbetween position

Question 24

McCulloch potential middle ground for N&P

Answer 24

does not license exercise of any “great substantive and independent powers” beyond what is specifically enumerated

Question 25

Prinz and Sebelius say that proper at least means that ___

Answer 25

NP clause not a justification to do something unconstitutional

Question 26

Hamburger opinion on "proper"

Answer 26

doesn't justify admin state since it cannot justify moving around powers

Question 27

Wickard facts

Answer 27

Under Act designed to mitigate grain glut, farmers allocated ceiling on wheat they could grow even for own uses

Question 28

Wickard holding

Answer 28

aggregation principle - can aggregate intrastate activity to discern if substantial effect (look at all homegrown wheat and not just one farmer?

Question 29

Question Wickard raises

Answer 29

what can't Congress regulate

Question 30

Wickard reasoning

Answer 30

well established that commerce includes power to regulat4e prices and practices affecting such prices

Question 31

Heart of Atlanta facts

Answer 31

Motel accessible by interstate highways, 75% patrons out of town, refusing to rent rooms to Black peopel after civil rights act

Question 32

Heart of Atlanta holding

Answer 32

Commerce includes power to regulate local incidents (including local activities) which might have substantial and harmful effect on that commerce

Question 33

H of A reasoning 1

Answer 33

determinative tests are whether commerce concerning more States than one + substantial relation to national interest

Question 34

H of A reasoning 2

Answer 34

discrimination impedes Black interstate travel

Question 35

Hamburger note on H of A

Answer 35

important not for CC but for Civil Rights reasons ,falls well within doctrine at time (business is instrumentality) and since medieva traditional power to regulate highways

Question 36

Lopez facts

Answer 36

federal offense to possess firearm in school zone

Question 37

Lopez holding

Answer 37

exceeds CC, not economic activity that might have substantial effect on interstate

Question 38

Lopez reasoning 1

Answer 38

regulating guns in schools doesn't fit into any of three categories

Question 39

Lopez reasoning 2

Answer 39

criminal statute nothing to do with commerce or economic enterprise

Question 40

Lopez reasoning 3

Answer 40

no Jdx element that would ensure through case by case inquiry that firearm in possession affects interstate

Question 41

Lopez reasoning 4

Answer 41

Government "cost of crime" argument is slippery slope, would give general police power

Question 42

Lopez note 1

Answer 42

interstate commerce not unlimited category (but don't describe limits well)

Question 43

Lopez note 2

Answer 43

not overturning CC, more of a drafting guide make Congress say magic words

Question 44

After Lopez, Congress amended statute to say __

Answer 44

unlawful to possess firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate commerce

Question 45

What is danger of expanding CC?

Answer 45

effectively given Congress a general police power

Question 46

why is NP and CC doctrine unstable?

Answer 46

fact that there are no real limits invites litigation to define the limits

Question 47

Gonzalez facts

Answer 47

CA law permits medicial marijuana but DEA destroys pot plants

Question 48

Gonzalez holding

Answer 48

Application of CSA prohibition to interstate growers of marijuana did not exceed CC since rationally related to regulation of interstate commerce

Question 49

Gonzalez reasoning 1

Answer 49

similar to Wickard, can regulate activity not itself commercial (not for sale) if conclude failure to regulate would undercut regulation of interstate market in that commodity

Question 50

Gonzalez reasoning 2

Answer 50

production of commodity meant for home consumption has substantial effect on demand in national market since could enter illicit market

Question 51

Gonzalez reasoning 3

Answer 51

need not determine if respondent activities in aggregrate substantially, only whether rational basis exists for so concluding

Question 52

Gonzalez reasoning 4

Answer 52

Unlike Lopez and Morrison, activities regulated by CSA are economic

Question 53

Why is rational basis bar used in Gonzalez?

Answer 53

economic decision that judges don't want to make, okay as long as logical nexus

Question 54

Comstock facts

Answer 54

fed statute authorizing district court to order civil commitment of federally incarcerated individual if they have serious mental illness that makes them sexually dangerous to others

Question 55

Comstock holding

Answer 55

Congress has power to enact

Question 56

Comstock reasoning 1

Answer 56

NP Clause makes it clear Consti grants of specific authority accompanied by broad power to enact laws convient/useful to authority's "beneficial exercise"

Question 57

Comstock reasoning 2

Answer 57

Cong power to create federal prisons --> power to civilly commit its prisoners since fed govt is custodian --> power to civilly commit

Question 58

Comstock reasoning 3

Answer 58

Not too attenuated (unlike Lopez)

Question 59

Kennedy comstock concurrence

Answer 59

analysis depends not on the number of links in the congressional power chain but the strength of the chain

Question 60

Thomas Comstock dissent

Answer 60

NP empowers Congress to enact only those laws that carry into Execution one or more enumerated powers and no enumerated power covering civil committment regime

Question 61

Comstock note based on Kennedy

Answer 61

doesn't matter if Congress isn't explicitly given enumerated power, just needs to pass rational basis analysis that law is somehow connected to an enumerated power

Question 62

US v Morrison holding

Answer 62

CC did not empower Congress to enact Violence against women act which made certain acts of domestic violence federal crimes and torts

Question 63

Perez v US holding

Answer 63

Anti-Loan sharking statute upheld, extortion is wholly intrastate but affects interstate commerce because fuels organized crime

Question 64

Katzenbach reason 2

Answer 64

restaurant served meat that had once traveled in interstate commerce

Question 65

Katzenbach test

Answer 65

all Congress needs is rational basis for thinking regulation of interstate commerce is convenient and useful to the promotion of interstate commerce

Question 66

Katzenbach reason 1

Answer 66

racial discrim at restaurants direct and highly restrictive effect upon interstate travel of Black Americans