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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 …