Law Commons^™

Constitutional Resilience, Shannon M. Roesler

Washington and Lee Law Review

Since the New Deal era, our system of constitutional governance has relied on expansive federal authority to regulate economic and social problems of national scale. Throughout the twentieth century, Congress passed ambitious federal statutes designed to address these problems. In doing so, it often enlisted states as regulatory partners—creating a system of shared governance that underpins major environmental statutes, such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. These governance structures remain important today as we seek to adapt our laws and institutions to the serious disruptions of climate change. But recent Supreme Court decisions challenge this long-established …

Ending The Economic War Among States, Nathan Altstadt

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States is under siege; however, the cause is not a foreign adversary. Rather, infighting among states to attract and retain big businesses is jeopardizing the Nation’s economic prosperity.

States compete for businesses, using tax incentives, hoping to capitalize on the benefits these businesses represent. Benefits include improved job growth numbers, a future increase in tax revenue, or, simply, elevated political clout. While competition can lead to a more efficient use of resources, unregulated competition between states for businesses does not illustrate this theory. A national auction for a business, where states are blind to rival offers, may, and …

Put A Cork In It: The Use Of H.R. 161 To End Direct Wine Shipping Throughout The States Once And For All, Victoria H. Jones

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Due to Congress' recent agenda, oenophiles throughout the country are up in arms about the possible threat to their beloved wine. Wine lovers and other alcohol enthusiasts face the very real fear that access to their favorite products may soon be heavily restricted. This is in large part attributed to the fact that House Resolution 1161 would effectively change the ways in which states regulate alcohol shipment. The possible implications of this bill range from the forced shutdown of many wineries and distilleries due to lack of funding, to the smaller effects of regulation such as the inability of customers …

Immigration As Commerce: A New Look At The Federal Immigration Power And The Constitution, Jennifer Gordon

Indiana Law Journal

When the United States government sets immigration law and policy, how much attention must it pay to constitutional rights? This question has been much debated since President Donald Trump issued a series of immigration-related executive orders in his first week in office, including a bar on entry by citizens of a set of majority-Muslim countries, but it was controversial long before then. In important part, the answer depends on what the Constitution says about the scope and limits of the power of the federal government over immigration. Therein lies the tale. On this subject, the country’s founding documents say very …

The Likely Impact Of National Federation On Commerce Clause Jurisprudence, Robert J. Pushaw Jr., Grant S. Nelson

Pepperdine Law Review

In National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court exhaustively analyzed Congress’s constitutional power to enact the watershed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”). The ACA imposes a “shared responsibility requirement,” popularly known as the “Individual Mandate” (IM), which forces Americans to buy medical insurance or pay a “penalty.” The ACA’s text and legislative history, as well as the public defenses of it by President Obama and his supporters, consistently described the IM as a valid exercise of Congress’s power “[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.” This reliance on the Commerce …

Chopping Down The Rainforest: Finding A Solution To The "Amazon Problem", Eric Andrew Felleman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Current economic conditions in the United States have led to a dramatic decrease in state tax revenue. Without these funds, states will be unable to support important public services, and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the public and private sectors are at risk of being cut, as states work to close $103 billion in budget gaps. Accomplishing that will involve overcoming many hurdles, such as the unpopularity of raising taxes during times of economic trouble, but one largely untapped source could provide a significant amount of income to states. States currently lose around $23 billion annually in uncollected use …

Let History Be Our Guide: Using Historical Analogies To Analyze State Response To A Post-Granholm Era, Matthew B. Mills

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Dormant Indian Commerce Clause: Up In Smoke?, Richard D. Agnew

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Right Results For All The Wrong Reasons: An Historical And Functional Analysis Of The Commerce Clause, Anna J. Cramer

Vanderbilt Law Review

Two football players rape an eighteen-year-old college student. A high-school senior carries a concealed handgun into a school building.' An arsonist burns down a trailer occupied by an interracial couple. An armed robber, after burglarizing the home of a couple and their handicapped child, speeds off in the family's Suburban.'

All of these crimes are local in nature. It seems obvious that each perpetrator would be hauled down to the local courthouse and indicted under applicable criminal law. One naturally assumes that the law would be a state statute. Yet, these perpetrators will not only face state criminal prosecution but …

The Constitution's Forgotten Cover Letter: An Essay On The New Federalism And The Original Understanding, Daniel A. Farber

Michigan Law Review

At the end of the summer of 1787, the Philadelphia Convention issued two documents. One was the Constitution itself. The other document, now almost forgotten even by constitutional historians, was an official letter to Congress, signed by George Washington on behalf of the Convention. Congress responded with a resolution that the Constitution and "letter accompanying the same" be sent to the state legislatures for submission to conventions in each state.

The Washington letter lacks the detail and depth of some other evidence of original intent. Being a cover letter, it was designed only to introduce the accompanying document rather than …

Foreword, Louis H. Pollak

Michigan Law Review

Introduction to the Symposium Reflections on United States v. Lopez

Enumerated Means And Unlimited Ends, H. Jefferson Powell

Michigan Law Review

United States v. Lopez can be read as a fairly mundane disagreement over the application of a long-settled test. The Government defended the statute under review in the case, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, along familiar lines as a permissible regulation of activity affecting interstate and foreign commerce.

In this essay, I do not address the question whether Lopez was an important decision. My concern instead is with the problem that underlies Lopez's particular issue of the scope of the commerce power: Given our commitment to limited national government, in what way is the national legislature actually limited? …

Commerce!, Deborah Jones Merritt

Michigan Law Review

In this article, I explore the Supreme Court's new definition of "Commerce ... among the several States."9 In Part I, I examine three new principles that Lopez announces and that could significantly rework the Court's Commerce Clause jurisprudence. Part II, however, shows that these principles must be understood in the context of almost a dozen factors narrowing the Supreme Court's Lopez decision. Part II also demonstrates that the lower courts have understood the contextual uniqueness of Lopez and already have distinguished the decision in upholding more than half a dozen broad exercises of congressional authority. Part III then shows that …

"A Government Of Limited And Enumerated Powers": In Defense Of United States V. Lopez, Steven G. Calabresi

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court's recent decision in United States v. Lopez marks a revolutionary and long overdue revival of the doctrine that the federal government is one of limited and enumerated powers. After being "asleep at the constitutional switch" for more than fifty years, the Court's decision to invalidate an Act of Congress on the ground that it exceeded the commerce power must be recognized as an extraordinary event. Even if Lopez produces no progeny and is soon overruled, the opinion has shattered forever the notion that, after fifty years of Commerce Clause precedent, we can never go back to the …

The Dormant Commerce Clause And State-Mandated Preference Laws In Public Contracting: Developing A More Substantive Application Of The Market-Participant Exception, Benjamin C. Bair

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the current focus on the relationship between states and their local governments as the key determinant of the constitutional validity of state-mandated preference laws is flawed. Instead, a court considering the validity of a state-mandated preference law should uphold such a law only if it distributes the benefits of state expenditures to state residents and does not excessively burden interstate commerce.

The Dormant Commerce Clause And State-Mandated Preference Laws In Public Contracting: Developing A More Substantive Application Of The Market-Participant Exception, Benjamin C. Bair

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the current focus on the relationship between states and their local governments as the key determinant of the constitutional validity of state-mandated preference laws is flawed. Instead, a court considering the validity of a state-mandated preference law should uphold such a law only if it distributes the benefits of state expenditures to state residents and does not excessively burden interstate commerce.

Free Trade And The Regulatory State: A Gatts-Eye View Of The Dormant Commerce Clause, Daniel A. Farber, Robert E. Hudec

Vanderbilt Law Review

At one time, federalism may have seemed a peculiarly American institution. Today, however, we can see federalism as a special case of the more general problem of allocating power among geographic units. Problems of federalism arise in structures as large as the European Union' and the even larger global trade system under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT").

Free trade increasingly is accepted as a value internationally, as it always has been for commerce within the United States. Yet, both internationally and domestically, free trade must accommodate the reality of the modern regulatory state-a state that shows little …

Territoriality And The Perils Of Formalism, Mark P. Gergen

Michigan Law Review

Recently in this journal Donald Regan published a pair of essays on CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America. Much of the first essay elaborates his theory that what the Supreme Court should be doing and what it is doing under the dormant commerce clause is checking state laws adopted with a substantial protectionist purpose. The rest of the first essay and all of the second essay develop a different check on state lawmaking power in interstate affairs: a rule that states may not regulate conduct beyond their borders. He calls this the extraterritoriality principle. Elsewhere I have questioned …

Liquor Price Affirmation Statutes And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Ward A. Greenberg

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note examines the current state of the law in the liquor affirmation area. Part II argues that the twenty-first amendment may not be invoked to justify the extraterritorial impact of these statutes. The amendment does not preempt the commerce clause in the liquor area. While it gives the states free rein over liquor internally, it provides no basis for any extraterritorial projection of liquor price regulation. Part III considers the commerce clause analysis of Brown-Forman and argues that any interstate effects of these statutes will cause them to violate the commerce clause. This section argues that …

The Second Death Of Federalism, William W. Van Alstyne

Michigan Law Review

In 1976, in National League of Cities v. Usery, the Supreme Court distinguished acts of Congress regulating commercial relations from acts of Congress commanding the terms of state services. Last Term, in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Court abandoned the distinction and held that it was principally for Congress to determine federalism questions. In this Comment, Professor Van Alstyne criticizes the Court on both counts.

The Burger Court, The Commerce Clause, And The Problem Of Differential Treatment, Earl M. Maltz

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Commerce Clause Held No Limitation To The Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts-Wahl V. Pan American World Airways, Inc., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three wrongful death actions were brought in a federal district court in New York by United States citizens as survivors of passengers killed in the crash in Turkey of an airplane owned and operated by defendant Middle East Airlines (MEA). MEA is a Lebanese corporation operating in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, whose United States sales are made by its general sales agent, Pan American World Ainvays, Inc. The court held that maintaining a New York office and entering into a general sales agency agreement with Pan American to promote travel on MEA of passengers originating in the United …

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Local Smoke Control Ordinance Not An Undue Burden On Interstate Commerce, John M. Niehuss

Michigan Law Review

In accordance with a scheme of federal ship inspection, appellant possessed certificates which permitted its ships to operate on the Great Lakes and which specified the type of boiler which might be used. While two of its ships were docked in Detroit, smoke was emitted from their boilers in violation of the minimum density and duration requirements of the Detroit Smoke Abatement Code. The equipment which appellant was then using made compliance with the ordinance impossible. When criminal proceedings were instituted against appellant, it brought an action to enjoin the City of Detroit from enforcing the ordinance on the theory …

Labor Law-Fair Labor Standards Act-- Coverage Of Construction Workers, David G. Davies

Michigan Law Review

Respondent construction firm was engaged in building a dam, the sole purpose of which was to enlarge a reservoir that supplied water to the city of Corpus Christi, Texas. Industrial producers of goods for interstate commerce and operators of instrumentalities of interstate commerce consumed nearly half of the water supplied by the city's system. The Secretary of Labor sought an injunction against violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act The district court granted the injunction; the court of appeals reversed, relying primarily upon the "new construction" doctrine. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held …

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Federal Jurisdiction In Trade-Mark Infringement Proceedings Under The Lanham Act, Richard R. Dailey

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's trade-mark, "Minute Maid," had been registered under the Lanham Act in 1952 and had been used in interstate commerce in connection with the sale of frozen fruit juice concentrates since that time. Defendant's trade-mark consisted in part of the words "Minute Made." Defendant used its mark wholly within the State of Florida in the processing and sale of frozen meat products. Both plaintiff and defendant were Florida corporations. In a suit for trade-mark infringement, jurisdiction of the federal district court depended. on the provisions of the Lanham Act. The complaint alleged damage to plaintiff's good will established in interstate …

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - State Statute Requiring Interstate Motor Carrier To Secure A Permit, Marvin O. Young S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner brought an action in an Arkansas state court to enjoin enforcement of a state statute which required all contract carriers using the highways of the state to secure a permit from the state Public Service Commission. The Arkansas Supreme Court found that five driver-owners who had been arrested while transporting petitioner's product in interstate commerce without such a permit were "contract carriers" within the meaning of the statute. Neither petitioner nor any of the drivers had applied for a state permit. Under the terms of the statute, granting of the permit was contingent on certain factors, such as the …

Indiana Gross Income Tax And The Commerce Clause

Indiana Law Journal

Notes and Comments: Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law-Validity Of State Tax On Interstate Carrier Levied In Lieu Of Gasoline Tax. [Virginia]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Use And The Abuse Of The Commerce Clause, Fred'k H. Cooke

Michigan Law Review

The visible universe, from the giant constellation down to the infinitesimal corpuscle, is in a condition of eternal movement, or, we may say, a condition of eternal transportation. Indeed, there seems to be no phenomenon more universal than this transportation. But we are to here consider it merely as a phenomenon of life, in particular, of human life. In common with other higher animals, man possesses organs that characterize him as a being eminently fitted for transportation; his arms; his legs; even his vocal organs, fitted for transportation (or transmission) of the intangible, that is, of intelligence communicated from one …

The Commerce Clause, And Taxation Of Gross Receipts And Of "Intangible Property.", Frederick H. Cooke

Michigan Law Review

The decision in Galveston, Harrisburg &c. Ry. Co. v. Texas curiously, perhaps even painfully, illustrates the confusion that has resulted from the establishment by the Supreme Court of what seem to me to be incompatible rules of taxation. As is well understood, the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution imposes certain restrictions upon action under the authority of a State. That is to say, it is a general rule that has been frequently applied, that no restriction by way of prohibition or otherwise may be validly imposed under the authority of a State upon transportation within the scope of the …