Federal Legislative Power Flashcards
3 types of things Congress can regulate through CC?
- Channels
- Instrumentalities
- Activities (that substantially affect IC)
Anti commandeering Doctrine
Congress can pass its own statutes and require states to comply (through preemption) BUT this doctrine prohibits Congress from commandeering state government by issuing direct, coercive orders/duties to the State legislatures (IE - Congress may tell the state what to do, but not HOW to do it; 10A reserves these powers to the states)
McCulloch v. Maryland
Congress may create laws it deems necessary and proper to help carry out its enumerated powers. In McCulloch, Congress deemed the chartering of the national bank a necessary method of raising revenue, and therefore it was a proper way to exercise its taxing and spending powers under the necessary and proper clause.
Also, States may not tax the national bank because federal laws are supreme to state laws. States may not make laws that interfere with the federal government’s exercise of its constitutional powers.
Rational basis test
Assumes the constitutionality of a law and permits an implied power as long as there is evidence that congress rationally could have concluded that X was helpful or expedient or useful in exercising power Y
Describe CC jurisprudence BEFORE 1937
Courts invalidated fed legislation b/c it regulated activities that were not “commerce” or “economic” in nature (EG - manufacturing/production and/or because it intervened in areas the Const reserved exclusive control over to the states
Describe CC jurisprudence AFTER 1937
Dramatic expansion of congressional power to regulate the economy that the Court did not question until 1995.
Court became scared of Roosevelt’s failed court packing plan and decided to ease up a little bit; and allowed more expansive exercises of commerce power.
What is within the commerce power? What does it mean to “regulate” commerce? See Wickard
The power to regulate IC is not confined to commerce “among the states”, but extends to activities that “have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.”
It is not limited to activities that by itself affect interstate commerce, but also applies to activities that, when aggregated, can come together to have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
What is the 10th Amendment?
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People
Sebelius (ACA Case)
Court held that Individual mandate contained in Obamacare is a valid use of Congress’s power to tax & Medicaid expansion provision of Obamacare is an unconstitutional use of Congress’s spending powers.
Regulation of “inactivity” is beyond Congress’s commerce power (economic activity needs to already exist for Congress to be able to regulate)
Does the 10th Amendment Limit Congress’s Authority? See Reno & Murphy
Yes, Congress may regulate states’ activities, using Commerce Clause power, provided that: the regulation does not require the state to enact any laws or regulations; does not require state officials to assist in the enforcement of federal statutes regulating private individuals; and does not directly order the state legislature HOW to regulate
Heart of Atlanta Motel & Katzenbach
Racial discrimination in places like motels was deemed by Congress to constitute an obstruction to interstate commerce, which Congress was permitted to remove, despite the purely local nature of the motel.
In the aggregate, all similar types of motels would have a substantial effect on interstate commerce and Congress was permitted to conclude that and exercise power over “local” motels
Describe post-1995 CC Jurisprudence (Lopez, Morrison & Raich)
Courts begin to reign in Congressional power through CC starting with these cases:
Lopez/Morrison - Congress may not, pursuant to Commerce Clause powers, pass a law that prohibits the possession of a gun near a school because gun regulation isnt “commerce”; or pass a law that provides a civil remedy to victims of gender-motivated violence
These are not “economic” activities; rolls back to pre-1937 jurisprudence classifying activities as economic vs. non-economic
Raich - Congress have the power to regulate interstate markets for medicinal marijuana if those portions of the markets produced and consumed the MJ locally; these activities ARE economic in nature
