Law Commons^™

Congressional Discretion Under The Property Clause, Eugene R. Gaetke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The property clause of article IV grants Congress the authority to regulate federal lands. In referring to that authority, the Supreme Court has observed that “the power over the public land thus entrusted to Congress is without limitations.”

The simplicity of the Court's statement is appealing. Its implications, however, are troubling, especially for those states in which a substantial amount of federal property exists. If the property clause power of Congress is "without limitations," the power of some states over a considerable portion of the land within their boundaries is severely limited. For those states, an unlimited property clause power …

Applying The International Law Of Sovereign Immunity To The States Of The Union, John M. Rogers

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A state of the Union may preserve its immunity from suit in its own courts, and the Constitution restricts its amenability to suit in the federal courts. Yet in Nevada v. Hall the Supreme Court held that in a motor-vehicle accident case a state cannot claim a constitutional immunity from suit in the courts of a sister state. The Court indicated, however, that if a suit involved a defendant state's “capacity to fulfill its own sovereign responsibilities,” different constitutional considerations might control. In vigorous dissents Justices Blackmun and Rehnquist argued that the reasoning of the majority precluded even this possibility. …