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Federalism
Federalism
o (i) Rise and fall of separate spheres doctrine pre- and post-New Deal
o (ii) Importance of congressional factfinding when drafting legislation
o (iii) Adding jurisdictional nexus requirement applying law only to items in or
having moved through interstate commerce more likely to save statute
Step 2: Is the Law Limited by External Limits on Congresss Commerce Clause Powers?
10TH AMEND.: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Rules (Federal regulation of states and state activities):
o (1) Congress CANNOT regulate states in a way that would infringe on states
public function in a sovereign capacity (NOTE: Rule is in flux)
(a) Congress CANNOT interfere with core functions of state sovereignty
(Coyle)
Coyle: Congress cannot compel Okla. to make certain city its state
capital as a condition of entry into the union, because selection of
capital a core function of state sovereignty
Federal regulation of gubernatorial terms, retirement age of state
SC justic also probably invalid
(b) Congress CAN regulate traditional state activities so long as regulation
extends similarly to private actors (New York v. US)
New York: Congress can regulate NYs sale of bottle water from
state-owned springs, because spring water also bottled by private
parties
(c) Congress CAN regulate state functionsincluding traditional state
functionsso long as no large procedural defect in states participation in
the national political process (Garcia)
Garcia: State sovereignty protected through state participation/
representation in national political process, so no need for judicial
intervention absent extraordinary defect in procedural safeguards
for states in national political process
o Holding: Congress can regulate wages and hours of
municipal transit authority employees under Fair Labor
Standards Act)
o Its unworkable for courts to decide what are and are not
traditional state functions (sewage? transportation?);
would merely become exercise of naked judicial preference
for particular state policies (overrules National League of
Cities)
o Rests on idea that states are effective lobbyists in Congress
Field not sure this is correct
o Dissent: Congress cannot be the sole decider of the limits
of the Commerce Clause; the structure of the Constitution
requires the judiciary actively to maintain areas for
independent state action (laboratories of democracy)