Unites States v. Morrison, the Commerce Clause and the Substantial Effects Test: No Substantial Limit on Federal Power
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Authors
Mark, Arthur B. III
Issue Date
2001
Volume
34
Issue
3
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|In 1850, the French political economist Frederic Bastiat decried the laws under European monarchs as "the law perverted! . . . the law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose!" Bastiat implored his readers to "look at the United States ... where the law is kept more within its proper domain." In looking at United States v. Morrison, and its underlying rationale, Bastiat would see the law "turned from its proper purpose and made to follow an entirely different purpose." The law in question is the Commerce Clause, part of Article I, section of the United States Constitution, a section devoted to limiting the federal government's reach into the lives of individuals through commerce. During the New Deal era, the Court transformed the Commerce Clause from its proper purpose of placing a limit on what conduct the federal government could control. By creating the substantial effects test in 1937, the Court turned the Commerce Clause into a license under which Congress began regulating all manner of private conduct...
Description
Citation
34 Creighton L. Rev. 675 (2000-2001)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law