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Does Garcia Preclude An Eleventh Amendment Affirmative Limitation On The Congress's Commerce Clause Power?, Joseph John Jablonski Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The recent eleventh amendment decisions of Welch v. Texas Department of Highways & Public Transportation and Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon suggest that the eleventh amendment can affirmatively limit Congress's commerce clause power. However, Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority broadly overrules the tenth amendment case of National League of Cities v. Usery, and appears to remove any theoretical foundation for such a limit. Professor Brown, a recent convert to the "congressional supremacist" view, established by Professors Nowak and Tribe, argues that in the aftermath of Garcia all the states have left is "process with a bite, despite any …