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101-651: The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 ). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". Courts and commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of commerce as a separate power granted to Congress. It

202-604: A Federal Government of enumerated powers." For the first time in sixty years the Court found that in creating a federal statute, Congress had exceeded the power granted to it by the Commerce Clause. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius , the Supreme Court held that the Commerce Clause did not give Congress the authority to require individuals to purchase health insurance . However, since

303-482: A common law heritage, such as Canada , Australia , New Zealand , and states in the eastern United States . Common land ownership can be organized into a partition unit , a corporation consisting of the landowners on the shore that formally owns the water area and determines its use. Under the riparian principle, all landowners whose properties adjoin a body of water have the right to make reasonable use of it as it flows through or over their properties. If there

404-472: A connection to interstate commerce or to commercial activity. Once again, the Court stated it was presented with a congressional attempt to criminalize traditional local criminal conduct. As in Lopez , it could not be argued that state regulation alone would be ineffective to protect the aggregate effects of local violence. The Court explained that in both Lopez and Morrison , "the noneconomic, criminal nature of

505-535: A federal law regarding marijuana . The Court found the federal law valid although the marijuana in question had been grown and consumed within a single state and had never entered interstate commerce. The court held Congress may regulate an intrastate economic good as part of a complete scheme of legislation designed to regulate interstate commerce. Since the Rehnquist Court, the Tenth Amendment to

606-429: A finding of navigability establishes state versus federal property, navigability for purposes of riverbed title is a federal question determined under federal law. The states retain the power of defining the scope of the public trust over navigable waters. A non-navigable stream is synonymous with private property, or jointly-owned property if it serves as a boundary. The state could choose to divest itself of title to

707-654: A more broad, expansive perspective of these powers. During the Marshall Court era (1801–1835), interpretation of the Commerce Clause gave Congress jurisdiction over numerous aspects of intrastate and interstate commerce as well as activity that had traditionally been regarded not to be commerce. Starting in 1937, following the end of the Lochner era , the use of the Commerce Clause by Congress to authorize federal control of economic matters became effectively unlimited. The US Supreme Court restricted congressional use of

808-501: A new rule for what was an acceptable use of congressional power under the Commerce Clause: Channels of commerce represent a broad congressional power that directly regulates the movement of goods and people across state lines. Importantly, the Court has never required a nexus (causal link) between a state border crossing and the engagement in an activity prohibited by Congress. In United States v. Sullivan (1948),

909-610: A state of pupilage. Their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. As explained in United States v. Lopez , 514 U.S. 549 (1995), "For nearly a century thereafter [that is, after Gibbons ], the Court's Commerce Clause decisions dealt but rarely with the extent of Congress' power, and almost entirely with the Commerce Clause as a limit on state legislation that discriminated against interstate commerce." Under this line of precedent,

1010-444: A statement on the enumerated powers by Chief Justice Marshall in the case McCulloch v. Maryland : This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it, would seem too apparent, to have required to be enforced by all those arguments, which its enlightened friends, while it was depending before the people, found it necessary to urge; that principle

1111-558: A substantial way interfere with or obstruct the exercise of the granted power. In Wickard v. Filburn (1942), the Court upheld the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 , which sought to stabilize wide fluctuations in the market price for wheat. The Court found that Congress could apply national quotas to wheat grown on one's own land for one's own consumption because the total of such local production and consumption could potentially be sufficiently large as to affect

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1212-468: A voluntary cession to our government; yet it may well be doubted whether those tribes which reside within the acknowledged boundaries of the United States can, with strict accuracy, be denominated foreign nations. They may, more correctly be denominated domestic dependent nations. They occupy a territory to which we assert a title independent of their will, which must take effect in point of possession when their right of possession ceases. Meanwhile, they are in

1313-428: Is attempting to regulate has a substantial effect on interstate commerce, reviewing courts typically consider the following factors: (1) whether the regulated activity is commercial or economic in nature; (2) whether an express jurisdictional element is provided in the statute to limit its reach; (3) whether Congress made express findings about the effects of the proscribed activity on interstate commerce; and (4) whether

1414-692: Is common to see the individual components of the Commerce Clause referred to under specific terms: the Foreign Commerce Clause, the Interstate Commerce Clause, and the Indian Commerce Clause. Dispute exists within the courts as to the range of powers granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause. As noted below, it is often paired with the Necessary and Proper Clause , and the combination used to take

1515-401: Is largely up to Congress and not the courts to determine what means are "necessary and proper" in executing one of its enumerated powers. It is often known as the "elastic clause" because of the great amount of leeway in interpretation it allows; depending on the interpretation, it can be "stretched" to expand the powers of Congress, or allowed to "contract", limiting Congress. In practical usage,

1616-409: Is not an essential part of a larger regulation of economic activity, in which the regulatory scheme could be undercut unless the intrastate activity were regulated. It cannot, therefore, be sustained under our cases upholding regulations of activities that arise out of or are connected with a commercial transaction, which viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce. The opinion set

1717-437: Is not enough water to satisfy all users, allotments are generally fixed in proportion to frontage on the water source. These rights cannot be sold or transferred other than with the adjoining land and only in reasonable quantities associated with that land. The water cannot be transferred out of the watershed without due consideration as to the rights of the downstream riparian landowners. Riparian rights include such things as

1818-546: Is now universally admitted. Another school of thought is referred to as loose construction. They often refer to different comments by Justice Marshall from the same case: We admit, as all must admit, that the powers of the Government are limited, and that its limits are not to be transcended. But we think the sound construction of the Constitution must allow to the national legislature that discretion with respect to

1919-706: Is substantially diminished. Some scholars, such as Robert H. Bork and Daniel E. Troy, argue that prior to 1887, the Commerce Clause was rarely invoked by Congress and so a broad interpretation of the word "commerce" was clearly never intended by the Founding Fathers. In support of that claim, they argue that the word "commerce," as used in the Constitutional Convention and the Federalist Papers , can be substituted with either "trade" or "exchange" interchangeably and still preserve

2020-806: The Clean Water Act of 1972 was possible, because all surface waters eventually flowed to the public ocean. This has been the subject of political controversy, for example over implementation of the Clean Water Rule . In 2023 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Sackett v. EPA by a 5-4 decision that the EPA could only regulate waters in the United States which have not been isolated from larger bodies of water. Federal courts have long recognized that state laws establish

2121-545: The Rehnquist Court 's revived federalism , as evident in its 5–4 decision in United States v. Lopez , enforced strict limits to congressional power under the Commerce Clause. In Lopez , the Court struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 . It was the first time in almost 60 years that the Court had struck down a federal law for exceeding the limits of the Commerce Clause. In the case,

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2222-538: The Commerce Clause somewhat with United States v. Lopez (1995). The Commerce Clause is the source of federal drug prohibition laws under the Controlled Substances Act . In a 2005 medical marijuana case, Gonzales v. Raich , the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the argument that the ban on growing medical marijuana for personal use exceeded the powers of Congress under the Commerce Clause. Even if no goods were sold or transported across state lines,

2323-412: The Commerce Clause. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States , 379 U.S. 241 (1964), ruled that Congress could regulate a business that served mostly interstate travelers. Daniel v. Paul , 395 U.S. 298 (1969), ruled that the federal government could regulate a recreational facility because three of the four items sold at its snack bar were purchased from outside the state. Starting in 1995,

2424-836: The Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to

2525-426: The Constitution has once again played an integral part in the Court's view of the Commerce Clause. The Tenth Amendment states that the federal government has the powers specifically delegated to it by the Constitution and that other powers are reserved to the states or to the people. The Commerce Clause is an important source of those powers delegated to Congress and so its interpretation is very important in determining

2626-400: The Constitution, are constitutional. Interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause has been controversial, especially during the early years of the country. Strict constructionists interpret the clause to mean that Congress may make a law only if the inability to do so would cripple its ability to apply one of its enumerated powers. Loose constructionists , on the other hand, believe it

2727-568: The Court excluded services not related to production, such as live entertainment, from the definition of commerce: That to which it is incident, the exhibition, although made for money, would not be called trade of commerce in the commonly accepted use of those words. As it is put by defendant, personal effort not related to production is not a subject of commerce. In 1935, the Supreme Court decision in Schecter Poultry Corporation v. United States invalidated regulations of

2828-462: The Court found that there could be an indirect effect on interstate commerce and relied heavily on a New Deal case, Wickard v. Filburn , which held that the government may regulate personal cultivation and consumption of crops because the aggregate effect of individual consumption could have an indirect effect on interstate commerce. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3: [The Congress shall have Power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among

2929-512: The Court held that Section 301k of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which prohibited the misbranding of pharmaceutical drugs transported in interstate commerce, did not exceed the congressional commerce power because Congress has the power to “keep the channels of such commerce free from the transportation of illicit or harmful articles.” Topics in this category include mailing or shipping in interstate commerce, prohibiting crimes where

3030-426: The Court held that certain categories of activity such as "exhibitions", "production", "manufacturing", and "mining" were within the province of state governments, and thus were beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause. When Congress began to engage in economic regulation on a national scale, the Court's dormant Commerce Clause decisions influenced its approach to Congressional regulation. In this context,

3131-539: The Court ruled that the clause covered meatpackers; although their activity was geographically "local", they had an important effect on the "current of commerce", and thus could be regulated under the Commerce Clause. The Court's decision halted price fixing. Stafford v. Wallace , 258 U.S. 495 (1922), upheld a federal law (the Packers and Stockyards Act ) regulating the Chicago meatpacking industry, because

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3232-686: The Court took a formalistic approach, which distinguished between services and commerce, manufacturing and commerce, direct and indirect effects on commerce, and local and national activities. See concurring opinion of Justice Kennedy in United States v. Lopez . ("One approach the Court used to inquire into the lawfulness of state authority was to draw content-based or subject-matter distinctions, thus defining by semantic or formalistic categories those activities that were commerce and those that were not.") The Dormant Commerce Clause formalisms spilled over into its Article I jurisprudence. While Congress had

3333-414: The Court upheld federal price regulation of intrastate milk commerce: The commerce power is not confined in its exercise to the regulation of commerce among the states. It extends to those activities intrastate which so affect interstate commerce, or the exertion of the power of Congress over it, as to make regulation of them appropriate means to the attainment of a legitimate end, the effective execution of

3434-407: The Court was confronted with the conviction of a high school student for carrying a concealed handgun into school in violation of the act. In striking down the federal law, the majority opinion explained: [The Gun-Free School Zones Act] is a criminal statute that by its terms has nothing to do with "commerce" or any sort of economic enterprise, however broadly one might define those terms. [The act]

3535-649: The Enumerated Powers Act into the House rules. The Enumerated Powers Act is supported by leaders of the U.S. Tea Party movement . National Tea Party leader Michael Johns has said that progressives often "see the Constitution as an impediment to their statist agenda. In almost all cases, though, there is very little thought or dialogue given to what should be the first and foremost question asked with every legislative or administrative governmental action: Is this initiative empowered to our federal government by

3636-668: The Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution : The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution : New States may be admitted by

3737-538: The Judiciary. As such, it directly affects the lives of American citizens. The Commerce Clause provides comprehensive powers to the United States over navigable waters . The powers are critical to understand the rights of landowners adjoining or exercising what would otherwise be riparian rights under the common law . The Commerce Clause confers a unique position upon the federal government in connection with navigable waters: "The power to regulate commerce comprehends

3838-959: The Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and

3939-488: The President to appoint an additional Justice for each sitting Justice over age 70. Given the age of the current justices, that would allow a Supreme Court of up to 15 Justices. Roosevelt claimed that to be intended to lessen the load on the older Justices, rather than an attempt to achieve a majority that would cease to strike his New Deal acts. Ultimately, there was widespread opposition to the "court packing" plan, and in

4040-541: The Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and Post Roads ; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries ; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on

4141-548: The Supreme Court addressed whether the Cherokee nation is a foreign state in the sense in which that term is used in the U.S. constitution. The Court provided a definition of Indian tribe that clearly made the rights of tribes far inferior to those of foreign states: Though the Indians are acknowledged to have an unquestionable, and, heretofore, unquestioned right to the lands they occupy, until that right shall be extinguished by

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4242-478: The U.S. Congress to include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which each bill is being enacted. From the 104th Congress to the 111th Congress , U.S. Congressman John Shadegg introduced the Enumerated Powers Act, although it has not been passed into law. At the beginning of the 105th Congress , the House of Representatives incorporated the substantive requirement of

4343-596: The United States ; To borrow on the credit of the United States ; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes ; To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization , and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States ; To coin Money , regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for

4444-462: The United States Constitution : The Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified. Amendment XX, Section 4 of the United States Constitution : The Congress may by law provide for

4545-399: The United States may change the course of a navigable stream, South Carolina v. Georgia , 93 U.S. 4 (1876), or otherwise impair or destroy a riparian owner's access to navigable waters, Gibson v. United States , 166 U.S. 269 (1897); Scranton v. Wheeler , 179 U.S. 141 (1900); United States v. Commodore Park, Inc. , 324 U.S. 386 (1945), even though the market value of the riparian owner's land

4646-433: The United States unless they had been validly conveyed into private ownership by the former sovereign. During the territorial period, the United States held these title "in trust" for the benefit of the future states that would be carved out of the territory. Each of the states were to come into the Union on an " equal footing " with the original 13 states. Under the equal footing doctrine , territorial states are vested with

4747-429: The United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Amendment XVI of the United States Constitution : The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. Amendment XX, Section 3 of

4848-739: The acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States , and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines , Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in

4949-426: The air, sunlight, or wildlife. It is not "owned" by the government, state or private individual but is rather included as part of the land over which it falls from the sky or then travels along the surface. In determining the contours of riparian rights, there is a clear distinction between navigable (public) waters and non-navigable waters. The land below navigable waters is the property of state, and subject to all

5050-608: The beginning of the end of Supreme Court's opposition to the New Deal, which also obviated the "court packing" scheme. In United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941), the Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act , which regulated the production of goods shipped across state lines. It stated that the Tenth Amendment "is but a truism" and was not considered to be an independent limitation on congressional power. In United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co. (1942),

5151-470: The case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them. Additionally, several amendments include a Congressional power of enforcement in which

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5252-534: The clause has been paired with the Commerce Clause in particular to provide the constitutional basis for a wide variety of federal laws. The defining example of the Necessary and Proper Clause in U.S. history was McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819. The United States Constitution says nothing about establishing a national bank. The U.S. government established a national bank that provided part of

5353-399: The conduct at issue was central to our decision." Furthermore, the Court pointed out that neither case had "'express jurisdictional element which might limit its reach (to those instances that) have an explicit connection with or effect on interstate commerce.'" In both cases, Congress criminalized activity that was not commercial in nature without including a jurisdictional element establishing

5454-495: The control for that purpose, and to the extent necessary, of all the navigable waters of the United States.... For this purpose they are the public property of the nation, and subject to all the requisite legislation by Congress." United States v. Rands , 389 U.S. 121 (1967). The Rands decision continues: This power to regulate navigation confers upon the United States a dominant servitude , FPC v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. , 347 U.S. 239, 249 (1954), which extends to

5555-501: The corresponding verb "to commerce" more broadly as "[t]o hold intercourse." The word "intercourse" also had a different and wider meaning back in 1792, compared to today. Nevertheless, in Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the Court ruled unanimously that congressional power extends to regulation over navigable waters. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) that the power to regulate interstate commerce also included

5656-500: The court ruled that Congress's taxing authority was sufficient to enact the mandate, some constitutional lawyers have argued that the commerce clause discussion should be treated as judicial dictum . Chief Justice John Roberts , in his majority opinion, stated that: No other justice joined this segment of the Chief Justice's opinion. The Enumerated Powers Act is a proposed law that would require all bills introduced in

5757-665: The document's seven articles and 27 amendments? In many cases, the answer is no." "For this reason," Johns said, "we also strongly support the Enumerated Powers Act, which will require Congress to justify the Constitutional authority upon which all legislation is based." Riparian water rights Riparian water rights (or simply riparian rights ) is a system for allocating water among those who possess land along its path. It has its origins in English common law . Riparian water rights exist in many jurisdictions with

5858-525: The end, Roosevelt abandoned it. However, in what became known as " the switch in time that saved nine ," Justice Owen Roberts , shortly after the "court packing" plan was proposed, joined the 5-4 majority opinion in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937). It narrowly upheld a Washington state minimum wage law, abandoning prior jurisprudence, and ended the Lochner era . That essentially marked

5959-704: The entire stream and the stream bed below ordinary high-water mark. The proper exercise of this power is not an invasion of any private property rights in the stream or the lands underlying it, for the damage sustained does not result from taking property from riparian owners within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment but from the lawful exercise of a power to which the interests of riparian owners have always been subject. United States v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. , 312 U.S. 592, 596–597 (1941); Gibson v. United States , 166 U.S. 269, 275–276 (1897). Thus, without being constitutionally obligated to pay compensation,

6060-411: The extent of the riparian and public right. In the case of navigable waters, title goes to the average low water mark. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court defined it as the "ordinary low water mark, unaffected by drought; that is, the height of the water at ordinary stages." Land below the low water mark on navigable rivers belongs to the state government in the case of the 13 original states. Lands between

6161-405: The following: The United States recognizes two types of water rights. Although use and overlap varies over time and by state, the western arid states that were once under Mexico and Spain generally follow the doctrine of prior appropriation , also known as "first-come, first-served", but water rights for the eastern states follow riparian law. Under riparian law, water is a public good like

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6262-455: The government's initial capital. In 1819 the federal government opened a national bank in Baltimore , Maryland. In an effort to tax the bank out of business, the government of Maryland imposed a tax on the federal bank. James William McCulloch, a cashier at the bank, refused to pay the tax. Eventually the case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall held that

6363-470: The granted power to regulate interstate commerce.... The power of Congress over interstate commerce is plenary and complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations other than are prescribed in the Constitution.... It follows that no form of state activity can constitutionally thwart the regulatory power granted by the commerce clause to Congress. Hence, the reach of that power extends to those intrastate activities which in

6464-481: The high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water ; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy ; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces ; To provide for calling forth

6565-525: The high and low water marks on navigable rivers are subject to the police powers of the states. In the case of the original 13 states, upon ratification of the US Constitution, title to these submerged lands remained vested in the several states similar to the public or common roads. As new lands were acquired by the United States, either by purchase or treaty, title to the highways and the beds of all navigable, or tidal, water bodies became vested in

6666-456: The idea that the electoral process of representative government represents the primary limitation on the exercise of the Commerce Clause powers: The wisdom and the discretion of Congress, their identity with the people, and the influence which their constituents possess at elections, are, in this, as in many other instances, as that, for example, of declaring war, the sole restraints on which they have relied, to secure them from its abuse. They are

6767-434: The individual crossed a state line to commit the act, and explosives. The instrumentalities category allows Congress to make regulations in regards to "the safety, efficiency, and accessibility of the nationwide transportation and communications networks." It is a significant basis for congressional authority however it has not been fully occupied by Congress. The substantial impact (or substantial affect) category relates to

6868-433: The industry was part of the interstate commerce of beef from ranchers to dinner tables. The stockyards "are but a throat through which the current [of commerce] flows," Chief Justice Taft wrote, referring to the stockyards as "great national public utilities." As Justice Kennedy wrote: (in a concurring opinion to United States v. Lopez ), "Though that [formalistic] approach likely would not have survived even if confined to

6969-438: The language " The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation " is used with slight variations, granting to Congress the power to enforce the following amendments: There are differences of opinion on whether current interpretation of enumerated powers as exercised by Congress is constitutionally sound. One school of thought is called strict constructionism . Strict constructionists refer to

7070-510: The link between the prohibited activity and the effect on interstate commerce is attenuated. Lopez was clarified by the Rehnquist Court in United States v. Morrison , 529 U.S. 598 (2000). In Morrison, the Court invalidated § 40302 of the Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA"), which created civil liability for the commission of a gender-based violent crime but without any jurisdictional requirement of

7171-558: The meaning of those statements. They also point to James Madison 's statement in an 1828 letter that the "Constitution vests in Congress expressly... 'the power to regulate trade'." Examining contemporaneous dictionaries does not neatly resolve the matter. For instance, the 1792 edition of Samuel Johnson 's A Dictionary of the English Language defines the noun "commerce" narrowly as "[e]xchange of one thing for another; interchange of any thing; trade; traffick," but it defines

7272-410: The means by which the powers it confers are to be carried into execution which will enable that body to perform the high duties assigned to it in the manner most beneficial to the people. Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of

7373-508: The mining industry on the grounds that mining was not "commerce." In the preceding decades, the Court had struck down a laundry list of progressive legislation: minimum-wage laws, child labor laws, agricultural relief laws, and virtually every other element of the New Deal legislation that had come before it. After winning re-election in 1936 , Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 to allow

7474-423: The most fundamental powers delegated to the Congress by the founders. The outer limits of the Interstate Commerce Clause power have been the subject of long, intense political controversy. Interpretation of the sixteen words of the Commerce Clause has helped define the balance of power between the federal government and the states and the balance of power between the two elected branches of the federal government and

7575-516: The national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything – and the federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers. Enumerated power In summary, Congress may exercise the powers that the Constitution grants it, subject to the individual rights listed in the Bill of Rights . Moreover, the Constitution expresses various other limitations on Congress, such as

7676-455: The necessary connection between the criminalized activity and interstate commerce. The Rehnquist Court's Commerce Clause cases helped establish the doctrine of " New Federalism ." The Court's New Federalism doctrine was focused on reining in congressional powers in order to re-strengthen the powers of the individual states which had been weakened during the New Deal era. Members on the Rehnquist Court theorized that by re-apportioning power back to

7777-623: The one expressed by the Tenth 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." Historically, Congress and the Supreme Court have broadly interpreted the enumerated powers, especially by deriving many implied powers from them. The enumerated powers listed in Article One include both exclusive federal powers , as well as concurrent powers that are shared with

7878-684: The overall national goal of stabilizing prices. The Court cited its recent Wrightwood decision and decided, "Whether the subject of the regulation in question was 'production,' 'consumption,' or 'marketing' is, therefore, not material for purposes of deciding the question of federal power before us." The Court reiterated Chief Justice Marshall's decision in Gibbons : "He made emphatic the embracing and penetrating nature of this power by warning that effective restraints on its exercise must proceed from political, rather than from judicial, processes." The Court also stated, "The conflicts of economic interest between

7979-607: The poultry industry according to the nondelegation doctrine and as an invalid use of Congress's power under the commerce clause. The unanimous decision rendered unconstitutional the National Industrial Recovery Act , a main component of President Franklin Roosevelt 's New Deal . Again in 1936, in Carter v. Carter Coal Company , the Supreme Court struck down a key element of the New Deal's regulation of

8080-473: The power discussed in the Court's 1942 decision in Wickard v. Filburn . It is arguably the strongest categorical power in the Lopez rule. In essence, it relates to economic activities which, in the aggregate, have a substantial impact on interstate commerce. The Court has stopped short of establishing a rule prohibiting the aggregation of all non-economic activity. In determining whether the activity Congress

8181-565: The power of establishing a national bank could be implied from the U.S. Constitution. Marshall ruled that no state could use its taxing power to tax an arm of the national government. The case of United States v. Lopez in 1995 held unconstitutional the Gun Free School Zone Act because it exceeded the power of Congress to "regulate commerce...among the several states". Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, "We start with first principles . The Constitution creates

8282-451: The power to regulate commerce, it could not regulate manufacturing, which was seen as being entirely local. In Kidd v. Pearson , 128 U.S. 1 (1888), the Court struck a federal law which prohibited the manufacture of liquor for shipment across state lines. Similar decisions were issued with regard to agriculture, mining, oil production, and generation of electricity. In Swift v. United States , 196 U.S. 375 (1905),

8383-504: The power to regulate interstate navigation: "Commerce, undoubtedly is traffic, but it is something more—it is intercourse.... [A] power to regulate navigation is as expressly granted, as if that term had been added to the word 'commerce'.... [T]he power of Congress does not stop at the jurisdictional lines of the several states . It would be a very useless power if it could not pass those lines." The Court's decision contains language supporting one important line of Commerce Clause jurisprudence,

8484-655: The primary use of the Clause was to preclude the kind of discriminatory state legislation that had once been permissible. Then, in response to rapid industrial development and an increasingly interdependent national economy, Congress "ushered in a new era of federal regulation under the commerce power," beginning with the enactment of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 and the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. The Commerce Clause represents one of

8585-425: The public land laws and in most states public trust rights. Navigable waters are treated as public highways with any exclusive riparian right ending at the ordinary high water mark . Like a road, any riparian right is subordinate to the public's right to travel on the river, but any public right is subject to nuisance laws and the police power of the state. It is not an individual right or liberty interest . Because

8686-531: The question of a State's authority to enact legislation, it was not at all propitious when applied to the quite different question of what subjects were within the reach of the national power when Congress chose to exercise it." Similarly, the Court excluded most services by distinguishing them from commerce. In Federal Baseball Club v. National League , 259 U.S. 200 (1922), which was later upheld in Toolson v. New York Yankees (1953) and Flood v. Kuhn (1973),

8787-468: The regulated and those who advantage by it are wisely left under our system to resolution by the Congress under its more flexible and responsible legislative process. Such conflicts rarely lend themselves to judicial determination. And with the wisdom, workability, or fairness, of the plan of regulation, we have nothing to do." Thereafter, the Court began to defer to the Congress on the theory that determining whether legislation affected commerce appropriately

8888-464: The restraints on which the people must often rely solely, in all representative governments.... In Gibbons , the Court struck down New York State 's attempt to grant a steamboat monopoly to Robert Fulton , which he had then ultimately franchised to Ogden, who claimed river traffic was not "commerce" under the Commerce Clause and that Congress could not interfere with New York State's grant of an exclusive monopoly within its own borders. Ogden's assertion

8989-450: The right to access for swimming, boating and fishing; the right to wharf out to a point of navigability; the right to erect structures such as docks, piers, and boat lifts; the right to use the water for domestic purposes; the right to accretions caused by water level fluctuations; the right to exclusive use if the waterbody is non-navigable. Riparian rights also depend upon "reasonable use" as it relates to other riparian owners to ensure that

9090-416: The right to protect property from flooding and land from erosion subject to approval by the agency, the right to fish in the watercourse unless the right is sold or leased if an angler has a valid Environment Agency rod licence. They also include the right to acquire accretion and the right to boomage (a fee charge for securing a boom, generally for the retention of logs). Duties arising from the model include

9191-455: The rights of one riparian owner are weighed fairly and equitably with the rights of adjacent riparian owners. The Environment Agency lists the riparian rights and duties in England and Wales. The rights include ownership of the land up to the centre of the watercourse unless it is known to be owned by someone else, the right for water to flow onto land in its natural quantity and quality,

9292-512: The same sovereign title rights to navigable submerged lands as the original 13 states. However, during the territorial period, the United States could convey certain of these lands under the limited circumstances of promoting commerce. Ownership of lands submerged by navigable waters was resolved by Congress passing the Submerged Lands Act , which confirmed state title to the beds of all tidal and navigable bodies of water. While

9393-516: The scope of federal power in controlling innumerable aspects of American life. The Commerce Clause has been the most broadly-interpreted clause in the Constitution, making way for many laws that some argue, contradict the original intended meaning of the Constitution. Justice Thomas has gone so far as to state in his dissent to Gonzales , Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on

9494-591: The several States, and with the Indian Tribes; The significance of the Commerce Clause is described in the Supreme Court's opinion in Gonzales v. Raich , 545 U.S. 1 (2005): The Commerce Clause emerged as the Framers' response to the central problem giving rise to the Constitution itself: the absence of any federal commerce power under the Articles of Confederation. For the first century of our history,

9595-469: The states, and all of those powers are to be contrasted with reserved powers that only the states possess. Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution : The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout

9696-610: The states, individual liberty was strengthened. In contrast, Erwin Chemerinsky believes that limiting the commerce power as the Rehnquist Court did can only lead to the weakening of individual liberties. The outer limits of the New Federalism doctrine were delineated by Gonzales v. Raich in which Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy departed from their previous positions in the Lopez and Morrison to uphold

9797-506: The streambed, but the waters and use of the waters remains subject to the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution which holds an easement or servitude , benefiting the federal government for the purpose of regulating commerce on navigable bodies of water. The reasonable use of the water by a riparian owner is subject to the downstream riparian owner's "riparian right" to receive waters undiminished in flow and quality. Federal environmental regulation of non-navigable waters under

9898-488: The use of the Commerce Clause to political means, that the Court again ruled that a regulation enacted under the Commerce Clause was unconstitutional. The wide interpretation of the scope of the Commerce Clause continued following the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which aimed to prevent business from discriminating against black customers. The Supreme Court issued several opinions supporting that use of

9999-576: Was a decision that was political and legislative, not judicial. That overall change in the Court's jurisprudence, beginning with Parrish , is often referred to as the Constitutional Revolution of 1937 , in which the Court shifted from exercising judicial review of legislative acts to protect economic rights to a paradigm that focused most strongly on protecting civil liberties. It was not until United States v. Lopez (1995) decision, after nearly 60 years of leaving any restraint on

10100-683: Was operational on an interstate channel of navigation. In its decision, the Court assumed interstate commerce required movement of the subject of regulation across state borders. The decision contains the following principles, some of which have since been altered by subsequent decisions: Additionally, the Marshall Court limited the extent of federal maritime and admiralty jurisdiction to tidewaters in The Steam-Boat Thomas Jefferson Johnson . In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia , 30 U.S. 1 (1831),

10201-641: Was untenable: he contended that New York could control river traffic within New York all the way to the border with New Jersey and that New Jersey could control river traffic within New Jersey all the way to the border with New York, leaving Congress with the power to control the traffic as it crossed the state line. Thus, Ogden contended, Congress could not invalidate his monopoly if transported passengers only within New York. The Supreme Court, however, found that Congress could invalidate his monopoly since it

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