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Is The Question Of Constitutional Authority In Footnote 4 Of Carolene Products?

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This essay was written in response to the following prompt: In his Wickard v. Filburn memorandum, Justice Jackson proposed that questions of constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause might be best thought of as political questions. Evaluate Jackson’s argument applying the reasoning of Baker v. Carr. Is the outcome the same for questions that fall under the categories described in Footnote 4 of Carolene Products? Application of Baker v. Carr in Carolene Products and Wickard Memorandum In order to uphold the constitution, the Supreme Court must always aim to balance power among the branches of government and not overstep boundaries in exercising its own power. For this reason, the debate over handling political questions in the courtroom …show more content…

Filburn Justice Jackson delivers his opinion on the constitutionality of regulating wheat production using the economic aggregate effects of local commerce as the foundation of his argument. However, he was unsatisfied with his lack of explanation regarding political undertones in the case, thus he drafted a memorandum to Wickard v. Filburn. In this memo he expresses his concern over whether questions of authority under the commerce clause are appropriate for the judiciary to decide. To analyze this, he evaluates why it is important for Congress to define its own powers. Firstly, he reasons that in the application of an economic test, “the extent of commerce power is no longer a legal question but an economic, and hence policy one,” and secondly that “legal standards for determining the limit of congressional power are so tenuous and vague” (Gillman, Graber, Whittington, 471). These two concerns represent Justice Jackson’s opinion that some issues are not appropriate for the court to regulate, and they must be left in the hands of Congress. He uses the analogy that, “there is no use for us in our day to repeat the mistake of denying that the world is round because we have a preference for a flat one” (Gillman, Graber, Whittington, 471). This reinforces his opinion that there are instances, especially those that involve the economy, which the Supreme Court is not qualified nor under authority to answer, and must relinquish that power to Congress. Therefore he concludes that it is important to respect that these political questions exist and not force them into the Supreme

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