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A Fistful Of Denial: The Supreme Court Takes A Pass On Commerce Clause Challenges To Environmental Laws, John Eastman
A Fistful Of Denial: The Supreme Court Takes A Pass On Commerce Clause Challenges To Environmental Laws, John Eastman
John C. Eastman
Ever since the Supreme Court's landmark decision in United States v. Lopez invalidating the Gun-Free School Zones Act as beyond the scope of Congress's Commerce Clause power, scholarly commentators from both sides of the ideological spectrum have wondered whether the Court would apply the reasoning of that case in the context of federal environmental laws. Many agreed that, if faithfully applied, Lopez sounded a death knell for a slew of environmental legislation that had at best only a tenuous connection with interstate commerce. For some, that was even more reason to deride the Lopez decision, but for originalists, it was …
The Revival Of Federalism, John C. Eastman
The Revival Of Federalism, John C. Eastman
John C. Eastman
This article explores the efforts over the past quarter century by the conservative public interest law movement to revive the principle of federalism and, ultimately, the notion that the federal government is one of only limited, enumerated powers. Focussing on the Commerce Clause, the article traces the original meaning of the powers of the federal government over interstate commerce, as those powers were understood by those who drafted and ratified the Constitution, and contrasts that understanding with the expansionist view of the Commerce Clause adopted by the New Deal Court, which became the ruling orthodoxy for more than half a …