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Guillen v. Pierce County9/13/2001
es. . . . Finally, Congress' commerce authority includes the power to regulate those activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce, i.e., those activities that substantially affect interstate commerce. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 558-59 (citations omitted).
The Court then examined the Gun-Free School Zones Act's official Commerce Clause rationale--that the presence of firearms around schools adversely affected the quality of education, thereby adversely affecting future interstate commerce--and concluded that the requisite nexus to interstate commerce activity was missing. Id. at 564-67.
To uphold the Government's contentions here, we would have to pile inference upon inference in a manner that would bid fair to convert congressional authority under the Commerce Clause to a general police power of the sort retained by the States. Admittedly, some of our prior cases have taken long steps down that road, giving great deference to congressional action. . . . The broad language in these opinions has suggested the possibility of additional expansion, but we decline here to proceed any further. To do so would require us to conclude that the Constitution's enumeration of powers does not presuppose something not enumerated . . ., and that there never will be a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local . . . . This we are unwilling to do. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 567-68.
The Court reiterated that same fundamental respect for state sovereignty in Morrison, where a provision of the Violence Against Women Act was declared unconstitutional for lack of a sufficient nexus to interstate commerce:
Petitioners' reasoning, moreover, will not limit Congress to regulating violence but may, as we suggested in Lopez, be applied equally as well to family law and other areas of traditional state regulation since the aggregate effect of marriage, divorce , and childrearing on the national economy is undoubtedly significant. . . . Under our written Constitution, however, the limitation of congressional authority is not solely a matter of legislative grace. Morrison, 529 U.S. at 615-16. 'The Constitution requires a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local.' Id. at 617-18.
Here, Lakewood argues that Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate 'Federal-aid road systems, which undoubtedly are channels and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, as well as road systems within this state that substantially affect interstate commerce.' Lakewood's Opening Br. at 16. For support, the City cites 23 U.S.C. sec. 101(b):
It is hereby declared to be in the national interest to accelerate the construction of the Federal-aid highway systems, including The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, since many of such highways, or portions thereof, are in fact inadequate to meet the needs of local and interstate commerce, for the national and civil defense.
It is further declared that since the Interstate System is now in the final phase of completion it shall be the national policy that increased emphasis be placed on the construction and reconstruction of the other Federal-aid systems in accordance with the first paragraph of this subsection {quoted above}, in order to bring all of the Federal-aid systems up to standards and to increase the safety of these systems to the maximum extent. 23 U.S.C. sec. 101(b).
Certainly, a sufficient nexus exists between interstate commerce and the Federal-aid highway system to justify the 'regulatory scheme when considered as a whole.' Hodel, 452 U.S. at 329 n.17.
However, under Hodel, we must also determine whether
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