Legislative power: the national economy Flashcards
Interstate commerce
Congress can regulate:
(1) The channels of interstate commerce—e.g., highways, seaways, and airways;
(2) The instrumentalities of interstate commerce—e.g., cars, trucks, railroads, and ships; and
(3) Intra- and interstate activity of an economic or commercial character that, in the aggregate, substantially effects interstate commerce.
Interstate commerce: non-economic, non-commercial activity
Congress can regulate such intrastate activity only if it actually demonstrates a substantial effect on interstate commerce. E.g., Lopez; Morrison; Sebelius.
By contrast, economic or commercial activity is presumed to have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
Interstate commerce: individual mandates
Although the Commerce Clause has been interpreted as granting broad powers to Congress, it does not give Congress the power to mandate that persons engage in commerce.
Tax
Congress has the power to impose a tax, even when the tax is actually used to prohibit a good or activity, so long as it is rationally related to raising revenue. E.g., Sebelius.
Tax: Export Taxation Clause
Congress may not tax goods exported to foreign countries.
Under the Export Taxation Clause, a tax or duty that falls on goods during the course of exportation or on services or activities closely related to the export process is prohibited.
Tax: apportionment
Only direct taxes—e.g., ad valorem property taxes—are subject to the apportionment requirement.
Tax: geographic uniformity
Indirect federal taxes—i.e., duties as well as import and excise taxes—must be geographically uniform throughout the United States.
The requirement that taxes be uniform throughout the United States only means that a product be identically taxed in every state in which it is found.
Tax: income taxes
The Sixteenth Amendment allows a tax without apportionment among the states but is limited to a tax on income.
Spending: general welfare
Congress has the power to spend for the “general welfare”—i.e., any public purpose—not just to pursue its other enumerated powers.
E.g., South Dakota v. Dole, which upheld “bribing” states to raise the minimum drinking age.
Spending: anti-commandeering doctrine
Congress cannot force states to adopt or enforce federal regulatory programs.
But Congress is allowed to:
(1) “Bribe” states through use of the spending power; and
(2) Adopt its own regulatory program and enforce it with federal officers.
Spending: conditions on states
Although Congress has the power under the spending power to spend for the general welfare—and to impose conditions on the receipt of an appropriation by a state—such conditions must be set out unambiguously to be enforceable.
Spending: anti-coercion doctrine
Congressional encouragement may not exceed the point at which “pressure turns to compulsion.”
Spending: First Amendment
Congress may not place conditions on grants that unconstitutionally burden a recipient’s First Amendment rights—e.g., by telling recipients what they must believe or say.
But Congress may select recipients of federal funds based on whether they hold views that are consistent with the manner in which those funds are to be used.
Bankruptcy
Pursuant to its power to provide uniform rules of bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Clause, Congress has the power to provide for:
- Automatic stays of other proceedings against a person who files a federal bankruptcy petition;
- Private citizen actions against states in bankruptcy proceedings;
- Among other mechanisms.
Tax: Import–Export Clause
The Import–Export Clause prohibits the states from:
- Imposing any tax on any imported or exported goods or
- On any commercial activity connected with imported goods.
