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A Beautiful Mend: A Game Theoretical Analysis Of The Dormant Commerce Clause Doctrine, Maxwell L. Stearns

William & Mary Law Review

While the Commerce Clause neither mentions federal courts nor expressly prohibits the exercise of state regulatory powers that might operate concurrently with Congressional commerce powers, the Supreme Court has long used the dormant Commerce Clause doctrine to limit the power of states to regulate across a diverse array of subject areas in the absence of federal legislation. Commentators have criticized the Court less for creating the doctrine than for applying it in a seemingly inconsistent, or even haphazard way. Past commentators have recognized that a game theoretical model, the prisoners' dilemma, can explain the role of the dormant Commerce Clause …