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Commerce Clause In Supreme Court Cases

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The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, this clause endows Congress with the power to regulate commerce within the states. The application and intention of this clause has created great debate in American Constitutional law since its inception. Supreme Court cases such as Gibbons V. Ogden (1824), Champion V. Ames (1903), Wickard V. Filburn (1942) and The United States V. Morrison (2000) have all dealt with and set legal precedent in regard to the clause. However the implementation of the clause had never had been so widely scrutinized or debated than The United States V. Lopez (1995). The Supreme Court mishandled the decision regarding the implementation of the Commerce Clause in the case …show more content…

This prohibited the mailing or transferring of Lottery tickets across state lines. A man by the name of Charles Champion sent lottery tickets from Texas to California and was subsequently arrested under the act. This was then challenged on the grounds that just because the commerce clause regulates commerce, does not entail that it has the standing to prohibit commerce of a specific item. Thus arising the Supreme Court case Champion v. Ames (1903). The court came to a very close, 5-to-4, decision that lottery tickets were deemed “subject to traffic”, thus in favor of Charles Champion’s conviction. The court argued that the act’s intentions were to assists the states wishing to protect public morals by criminalizing the sale of lottery tickets. This decision created a very important precedent to follow in regards of the Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court had allocated powers to the Commerce Clause that had previously not existed, thus allocating more authority toward the federal government over states. This decision was highly contested leaving many to believe that too much power was granted to the federal government. However the decision stood and allowed for Congress to regulate traffic as it saw fit within the legal parameters of the constitution. Even if that meant to the extent of outlawing …show more content…

Lopez (1995) Alfonzo Lopez was a senior student in a San Antonino, Texas high school who brought a concealed firearm into class. The following day he was charged with breaking federal criminal laws of “Gun-Free School Zones” an act passed in 1990. This act criminalizes any “individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that [he] knows...is a school zone." Consequently Lopez was found guilty in a bench trail and sentenced to six months imprisonment and two years’ supervised release. Lopez challenged this decision making it all the way to the Supreme Court. The court had to decide is the 1990 Gun- Free school zones act unconstitutional on the basis of the act over stepping the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause? In a narrow 5-4 decision the court asserted yes. They decided that the law is a criminal statute that does not have anything to do with “commerce” or the economy. The court stated that the there was no evidence that pointed toward the carrying of hand guns and having an effect on the economy. Also that if Congress could police an incident so far removed from commerce, then it could police therefor regulate anything. This decision lead by Chief Justice Rehnquist, has scrutinized by many for a variety of

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The case was brought to the Supreme Court where Marshall decided in the favor of Ogden that a state cannot grant exclusive rights because it violated the federal licensing act of 1793. As stated by McBride (2006), Gibbons v. Ogden set the stage for continued expansion of legislative power over commercial. After this case, Congress had ultimate authority over the states to regulate any aspect of their commerce that crossed state lines. More than any other case in Marshall’s Court, Gibbons v. Ogden set the period for the federal government's vast growth of power for centuries to

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