Pg 10 Flashcards
What is the pretext principle?
If a law is enacted for a purpose that is not within the scope of those the government is allowed to enact legislation for, it is the duty of the courts to declare the law unconstitutional
What is the modern view called the protective principle?
Congress is free to follow its own concept of public policy and can exclude from commerce articles that are thought to be injurious to public health, morals, or welfare. The commerce power can be used for social welfare purposes
I.e.: regulating shipping goods across state lines made by employees that are working for excessive hours or substandard wages
If public safety is at issue, what is the question to ask about whether the commerce clause can regulate something?
Whether the total effect of the law as a safety measure in reducing harm is so slight or problematical as not to outweigh the national interest in keeping interstate commerce free from interferences which seriously impede it and subject it to local regulations that don’t have a uniform effect on the interstate commerce that it interrupts.
Basically you’re asking if the law has any reasonable relation to safety, and if the burden on interstate commerce outweighs the state’s safety evidence
What is the cumulative effects principle with relation to the commerce clause?
Considers the aggregate or cumulative impact on the free flow of commerce and allows Congress to reach even private, individual behavior if it, taken together with similar behavior of others, has a cumulative effect on interstate commerce. Congress can regulate what seems trivial if the activity, added together, has a cumulative effect on interstate commerce.
I.e.: Wickerd case: upheld the regulation of wheat production for personal use because even though it was local and not really commerce, it had a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce when considered together with everyone in that position. Homegrown wheat overhangs the market which substantially affects the price and market conditions. Congress can regulate purely local, non-commercial activities if it is part of a class of activities that has a substantial effect on interstate commerce
Under the cumulative effects principal for the commerce clause, when is legislation limited?
If the activity is too far removed.
If Congress says all four-year-olds have to go to preschool because cumulative effects of not doing it could affect the economy, that is too far removed
What happened in the Lopez case regarding guns and schools under the cumulative effects principal for the commerce clause?
The court said that the gun-free school zones act did not have a jurisdictional nexus because it only had a remote or attenuated effect on interstate commerce and school violence in the aggregate didn’t affect interstate commerce. This act was held to be unconstitutional because it interfered with state sovereignty since there was not a strong enough connection with commercial concerns to be considered proper under the commerce clause.
Congress can regulate single-state activities only when as a class they have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. When Congress tried to regulate this, they ran into a police power that is granted to the states. Federal government has no general police
What happened in the Morrison case regarding violence against women under the commerce clause?
The court said that the violence against women act was not authorized by the commerce clause. It said it was unconstitutional since it regulated activity that was not commercial in nature. The court will not aggregate intrastate, non-commercial activities to determine if intrastate actions affect interstate commerce. The focus is on whether the activity is commercial in nature, and violence against women is not
What are the three major things that Congress can regulate under the commerce clause?
– Use of CHANNELS of interstate commerce
– INSTRUMENTALITIES of interstate commerce
– ACTIVITIES that have a substantial effect or relationship to interstate commerce
What is involved in the use of channels of interstate commerce as something that Congress can regulate under the commerce clause?
This is the thing that interstate commerce flows through, or the route. It is permissible for Congress to keep this free from immoral or injurious uses. Ie: Rail road
What are some examples of the channels of interstate commerce that Congress can regulate under the commerce clause?
Railroads, Internet, rivers, air space, TV, mail, canals.
Anything upon which or through which interstate commerce is conducted
What does “instrumentalities of interstate commerce“ mean as something that Congress can regulate under the commerce clause?
People or things that are an instrument or a means to the end, which is commerce. This is anything in which interstate commerce is conducted. Ie: phones
What are some examples of the instrumentalities of interstate commerce?
Trains, ships, cell phones, money, airplanes, Internet, insurance, etc. Congress can regulate all of these industries. Jobs can also be included if they contribute directly to the movement of commerce by providing goods/facilities to be used/consumed in direct furtherance of activities of transportation, communication, or other movement in interstate commerce depending on the duty of the job.
I.e.: employees are engaged in commerce when they provide electricity, energy, fuel, water, etc. to radio stations or airports, etc.
What is involved in “activities having a substantial effect or relationship to interstate commerce” as something that Congress can regulate under the commerce clause?
This involves four considerations:
– is the regulated activity commercial in nature?
– does the congressional statute have a jurisdictional element?
– Has congress reasonably found that the regulated activity substantially affects interstate commerce?
– is there a link between the regulated activity and interstate commerce that is too attenuated?
What is the difference between proper congressional legislation and improper congressional legislation under activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce regarding the commerce clause?
– Proper: a statue that stops the interception of electronic communications, stops theft from interstate shipments, stops acts of terrorism on interstate commercial airplanes, requires safety features on interstate commercial planes
– improper: statutes that outlaw possession of certain guns and when they give a remedy in federal courts for certain assaults. Issues about marriage and divorce, primary public school standards, murder and violent crimes, and private cultivation and use of marijuana are all considered to be areas of traditional state regulation, so Congress doesn’t usually regulate them.
