Annotated United States Constitution 2002 - PDFCOFFEE.COM (2024)

108th Congress 2d Session

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SENATE

DOCUMENT No. 108–17

THE CONSTITUTION of the

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

ANALYSIS OF CASES DECIDED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES TO JUNE 28, 2002

PREPARED

BY THE

CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE LIBRARY

OF

CONGRESS

JOHNNY H. KILLIAN GEORGE A. COSTELLO KENNETH R. THOMAS CO-EDITORS DAVID M. ACKERMAN HENRY COHEN ROBERT MELTZ CONTRIBUTORS

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 77–500 PS

WASHINGTON : 2004

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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001

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AUTHORIZATION

HISTORICAL NOTE PUBLIC LAW 91-589, 84 STAT. 1585, 2 U.S.C. § 168 JOINT RESOLUTION Authorizing the preparation and printing of a revised edition of the Constitution of the United States of America--Analysis and Interpretation, of decennial revised editions thereof, and of biennial cumulative supplements to such revised editions.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America-Analysis and Interpretation, published in 1964 as Senate Document Numbered 39, Eighty-eighth Congress, serves a very useful purpose by supplying essential information, not only to the Members of Congress but also to the public at large; Whereas such document contains annotations of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 22, 1964; Whereas many cases bearing significantly upon the analysis and interpretation of the Constitution have been decided by the Supreme Court since June 22, 1964; Whereas the Congress, in recognition of the usefulness of this type of document, has in the last half century since 1913, ordered the preparation and printing of revised editions of such a document on six occasions at intervals of from ten to fourteen years; and Whereas the continuing usefulness and importance of such a document will be greatly enhanced by revision at shorter intervals on a regular schedule and thus made more readily available to Members and Committees by means of pocket-part supplements: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Librarian of Congress shall have prepared-(1) a hardbound revised edition of the Constitution of the United States of America--Analysis and Interpretation, published as Senate Document Numbered 39, Eightyeighth Congress (referred to hereinafter as the ‘‘Constitution Annotated’’), which shall contain annotations of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States through III

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the end of the October 1971 term of the Supreme Court, construing provisions of the Constitution; (2) upon the completion of each of the October 1973, October 1975, October 1977, and October 1979 terms of the Supreme Court, a cumulative pocket-part supplement to the hardbound revised edition of the Constitution Annotated prepared pursuant to clause (1), which shall contain cumulative annotations of all such decisions rendered by the Supreme Court after the end of the October 1971 term; (3) upon the completion of the October 1981 term of the Supreme Court, and upon the completion of each tenth October term of the Supreme Court thereafter, a hardbound decennial revised edition of the Constitution Annotated, which shall contain annotations of all decisions theretofore rendered by the Supreme Court construing provisions of the Constitution; and (4) upon the completion of the October 1983 term of the Supreme Court, and upon the completion of each subsequent October term of the Supreme Court beginning in an oddnumbered year (the final digit of which is not a 1), a cumulative pocket-part supplement to the most recent hardbound decennial revised edition of the Constitution Annotated, which shall contain cumulative annotations of all such decisions rendered by the Supreme Court which were not included in that hardbound decennial revised edition of the Constitution Annotated. Sec. 2. All hardbound revised editions and all cumulative pocket-part supplements shall be printed as Senate documents. Sec. 3. There shall be printed four thousand eight hundred and seventy additional copies of the hardbound revised editions prepared pursuant to clause (1) of the first section and of all cumulative pocket-part supplements thereto, of which two thousands six hundred and thirty-four copies shall be for the use of the House of Representatives, one thousand two hundred and thirty-six copies shall be for the use of the Senate, and one thousand copies shall be for the use of the Joint Committee on Printing. All Members of the Congress, Vice Presidents of the United States, and Delegates and Resident Commissioners, newly elected subsequent to the issuance of the hardbound revised edition prepared pursuant to such clause and prior to the first hardbound decennial revised edition, who did not receive a copy of the edition prepared pursuant to such clause, shall,

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upon timely request, receive one copy of such edition and the then current cumulative pocket-part supplement and any further supplements thereto. All Members of the Congress, Vice Presidents of the United States, and Delegates and Resident Commissioners, no longer serving after the issuance of the hardbound revised edition prepared pursuant to such clause and who received such edition, may receive one copy of each cumulative pocket-part supplement thereto upon timely request. Sec. 4. Additional copies of each hardbound decennial revised edition and of the cumulative pocket-part supplements thereto shall be printed and distributed in accordance with the provisions of any concurrent resolution hereafter adopted with respect thereto. Sec. 5. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums, to remain available until expended, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this joint resolution. Approved December 24, 1970.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE 2002 EDITION Fifty years ago, Professor Edward S. Corwin wrote an introduction to this treatise that broadly explored then existent trends of constitutional adjudication. In some respects – the law of federalism, the withdrawal of judicial supervision of economic regulation, the continued expansion of presidential power and the consequent overshadowing of Congress – he has been confirmed in his evaluations. But, in other respects, entire new vistas of fundamental law of which he was largely unaware have opened up. Brown v. Board of Education was but two Terms of the Court away, and the revolution in race relations brought about by all three branches of the federal government could have been only dimly perceived. The apportionmentdistricting decisions were still blanketed in time; abortion as a constitutionally protected liberty was unheralded. The Supreme Court’s application of many provisions of the Bill of Rights to the States was then nascent, and few could anticipate that the expanded meaning and application of these Amendments would prove revolutionary. Fifty years has also exposed the ebb and flow of constitutional law, from the liberal activism of the 1960s and 1970s to a more recent posture of judicial restraint or even conservative activism. Throughout this period of change, however, certain movements, notably expansion of the protection of speech and press, continued apace despite ideological shifts. This brief survey is primarily a suggestive review of the Court’s treatment of the doctrines of constitutional law over the last fifty years, with a closer focus on issues that have arisen since the last volume of this treatise was published ten years ago. For instance, in previous editions we noted the rise of federalism concerns, but only in the last decade has the strength of the Court’s deference toward states become apparent. Conversely, in this treatise as well as in previous ones, we note the rise of the equal protection clause as a central concept of constitutional jurisprudence in the period 1952-1982. Although that rise has somewhat abated in recent years, the clause remains one of the predominant sources of constitutional constraints upon the Federal Government and the States. Similarly, the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, recently slowed in their expansion, remain significant both in terms of procedural protections for civil and criminal litigants and in terms of the application of substantive due process to personal liberties. I Issues relating to national federalism as a doctrine have proved to be far more pervasive and encompassing than it was possible to anticipate in 1952. In some respects, of course, later cases only confirmed those decisions already on the books. The foremost example of this confirmation has been the enlargement of congressional power under the commerce clause. The expansive reading of that clause’s authorization to Congress to reach many local incidents of business and production was already apparent by 1952. Despite the abundance of new legislation under this power during the 1960s to 1980s, the doctrine itself was scarcely enlarged beyond the limits of that earlier period. Under the commerce clause, Congress can assert legislative jurisdiction on the basis of movement over a state boundary, whether antecedent or subsequent to the point of regulation; can regulate other elements touching upon those transactions, such as instruments of transportation; or can legislate solely upon the premise that certain transactions by their nature alone or as part of a class sufficiently affect interstate commerce as to warrant national regulation. Civil rights laws touching public accommodations and housing, environmental laws affecting land use regulation, criminal laws, and employment regulations touching health and safety are only the leading examples of enhanced federal activity under this authority. Over the last decade, however, the Court has established limits on the seemingly irrevocable expansion of the commerce power. While the Court has declined to overrule even its most expansive rulings regarding ‘‘effects’’ on commerce, it has recently limited the exercise of this authority to the regulation of activities which were both economic in nature and which

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had a nontrivial or ‘‘substantial’’ affect on commerce (although regulation of non-economic activity would still be allowed if it is an essential part of a larger economic regulatory scheme). The Court also seems far less likely to defer to Congressional findings of the existence of an economic effect. The relevant cases arose in an area of traditional state concern – the regulation of criminal activity – and the new doctrine resulted in the invalidation of recently-passed federal laws, including a ban on gun possession in schools and the provision of civil remedies to compensate gender-motivated violence. The exercise of authority over commerce by the states, on the other hand, has over the last fifty years been greatly restricted by federal statutes and a broad doctrine of federal preemption, increasingly resulting in the setting of national standards. Only under Chief Justice Burger and Chief Justice Rehnquist was the Court not so readily prepared to favor preemption, especially in the area of labor-management relations. The Court did briefly inhibit federal regulation with respect to the States’ own employees, but this decision failed to secure a stable place in the doctrine of federalism, being overruled in less than a decade. Also noteworthy has been a rather strict application of the negative aspect of the commerce clause to restrain state actions that either discriminate against or too much inhibit interstate commerce. Much of the same trend toward national standards has resulted from application of the Bill of Rights to the States through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, a matter dealt with in greater detail below. The Court has again and again held that when a provision of the Bill of Rights is applied, it means the same whether a State or the Federal Government is the challenged party (although a small but consistent minority has argued otherwise). Some flexibility, however, has been afforded the States by the judicial loosening of the standards of some of these provisions, as in the characteristics of the jury trial requirement. Adoption of the exclusionary rule in Fourth Amendment and other cases also looked to a national standard, but the more recent disparagement of the rule by majorities of the Court has relaxed its application to both States and Nation. While the Tenth Amendment would appear to represent one of the most clear statements of a federalist principle in the Constitution, it has historically had a relatively insignificant role in limiting federal powers. Although the Court briefly interpreted the Tenth Amendment in the 1970s substantively to protect certain ‘‘core’’ state functions from generally applicable laws, this distinction soon proved unworkable, and was overruled a decade late. More recently, the Court reserved the question as to whether a law regulating only state activities would be constitutionally suspect, although a workable test for this distinction has not yet been articulated. However, limits on the process by which the federal government regulates the states, developed over the most recent decade, have proved more resilient. This becomes important when the Congress is unsatisfied with the most common methods of influencing state regulations – grant conditions or conditional imposition of federal regulations (states being given the opportunity to avoid such regulation by effectuating their own regulatory schemes). Only in those cases where the Congress attempts to directly ‘‘commandeer’’ state legislatures or executive branch officials, i.e. ordering states to legislate or execute federal laws, has the Tenth Amendment served as an effective bar. The concept of state sovereign immunity from citizen suits has also been infused with new potency over the last decade, while exposing deep theoretical differences between the Justices. To four of the Justices, state sovereign immunity is limited to the textual restriction articulated in the Eleventh Amendment, which prevents citizens of one state from bringing a federal suit against another state. To five Justices, however, the Eleventh Amendment was merely a technical correction made by Congress after an erroneous approval by the Court of a citizen-state diversity suit in Chisholm v. Georgia. These justices prefer the reasoning of the post-Eleventh Amendment case of Hans v. Louisiana, which, using non-textual precepts of federalism, dismissed a constitutionally-based suit against a state by its own citizens. The true significance of this latter case was not realized until 1992 in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, where the Court made clear that suits by citizens against states brought under federal statutes also could not stand, at least if the statutes were based on Congress’s Article I powers. The ‘‘fundamental postulate’’ of deference to the ‘‘dignity’’ of state sovereignty was also the basis for the

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Court’s recent decisions to prohibit federal claims by citizens against states in either a state’s own courts or federal agencies. The Court has ruled that Congress can abrogate state sovereign immunity under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court, however, has also recently shown a significant lack of deference to Congress regarding this Civil War era power, requiring a showing of ‘‘congruence and proportionality’’ between the alleged harm to constitutional rights and the legislative remedy. Thus, states have been found to remain immune from federal damage suits for such issues as disability discrimination or patent infringement, while the Congress has been found to be without any power to protect religious institutions from the application of generally applicable state laws. Further, where Congress attempted to create a federal private right of action for victims of gender-related violence, alleging discriminatory treatment of these cases by the state, the Court also found that Congress exceeded its mandate, as the enforcement power of the 14th Amendment can only be applied against state discrimination. In all these case, the Court found that Congress had not sufficiently identified patterns of unconstitutional conduct by the States. The overriding view of the present Court is that where it has discretion, even absent constitutional mandate, it will apply federalism concerns to limit federal powers. For instance, the equity powers of the federal courts to interfere in ongoing state court proceedings and to review state court criminal convictions under habeas corpus have been curtailed, invoking a doctrine of comity and prudential restraint. But the critical fact, the scope of congressional power to regulate private activity, remains: the limits on congressional power under the commerce clause and other Article I powers, as well as under the power to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments, remain principally those of congressional self-restraint. II For much of the latter half of the 20th century, aggregation of national power in the presidency continued unabated. The trend was not much resisted by congressional majorities, which, indeed, continued to delegate power to the Executive Branch and to the independent agencies at least to the same degree or greater than before. The President himself assumed the existence of a substantial reservoir of inherent power to effectuate his policies, most notably in the field of foreign affairs and national defense. Only in the wake of the Watergate affair did Congress move to assert itself and to attempt to claim some form of partnership with the President. This is most notable with respect to war powers and the declaration of national emergencies, but is also true for domestic presidential concerns, as in the controversy over the power of the President to impound appropriated funds. Perhaps coincidentally, the Supreme Court during the same period effected a strong judicial interest in the adjudication of separation-of-powers controversies. Previously, despite its use of separation-of-powers language, the Court did little to involve itself in actual controversies, save perhaps the Myers and Humphrey litigations over the President’s power to remove executive branch officials. But that restraint evaporated in 1976. Since then there have been several Court decisions in this area, although in Buckley v. Valeo and subsequent cases the Court appeared to cast the judicial perspective favorably upon presidential prerogative. In other cases statutory construction was utilized to preserve the President’s discretion. Only very recently has the Court evolved an arguably consistent standard in this area, a two-pronged standard of aggrandizement and impairment, but the results still are cast in terms of executive preeminence. The larger conflict has been political, and the Court resisted many efforts to involve it in litigation over the use of troops in Vietnam. In the context of treaty termination, the Court came close to declaring the resurgence of the political question doctrine to all such executivecongressional disputes. Nevertheless, a significant congressional interest in achieving a new and different balance between the political branches appears to have survived cessation of the Vietnam conflict. Future congressional assertion of this interest may well involve the judiciary to a much greater extent, and, in any event, the congressional branch is not without effective weapons of its own in this regard.

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III The Court’s practice of overturning economic legislation under principles of substantive due process in order to protect ‘‘property’’ was already in sharp decline when Professor Corwin wrote his introduction in the 1950s. In a few isolated cases, however, especially regarding the obligation of contracts clause and perhaps the expansion of the regulatory takings doctrine, the Court demonstrated that some life is left in the old doctrines. On the other hand, the word ‘‘liberty’’ in the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment has been seized upon by the Court to harness substantive due process to the protection of certain personal and familial privacy rights, most controversially in the abortion cases. Although the decision in Roe v. Wade seemed to foreshadow broad constitutional protections for personal activities, this has not occurred, as much due to conceptual difficulties as to ideological resistance. While early iterations of a right to ‘‘privacy’’ or ‘‘to be let alone’’ seemed to involve both the notion that certain information should be ‘‘private’’ and the idea that certain personal ‘‘activities’’ should only be lightly regulated, the logical limits of these precepts were difficult to discern. Most recently, the Court has rejected the proposition that all ‘‘private’’ conduct, e.g., sexual activities between members of the same sex, is constitutionally protected. In effect, the privacy cases appear to have been limited to issues of marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, medical decision making and child rearing. Whereas much of the Bill of Rights is directed toward prescribing the process of how governments may permissibly deprive one of life, liberty, or property – for example by judgment of a jury of one’s peers or with evidence seized through reasonable searches – the First Amendment is by its terms both substantive and absolute. While the application of the First Amendment has never been presumed to be so absolute, the effect has often been indistinguishable. Thus, the trend over the years has been to withdraw more and more speech and ‘‘speech-plus’’ from the regulatory and prohibitive hand of government and to free not only speech directed to political ends but speech that is totally unrelated to any political purpose. The constitutionalization of the law of defamation, narrowing the possibility of recovery for damage caused by libelous and slanderous criticism of public officials, political candidates, and public figures, epitomizes this trend. In addition, the government’s right to proscribe the advocacy of violence or unlawful activity has become more restricted. Obscenity abstractly remains outside the protective confines of the First Amendment, but the Court’s changing definitional approach to what may be constitutionally denominated obscenity has closely confined most governmental action taken against the verbal and pictorial representation of matters dealing with sex. The association of the right to spend for political purposes with the right to associate together for political activity has meant that much governmental regulation of campaign finance and of limitations upon the political activities of citizens and public employees had become suspect if not impermissible. Commercial speech, long the outcast of the First Amendment, now enjoys a protected if subordinate place in free speech jurisprudence. Freedom to picket, to broadcast leaflets, and to engage in physical activity representative of one’s political, social, economic, or other views, enjoy wide though not unlimited protection. It may be that a differently constituted Court would narrow the scope of the Amendment’s protection and enlarge the permissible range of governmental action. But, in contrast to other areas in which the present Court has varied from its predecessor, the record with respect to the First Amendment has been one of substantial though uneven expansion of precedent. IV Unremarked by scholars of some fifty years ago was the place of the equal protection clause in constitutional jurisprudence – simply because at that time Holmes’ pithy characterization of it as a ‘‘last resort’’ argument was generally true. Subsequently, however, especially during the Warren era, equal protection litigation occupied a position of almost predominant character in each Term’s output. The rational basis standard of review of different treatments of individuals, businesses, or subjects remained of little concern to the Justices. Rather, the clause blossomed after Brown v. Board of Education, as the Court confronted state and local laws and ordinances drawn on the basis of race. This aspect of the doctrinal use of the clause is still very evident on the Court’s docket, though in ever new and interesting forms.

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Of worthy attention has been the application of equal protection, now in a three-tier or multi-tier set of standards of review, to legislation and other governmental action classifying on the basis of sex, illegitimacy, and alienage. Of equal importance was the elaboration of the concept of ‘‘fundamental’’ rights, so that when the government restricts one of these rights, it must show not merely a reasonable basis for its actions but a justification based upon compelling necessity. Wealth distinctions in the criminal process, for instance, were viewed with hostility and generally invalidated. The right to vote, nowhere expressly guaranteed in the Constitution (but protected against abridgment on certain grounds in the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments) nonetheless was found to require the invalidation of all but the most simple voter qualifications; most barriers to ballot access by individuals and parties; and the practice of apportionment of state legislatures on any basis other than population. Recently, in the controversial decision of Bush v. Gore, the Court relied on the right to vote in effectively ending the disputed 2000 presidential election, noting that the Florida Supreme Court had allowed the use of non-uniform standards to evaluate challenged ballots. Although the Court’s decision was of real political import, it was so limited by its own terms that it carries no doctrinal significance. In other respects, the reconstituted Court has made some tentative rearrangements of equal protection doctrinal developments. The suspicion-of-wealth classification was largely though not entirely limited to the criminal process. Governmental discretion in the political process was enlarged a small degree. But the record generally is one of consolidation and maintenance of the doctrines, a refusal to go forward much but also a disinclination to retreat much. Only very recently has the Court, in decisional law largely cast in remedial terms, begun to dismantle some of the structure of equal protection constraints on institutions, such as schools, prisons, state hospitals, and the like. Now, we see the beginnings of a sea change in the Court’s perspective on legislative and executive remedial action, affecting affirmative action and race conscious steps in the electoral process, with the equal protection clause being used to cabin political discretion. V Finally, criminal law and criminal procedure during the 1960s and 1970s was doctrinally unstable. The story of the 1960s was largely one of the imposition of constitutional constraint upon federal and state criminal justice systems. Application of the Bill of Rights to the States was but one aspect of this story, as the Court also constructed new teeth for these guarantees. For example, the privilege against self-incrimination was given new and effective meaning by requiring that it be observed at the police interrogation stage and furthermore that criminal suspects be informed of their rights under it. The right was also expanded, as was the Sixth Amendment guarantee of counsel, by requiring the furnishing of counsel or at least the opportunity to consult counsel at ‘‘critical’’ stages of the criminal process – interrogation, preliminary hearing, and the like – rather than only at and proximate to trial. An expanded exclusionary rule was applied to keep material obtained in violation of the suspect’s search and seizure, selfincrimination, and other rights out of evidence. In sentencing, substantive as well as procedural guarantees have come in and out of favor. The law of capital punishment, for instance, has followed a course of meandering development, with the Court almost doing away with it and then approving its revival by the States. More recently, awakened legislative interest in the sentencing process, such as providing enhanced sentences for ‘‘hate crimes,’’ has faltered on holdings that increasing the maximum sentence for a crime can only be based on facts submitted to a jury, not a judge, and that such facts must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. During the last two decades, however, the Court has also redrawn some of these lines. The self-incrimination and right-to-counsel doctrines have been eroded in part (although in no respect has the Court returned to the constitutional jurisprudence prevailing before the 1960s). The exclusionary rule has been cabined and redefined in several limiting ways. Search and seizure doctrine has been revised to enlarge police powers. And, most recently, for instance, the exception for ‘‘special needs’’ has allowed such practices as suspicionless, random drug-testing in the workplace and at schools.

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An expansion of the use of habeas corpus powers of the federal courts undergirded the 1960s procedural and substantive development, thus sweeping away many jurisdictional restrictions previously imposed upon the exercise of review of state criminal convictions. Concomitantly with the narrowing of the precedents of the 1950s and 1960s Court, however, came a retraction of federal habeas powers, both by the Court and through federal legislation. VI The last five decades were among the most significant in the Court’s history. They saw some of the most sustained efforts to change the Court or its decisions or both with respect to a substantial number of issues. On only a few past occasions was the Court so centrally a subject of political debate and controversy in national life or an object of contention in presidential elections. One can doubt that the public any longer perceives the Court as an institution above political dispute, any longer believes that the answers to difficult issues in litigation before the Justices may be found solely in the text of the document entrusted to their keeping. Despite cases such as Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore, however, the Court still seems to enjoy the respect of the bar and the public generally. Its decisions are generally accorded uncoerced acquiescence, and its pronouncements are accepted as authoritative, binding constructions of the constitutional instrument. Indeed, it can be argued that the disappearance of the myth of the absence of judicial choice strengthens the Court as an institution to the degree that it explains and justifies the exercise of discretion in those areas of controversy in which the Constitution does not speak clearly or in which different sections lead to different answers. The public attitude thus established is then better enabled to understand division within the Court and within the legal profession generally, and all sides are therefore seen to be entitled to the respect accorded the search for answers. Although the Court’s workload has declined of late, a significant proportion of its cases are still ‘‘hard’’ cases; while hard cases need not make bad law they do in fact lead to division among the Justices and public controversy. Increased sophistication, then, about the Court’s role and its methods can only redound to its benefit.

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HISTORICAL NOTE ON FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION In June 1774, the Virginia and Massachusetts assemblies independently proposed an intercolonial meeting of delegates from the several colonies to restore union and harmony between Great Britain and her American Colonies. Pursuant to these calls there met in Philadelphia in September of that year the first Continental Congress, composed of delegates from 12 colonies. On October 14, 1774, the assembly adopted what has become to be known as the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress. In that instrument, addressed to his Majesty and to the people of Great Britain, there was embodied a statement of rights and principles, many of which were later to be incorporated in the Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution. 1 This Congress adjourned in October with a recommendation that another Congress be held in Philadelphia the following May. Before its successor met, the battle of Lexington had been fought. In Massachusetts the colonists had organized their own government in defiance of the royal governor and the Crown. Hence, by general necessity and by common consent, the second Continental Congress assumed control of the ‘‘Twelve United Colonies’’, soon to become the ‘‘Thirteen United Colonies’’ by the cooperation of Georgia. It became a de facto government; it called upon the other colonies to assist in the defense of Massachusetts; it issued bills of credit; it took steps to organize a military force, and appointed George Washington commander in chief of the Army. While the declaration of the causes and necessities of taking up arms of July 6, 1775, 2 expressed a ‘‘wish’’ to see the union between Great Britain and the colonies ‘‘restored’’, sentiment for independence was growing. Finally, on May 15, 1776, Virginia instructed her delegates to the Continental Congress to have that body ‘‘declare the united colonies free and independent States.’’ 3 Accordingly on June 7 a resolution was introduced in Con1 The colonists, for example, claimed the right ‘‘to life, liberty, and property’’, ‘‘the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural-born subjects within the realm of England’’; the right to participate in legislative councils; ‘‘the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of [the common law of England]’’; ‘‘the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws’’; ‘‘a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king.’’ They further declared that the keeping of a standing army in the colonies in time of peace without the consent of the colony in which the army was kept was ‘‘against law’’; that it was ‘‘indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other’’; that certain acts of Parliament in contravention of the foregoing principles were ‘‘infringement and violations of the rights of the colonists.’’ Text in C. Tansill (ed.), Documents Illustrative of the Formation of the Union of the American States, H. Doc. No. 358, 69th Congress, 1st sess. (1927), 1. See also H. Commager (ed.), Documents of American History (New York; 8th ed. 1964), 82. 2 Text in Tansill, op. cit., 10. 3 Id. at 19.

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gress declaring the union with Great Britain dissolved, proposing the formation of foreign alliances, and suggesting the drafting of a plan of confederation to be submitted to the respective colonies. 4 Some delegates argued for confederation first and declaration afterwards. This counsel did not prevail. Independence was declared on July 4, 1776; the preparation of a plan of confederation was postponed. It was not until November 17, 1777, that the Congress was able to agree on a form of government which stood some chance of being approved by the separate States. The Articles of Confederation were then submitted to the several States, and on July 9, 1778, were finally approved by a sufficient number to become operative. Weaknesses inherent in the Articles of Confederation became apparent before the Revolution out of which that instrument was born had been concluded. Even before the thirteenth State (Maryland) conditionally joined the ‘‘firm league of friendship’’ on March 1, 1781, the need for a revenue amendment was widely conceded. Congress under the Articles lacked authority to levy taxes. She could only request the States to contribute their fair share to the common treasury, but the requested amounts were not forthcoming. To remedy this defect, Congress applied to the States for power to lay duties and secure the public debts. Twelve States agreed to such an amendment, but Rhode Island refused her consent, thereby defeating the proposal. Thus was emphasized a second weakness in the Articles of Confederation, namely, the liberum veto which each State possessed whenever amendments to that instrument were proposed. Not only did all amendments have to be ratified by each of the 13 States, but all important legislation needed the approval of 9 States. With several delegations often absent, one or two States were able to defeat legislative proposals of major importance. Other imperfections in the Articles of Confederation also proved embarrassing. Congress could, for example, negotiate treaties with foreign powers, but all treaties had to be ratified by the several States. Even when a treaty was approved, Congress lacked authority to secure obedience to its stipulations. Congress could not act directly upon the States or upon individuals. Under such circumstances foreign nations doubted the value of a treaty with the new Republic. Furthermore, Congress had no authority to regulate foreign or interstate commerce. Legislation in this field, subject to unimportant exceptions, was left to the individual States. Disputes between States with common interests in the navigation of certain rivers and bays were inevitable. Discriminatory regulations were followed by reprisals. Virginia, recognizing the need for an agreement with Maryland respecting the navigation and jurisdiction of the Potomac River, appointed in June 1784, four commissioners to ‘‘frame such liberal and equitable regulations concerning the said river as may be mutually advantageous to the two 4 Id.

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States.’’ Maryland in January 1785 responded to the Virginia resolution by appointing a like number of commissioners 5 ‘‘for the purpose of settling the navigation and jurisdiction over that part of the bay of Chesapeake which lies within the limits of Virginia, and over the rivers Potomac and Pocomoke’’ with full power on behalf of Maryland ‘‘to adjudge and settle the jurisdiction to be exercised by the said State, respectively, over the waters and navigations of the same.’’ At the invitation of Washington the commissioners met at Mount Vernon, in March 1785, and drafted a compact which, in many of its details relative to the navigation and jurisdiction of the Potomac, is still in force. 6 What is more important, the commissioners submitted to their respective States a report in favor of a convention of all the States ‘‘to take into consideration the trade and commerce’’ of the Confederation. Virginia, in January 1786, advocated such a convention, authorizing its commissioners to meet with those of other States, at a time and place to be agreed on, ‘‘to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situations and trade of the said State; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several State, such an act relative to this great object, as when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress, effectually to provide for the same.’’ 7 This proposal for a general trade convention seemingly met with general approval; nine States appointed commissioners. Under the leadership of the Virginia delegation, which included Randolph and Madison, Annapolis was accepted as the place and the first Monday in September 1786 as the time for the convention. The attendance at Annapolis proved disappointing. Only five States--Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York--were represented; delegates from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island failed to attend. Because of the small representation, the Annapolis convention did not deem ‘‘it advisable to proceed on the business of their mission.’’ After an exchange of views, the Annapolis delegates unanimously submitted to their respective States a report in which they suggested that a convention of representatives from all the States meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May 1787 to examine the defects in the existing system of government and formulate ‘‘a plan for supplying such defects as may be discovered.’’ 8 The Virginia legislature acted promptly upon this recommendation and appointed a delegation to go to Philadelphia. Within a few weeks New Jer5 George Mason, Edmund Randolph, James Madison, and Alexander Henderson were appointed commissioners for Virginia; Thomas Johnson, Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer for Maryland. 6 Text of the resolution and details of the compact may be found in Wheaton v. Wise, 153 U.S. 155 (1894). 7 Transill, op. cit., 38. 8 Id. at 39.

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sey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, and Georgia also made appointments. New York and several other States hesitated on the ground that, without the consent of the Continental Congress, the work of the convention would be extra-legal; that Congress alone could propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Washington was quite unwilling to attend an irregular convention. Congressional approval of the proposed convention became, therefore, highly important. After some hesitancy Congress approved the suggestion for a convention at Philadelphia ‘‘for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union.’’ Thereupon, the remaining States, Rhode Island alone excepted, appointed in due course delegates to the Convention, and Washington accepted membership on the Virginia delegation. Although scheduled to convene on May 14, 1787, it was not until May 25 that enough delegates were present to proceed with the organization of the Convention. Washington was elected as presiding officer. It was agreed that the sessions were to be strictly secret. On May 29 Randolph, on behalf of the Virginia delegation, submitted to the convention 15 propositions as a plan of government. Despite the fact that the delegates were limited by their instructions to a revision of the Articles, Virginia had really recommended a new instrument of government. For example, provision was made in the Virginia plan for the separation of the three branches of government; under the Articles executive, legislative, and judicial powers were vested in the Congress. Furthermore the legislature was to consist of two houses rather than one. On May 30 the Convention went into a committee of the whole to consider the 15 propositions of the Virginia plan seriatim. These discussions continued until June 13, when the Virginia resolutions in amended form were reported out of committee. They provided for proportional representation in both houses. The small States were dissatisfied. Therefore, on June 14 when the Convention was ready to consider the report on the Virginia plan, Paterson of New Jersey requested an adjournment to allow certain delegations more time to prepare a substitute plan. The request was granted, and on the next day Paterson submitted nine resolutions embodying important changes in the Articles of Confederation, but strictly amendatory in nature. Vigorous debate followed. On June 19 the States rejected the New Jersey plan and voted to proceed with a discussion of the Virginia plan. The small States became more and more discontented; there were threats of withdrawal. On July 2, the Convention was deadlocked over giving each

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State an equal vote in the upper house--five States in the affirmative, five in the negative, one divided. 9 The problem was referred to a committee of 11, there being 1 delegate from each State, to effect a compromise. On July 5 the committee submitted its report, which became the basis for the ‘‘great compromise’’ of the Convention. It was recommended that in the upper house each State should have an equal vote, that in the lower branch each State should have one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, counting three-fifths of the slaves, that money bills should originate in the lower house (not subject to amendment by the upper chamber). When on July 12 the motion of Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania that direct taxation should also be in proportion to representation was adopted, a crisis had been successfully surmounted. A compromise spirit began to prevail. The small States were now willing to support a strong national government. Debates on the Virginia resolutions continued. The 15 original resolutions had been expanded into 23. Since these resolutions were largely declarations of principles, on July 24 a committee of five 10 was elected to draft a detailed constitution embodying the fundamental principles which had thus far been approved. The Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of its committee of detail. This committee, in preparing its draft of a Constitution, turned for assistance to the State constitutions, to the Articles of Confederation, to the various plans which had been submitted to the Convention and other available material. On the whole the report of the committee conformed to the resolutions adopted by the Convention, though on many clauses the members of the committee left the imprint of their individual and collective judgments. In a few instances the committee avowedly exercised considerable discretion. From August 6 to September 10 the report of the committee of detail was discussed, section by section, clause by clause. Details were attended to, further compromises were effected. Toward the close of these discussions, on September 8, another committee of five 11 was appointed ‘‘to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house.’’ On Wednesday, September 12, the report of the committee of style was ordered printed for the convenience of the delegates. The Convention for 3 days compared this report with the proceedings of the Convention. The Constitution was ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15. The Convention met on Monday, September 17, for its final session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result. A few deemed the new Constitution a mere makeshift, a series of unfortunate compromises. The advocates of the Constitution, realizing the impending difficulty of obThe New Hampshire delegation did not arrive until July 23, 1787. Rutledge of South Carolina, Randolph of Virginia, Gorham of Massachusetts, Ellsworth of Connecticut, and Wilson of Pennsylvania. 11 William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, Alexander Hamilton of New York, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, James Madison of Virginia, and Rufus King of Massachusetts. 9

10

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taining the consent of the States to the new instrument of Government, were anxious to obtain the unanimous support of the delegations from each State. It was feared that many of the delegates would refuse to give their individual assent to the Constitution. Therefore, in order that the action of the Convention would appear to be unanimous, Gouverneur Morris devised the formula ‘‘Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present the 17th of September...In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.’’ Thirty-nine of the forty-two delegates present thereupon ‘‘subscribed’’ to the document. 12 The convention had been called to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it reported to the Continental Congress a new Constitution. Furthermore, while the Articles specified that no amendments should be effective until approved by the legislatures of all the States, the Philadelphia Convention suggested that the new Constitution should supplant the Articles of Confederation when ratified by conventions in nine States. For these reasons, it was feared that the new Constitution might arouse opposition in Congress. Three members of the Convention--Madison, Gorham, and King--were also Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Congress was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of their vanishing authority, Congress on September 28, after some debate, decided to submit the Constitution to the States for action. It made no recommendation for or against adoption. Two parties soon developed, one in opposition and one in support of the Constitution, and the Constitution was debated, criticized, and expounded clause by clause. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote a series of commentaries, now known as the Federalist Papers, in support of the new instrument of government. 13 The closeness and bitterness of the struggle over ratification and the conferring of additional powers on the central government can scarcely be exaggerated. In some States ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the State convention itself. Delaware, on December 7, 1787, became the first State to ratify the new Constitution, the vote being unanimous. Pennsylvania ratified on December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23, a vote scarcely indicative of the struggle which had taken place in that State. New Jersey ratified on December 19, 1787, and Georgia on January 2, 1788, the vote in both States being unanimous. Connecticut ratified on January 9, 1788; yeas 128, nays 40. On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts, by a narrow margin of 19 votes in a convention with a membership of 355, endorsed the new Constitution, but rec12 At least 65 persons had received appointments as delegates to the Convention; 55 actually attended at different times during the course of the proceedings; 39 signed the document. It has been estimated that generally fewer than 30 delegates attended the daily sessions. 13 These commentaries on the Constitution, written during the struggle for ratification, have been frequently cited by the Supreme Court as an authoritative contemporary interpretation of the meaning of its provisions.

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ommended that a bill of rights be added to protect the States from federal encroachment on individual liberties. Maryland ratified on April 28, 1788; yeas 63, nays 11. South Carolina ratified on May 23, 1788; yeas 149, nays 73. On June 21, 1788, by a vote of 57 to 46, New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify, but like Massachusetts she suggested a bill of rights. By the terms of the Constitution nine States were sufficient for its establishment among the States so ratifying. The advocates of the new Constitution realized, however, that the new Government could not succeed without the addition of New York and Virginia, neither of which had ratified. Madison, Marshall, and Randolph led the struggle for ratification in Virginia. On June 25, 1788, by a narrow margin of 10 votes in a convention of 168 members, that State ratified over the objection of such delegates as George Mason and Patrick Henry. In New York an attempt to attach conditions to ratification almost succeeded. But on July 26, 1788, New York ratified, with a recommendation that a bill of rights be appended. The vote was close--yeas 30, nays 27. Eleven States having thus ratified the Constitution, 14 the Continental Congress--which still functioned at irregular intervals--passed a resolution on September 13, 1788, to put the new Constitution into operation. The first Wednesday of January 1789 was fixed as the day for choosing presidential electors, the first Wednesday of February for the meeting of electors, and the first Wednesday of March (i.e. March 4, 1789) for the opening session of the new Congress. Owing to various delays, Congress was late in assembling, and it was not until April 30, 1789, that George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States.

14 North Carolina added her ratification on November 21, 1789; yeas 184, nays 77. Rhode Island did not ratify until May 29, 1790; yeas 34, nays 32.

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CONTENTS (For contents in detail, see separate table of contents at beginning of each Article and Amendment) Page

Public Law 91–589 .................................................................................................................... Introduction to the 2002 edition ............................................................................................... Historical note on formation of the Constitution .................................................................... Text of the Constitution (literal print) ..................................................................................... Text of the amendments (literal print) .................................................................................... Proposed amendments not ratified by the States ................................................................... The Constitution with Analysis ................................................................................................ Preamble ..................................................................................................................................... Article I. Legislative Department ............................................................................................. Article II. Executive Department ............................................................................................. Article III. Judicial Department ............................................................................................... Article IV. States’ relations ....................................................................................................... Article V. Mode of amendment ................................................................................................. Article VI. Prior debts, national supremacy, oaths of office ................................................... Article VII. Ratification ............................................................................................................. Amendments to the Constitution ............................................................................................. First Amendment—Religion and expression ........................................................................... Second Amendment—Bearing arms ......................................................................................... Third Amendment—Quartering soldiers ................................................................................. Fourth Amendment—Search and seizure ................................................................................ Fifth Amendment—Rights of persons ...................................................................................... Sixth Amendment—Rights of accused in criminal prosecutions ........................................... Seventh Amendment—Civil trials ............................................................................................ Eighth Amendment—Further guarantees in criminal cases ................................................. Ninth Amendment—Unenumerated rights ............................................................................. Tenth Amendment—Reserved powers ..................................................................................... Eleventh Amendment—Suits against States .......................................................................... Twelfth Amendment—Election of President ........................................................................... Thirteenth Amendment—Slavery and involuntary servitude ................................................ Fourteenth Amendment—Rights guaranteed: Privileges and immunities of citizenship, due process, and equal protection ......................................................................................... Fifteenth Amendment—Rights of citizens to vote .................................................................. Sixteenth Amendment—Income tax ......................................................................................... Seventeenth Amendment—Popular election of Senators ....................................................... Eighteenth Amendment—Prohibition of intoxicating liquors ................................................ Nineteenth Amendment—Women’s suffrage rights ................................................................ Twentieth Amendment—Terms of President, Vice President, Members of Congress: Presidential vacancy ...................................................................................................................... Twenty-first Amendment—Repeal of eighteenth amendment ............................................... Twenty-second Amendment—Presidential tenure .................................................................. Twenty-third Amendment—Presidential electors for the District of Columbia ................... Twenty-fourth Amendment—Abolition of the poll tax qualification in Federal elections ... Twenty-fifth Amendment—Presidential vacancy, disability, and inability .......................... Twenty-sixth Amendment—Reduction of voting age qualification ........................................ Twenty-seventh Amendment—Congressional Pay Limitation ............................................... Acts of Congress held unconstitutional in whole or in part by the Supreme Court of the United States ..........................................................................................................................

iii vii xiii 1 23 45 51 53 55 429 623 871 937 957 993 995 1009 1273 1277 1279 1359 1491 1545 1563 1605 1609 1623 1653 1655 1665 2049 2065 2079 2081 2085 2087 2091 2103 2105 2107 2109 2113 2115 2117

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State constitutional and statutory provisions and municipal ordinances held unconstitutional or held to be prempted by federal law ....................................................................... Supreme Court decisions overruled by subsequent decision .................................................. Table of cases ............................................................................................................................. Index ...........................................................................................................................................

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THE

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LITERAL PRINT

1

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CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Article. I. Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 3

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every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make tem-

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porary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at

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any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Section. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning

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from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress

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by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

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To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings;—And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

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Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases or Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census of Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear or pay Duties in another. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.

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Section. 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. Article. II. Section. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

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The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representatives from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President. The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

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No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—‘‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’’ Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the

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principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

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Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Article. III. Section. 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appel-

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late Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. Article. IV. Section. 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

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No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. Article. V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by

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Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. Article. VI. All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

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Article. VII. The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. The Word, ‘‘the,’’ being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, The Word ‘‘Thirty’’ being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words ‘‘is tried’’ being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word ‘‘the’’ being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.

done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

Attest WILLIAM JACKSON Secretary

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New Hampshire

JOHN LANGDON NICHOLAS GILMAN

Massachusetts

NATHANIEL GORHAM RUFUS KING

Connecticut

WM SAML JOHNSON ROGER SHERMAN

New York . . . .

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

New Jersey

WIL: LIVINGSTON DAVID BREARLEY. WM PATTERSON. JONA: DAYTON

Pennsylvania

B FRANKLIN THOMAS MIFFLIN ROBT MORRIS GEO. CLYMER THOS FITZSIMONS JARED INGERSOL JAMES WILSON GOUV MORRIS

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Delaware

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GEO: READ GUNNING BEDFORD JOHN DICKINSON RICHARD BASSETT JACO: BROOM

JUN

Maryland

JAMES MCHENRY DAN OF ST THOS JENIFER DANL CARROLL

Virginia

JOHN BLAIR— JAMES MADISON JR.

North Carolina

WM BLOUNT RICHD DOBBS SPAIGHT HU WILLIAMSON J. RUTLEDGE

South Carolina

CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY CHARLES PINCKNEY PIERCE BUTLER

Georgia

WILLIAM FEW ABR BALDWIN

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In Convention Monday, September 17th 1787. Present The States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, MR Hamilton from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Resolved, That the preceeding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the Opinion of this Convention, that it should afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Convention assenting to, and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled. Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a Day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the Time and Place for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution. That after such Publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the President, and should transmit their Votes certified, signed, sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the Time and Place assigned; that the Senators

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should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole Purpose of receiving, opening and counting the Votes for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute this Constitution. By the Unanimous Order of the Convention

W. JACKSON

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AMENDMENTS TO THE

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION 1 AMENDMENT [I.] 2 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people 1 In Dillon v. Gloss, 256 U.S. 368 (1921), the Supreme Court stated that it would take judicial notice of the date on which a State ratified a proposed constitutional amendment. Accordingly the Court consulted the State journals to determine the dates on which each house of the legislature of certain States ratified the Eighteenth Amendment. It, therefore, follows that the date on which the governor approved the ratification, or the date on which the secretary of state of a given State certified the ratification, or the date on which the Secretary of State of the United States received a copy of said certificate, or the date on which he proclaimed that the amendment had been ratified are not controlling. Hence, the ratification date given in the following notes is the date on which the legislature of a given State approved the particular amendment (signature by the speaker or presiding officers of both houses being considered a part of the ratification of the ‘‘legislature’’). When that date is not available, the date given is that on which it was approved by the governor or certified by the secretary of state of the particular State. In each case such fact has been noted. Except as otherwise indicated information as to ratification is based on data supplied by the Department of State. 2 Brackets enclosing an amendment number indicate that the number was not specifically assigned in the resolution proposing the amendment. It will be seen, accordingly, that only the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Amendments were thus technically ratified by number. The first ten amendments along with two others that were not ratified were proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, when they passed the Senate, having previously passed the House on September 24 (1 Annals of Congress 88, 913). They appear officially in 1 Stat. 97. Ratification was completed on December 15, 1791, when the eleventh State (Virginia) approved these amendments, there being then 14 States in the Union.

The several state legislatures ratified the first ten amendments to the Constitution on the following dates: New Jersey, November 20, 1789; Maryland, December 19, 1789; North Carolina, December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19, 1790; New Hampshire, January 25, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; New York, February 27, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; Rhode Island, June 7, 1790; Vermont, November 3, 1791; Virginia, December 15, 1791. The two amendments that then failed of ratification prescribed the ratio of representation to population in the House, and specified that no law varying the compensation of members of Congress should be effective until after an intervening election of Representatives. The first was ratified by ten States (one short of the requisite number) and the second, by six States; subsequently, this second proposal was taken up by the States in the period 1980–1992 and was proclaimed as ratified as of May 7, 1992. Connecticut, Georgia, and Massachusetts ratified the first ten amendments in 1939.

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peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. AMENDMENT [II.] A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. AMENDMENT [III.] No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. AMENDMENT [IV.] The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. AMENDMENT [V.] No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

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AMENDMENT [VI.] In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. AMENDMENT [VII.] In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. AMENDMENT [VIII.] Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. AMENDMENT [IX.] The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. AMENDMENT [X.] 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.

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AMENDMENT [XI.] 3 The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. AMENDMENT [XII.] 4 The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as 3 The Eleventh Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 4, 1794, when it passed the House, 4 Annals of Congress 477, 478, having previously passed the Senate on January 14, Id., 30, 31. It appears officially in 1 Stat. 402. Ratification was completed on February 7, 1795, when the twelfth State (North Carolina) approved the amendment, there being then 15 States in the Union. Official announcement of ratification was not made until January 8, 1798, when President John Adams in a message to Congress stated that the Eleventh Amendment had been adopted by three-fourths of the States and that it ‘‘may now be deemed to be a part of the Constitution.’’ In the interim South Carolina had ratified, and Tennessee had been admitted into the Union as the sixteenth State. The several state legislatures ratified the Eleventh Amendment on the following dates: New York, March 27, 1794; Rhode Island, March 31, 1794; Connecticut, May 8, 1794; New Hampshire, June 16, 1794; Massachusetts, June 26, 1794; Vermont, between October 9 and November 9, 1794; Virginia, November 18, 1794; Georgia, November 29, 1794; Kentucky, December 7, 1794; Maryland, December 26, 1794; Delaware, January 23, 1795; North Carolina, February 7, 1795; South Carolina, December 4, 1797. 4 The Twelfth Amendment was proposed by Congress on December 9, 1803, when it passed the House, 13 Annals of Congress 775, 776, having previously passed the Senate on December 2. Id., 209. It was not signed by the presiding officers of the House and Senate until December 12. It appears officially in 2 Stat. 306. Ratification was probably completed on June 15, 1804, when the legislature of the thirteenth State (New Hampshire) approved the amendment, there being then 17 States in the Union. The Governor of New Hampshire, however, vetoed this act of the legislature on June 20, and the act failed to pass again by two-thirds vote then required by the state constitution. Inasmuch as Article V of the Federal Constitution specifies that amendments shall become effective ‘‘when ratified by legislatures of three-fourths of the several States or by conventions in three-fourths thereof,’’ it has been generally believed that an approval or veto by a governor is without significance. If the ratification by New Hampshire be deemed ineffective, then the amendment became operative by Tennessee’s ratification on July 27, 1804. On September 25, 1804, in a circular letter to the Governors of the several States, Secretary of State Madison declared the amendment ratified by three-fourths of the States. The several state legislatures ratified the Twelfth Amendment on the following dates: North Carolina, December 22, 1803; Maryland, December 24, 1803; Kentucky, December 27, 1803; Ohio, between December 5 and December 30, 1803; Virginia, between December 20, 1803 and February 3, 1804; Pennsylvania, January 5, 1804; Vermont, January 30, 1804; New York, February 10, 1804; New Jersey, February 22, 1804; Rhode Island, between February 27 and March 12, 1804; South Carolina, May 15, 1804; Georgia, May 19, 1804; New Hampshire, June 15, 1804; and Tennessee, July 27, 1804. The amendment was rejected by Delaware on January 18, 1804, and by Connecticut at its session begun May 10, 1804. Massachusetts ratified this amendment in 1961.

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President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as VicePresident, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as VicePresident, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President—The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a

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quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of VicePresident of the United States. AMENDMENT XIII. 5 SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT XIV. 6 SECTION. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the 5 The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on January 31, 1865, when it passed the House, Cong. Globe (38th Cong., 2d Sess.) 531, having previously passed the Senate on April 8, 1964. Id. (38th cong., 1st Sess.), 1940. It appears officially in 13 Stat. 567 under the date of February 1, 1865. Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865, when the legislature of the twenty-seventh State (Georgia) approved the amendment, there being then 36 States in the Union. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State Seward certified that the Thirteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution, 13 Stat. 774. The several state legislatures ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on the following dates: Illinois, February 1, 1865; Rhode Island, February 2, 1865; Michigan, February 2, 1865; Maryland, February 3, 1865; New York, February 3, 1865; West Virginia, February 3, 1865; Missouri, February 6, 1865; Maine, February 7, 1865; Kansas, February 7, 1865; Massachusetts, February 7, 1865; Pennsylvania, February 8, 1865; Virginia, February 9, 1865; Ohio, February 10, 1865; Louisiana, February 15 or 16, 1865; Indiana, February 16, 1865; Nevada, February 16, 1865; Minnesota, February 23, 1865; Wisconsin, February 24, 1865; Vermont, March 9, 1865 (date on which it was ‘‘approved’’ by Governor); Tennessee, April 7, 1865; Arkansas, April 14, 1865; Connecticut, May 4, 1865; New Hampshire, June 30, 1865; South Carolina, November 13, 1865; Alabama, December 2, 1865 (date on which it was ‘‘approved’’ by Provisional Governor); North Carolina, December 4, 1865; Georgia, December 6, 1865; Oregon, December 11, 1865; California, December 15, 1865; Florida, December 28, 1865 (Florida again ratified this amendment on June 9, 1868, upon its adoption of a new constitution); Iowa, January 17, 1866; New Jersey, January 23, 1866 (after having rejected the amendment on March 16, 1865); Texas, February 17, 1870; Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the amendment on February 8, 1865). The amendment was rejected by Kentucky on February 24, 1865, and by Mississippi on December 2, 1865. 6 The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on June 13, 1866, when it passed the House, Cong. Globe (39th Cong., 1st Sess.) 3148, 3149, having previously passed the Senate on June 8. Id., 3042. It appears officially in 14 Stat. 358 under date of June 16, 1866. Ratification was probably completed on July 9, 1868, when the legislature of the twenty-eighth State

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United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. SECTION. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and (South Carolina or Louisiana) approved the amendment, there being then 37 States in the Union. However, Ohio and New Jersey had prior to that date ‘‘withdrawn’’ their earlier assent to this amendment. Accordingly, Secretary of State Seward on July 20, 1868, certified that the amendment had become a part of the Constitution if the said withdrawals were ineffective. 15 Stat. 706–707. Congress on July 21, 1868, passed a joint resolution declaring the amendment a part of the Constitution and directing the Secretary to promulgate it as such. On July 28, 1868, Secretary Seward certified without reservation that the amendment was a part of the Constitution. In the interim, two other States, Alabama on July 13 and Georgia on July 21, 1868, had added their ratifications. The several state legislatures ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on the following dates: Connecticut, June 30, 1866; New Hampshire, July 7, 1866; Tennessee, July 19, 1866; New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (the New Jersey Legislature on February 20, 1868 ‘‘withdrew’’ its consent to the ratification; the Governor vetoed that bill on March 5, 1868; and it was repassed over his veto on March 24, 1868); Oregon, September 19, 1866 (Oregon ‘‘withdrew’’ its consent on October 15, 1868); Vermont, October 30, 1866; New York, January 10, 1867; Ohio, January 11, 1867 (Ohio ‘‘withdrew’’ its consent on January 15, 1868); Illinois, January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 16, 1867; Michigan, January 16, 1867; Kansas, January 17, 1867; Minnesota, January 17, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 1867; Indiana, January 23, 1867; Missouri, January 26, 1867 (date on which it was certified by the Missouri secretary of state); Rhode Island, February 7, 1867; Pennsylvania, February 12, 1867; Wisconsin, February 13, 1867 (actually passed February 7, but not signed by legislative officers until February 13); Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, March 9, 1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868; North Carolina, July 2, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment on December 13, 1866); Louisiana, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment on February 6, 1867); South Carolina, July 8, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment on December 20, 1866); Alabama, July 13, 1868 (date on which it was ‘‘approved’’ by the Governor); Georgia, July 21, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment on November 9, 1866— Georgia ratified again on February 2, 1870); Virginia, October 8, 1869 (after having rejected the amendment on January 9, 1867); Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870 (after having rejected the amendment on October 27, 1866); Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the amendment on February 7, 1867). The amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Kentucky on January 8, 1867. Maryland and California ratified this amendment in 1959.

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Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twentyone years of age in such State. SECTION. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. SECTION. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

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SECTION. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. AMENDMENT XV. 7 SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT XVI. 8 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment 7 The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on February 26, 1869, when it passed the Senate, Cong. Globe (40th Cong., 3rd Sess.) 1641, having previously passed the House on February 25. Id., 1563, 1564. It appears officially in 15 Stat. 346 under the date of February 27, 1869. Ratification was probably completed on February 3, 1870, when the legislature of the twenty-eighth State (Iowa) approved the amendment, there being then 37 States in the Union. However, New York had prior to that date ‘‘withdrawn’’ its earlier assent to this amendment. Even if this withdrawal were effective, Nebraska’s ratification on February 17, 1870, authorized Secretary of State Fish’s certification of March 30, 1870, that the Fifteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution. 16 Stat. 1131. The several state legislatures ratified the Fifteenth Amendment on the following dates: Nevada, March 1, 1869; West Virginia, March 3, 1869; North Carolina, March 5, 1869; Louisiana, March 5, 1869 (date on which it was ‘‘approved’’ by the Governor); Illinois, March 5, 1869; Michigan, March 5, 1869; Wisconsin, March 5, 1869; Maine, March 11, 1869; Massachusetts, March 12, 1869; South Carolina, March 15, 1869; Arkansas, March 15, 1869; Pennsylvania, March 25, 1869; New York, April 14, 1869 (New York ‘‘withdrew’’ its consent to the ratification on January 5, 1870); Indiana, May 14, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida, June 14, 1869; New Hampshire, July 1, 1869; Virginia, October 8, 1869; Vermont, October 20, 1869; Alabama, November 16, 1869; Missouri, January 7, 1870 (Missouri had ratified the first section of the 15th Amendment on March 1, 1869; it failed to include in its ratification the second section of the amendment); Minnesota, January 13, 1870; Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Rhode Island, January 18, 1870; Kansas, January 19, 1870 (Kansas had by a defectively worded resolution previously ratified this amendment on February 27, 1869); Ohio, January 27, 1870 (after having rejected the amendment on May 4, 1869); Georgia, February 2, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Nebraska, February 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870; New Jersey, February 15, 1871 (after having rejected the amendment on February 7, 1870); Delaware, February 12, 1901 (date on which approved by Governor; Delaware had previously rejected the amendment on March 18, 1869). The amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. California ratified this amendment in 1962 and Oregon in 1959. 8 The Sixteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on July 12, 1909, when it passed the House, 44 Cong. Rec. (61st Cong., 1st Sess.) 4390, 4440, 4441, having previously passed the Senate on July 5. Id., 4121. It appears officially in 36 Stat. 184. Ratification was completed on February 3, 1913, when the legislature of the thirty-sixth State (Delaware, Wyoming, or New Mexico) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On February

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among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. AMENDMENT [XVII.] 9 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue 25, 1913, Secretary of State Knox certified that this amendment had become a part of the Constitution. 37 Stat. 1785. The several state legislatures ratified the Sixteenth Amendment on the following dates: Alabama, August 10, 1909; Kentucky, February 8, 1910; South Carolina, February 19, 1910; Illinois, March 1, 1910; Mississippi, March 7, 1910; Oklahoma, March 10, 1910; Maryland, April 8, 1910; Georgia, August 3, 1910; Texas, August 16, 1910; Ohio, January 19, 1911; Idaho, January 20, 1911; Oregon, January 23, 1911; Washington, January 26, 1911; Montana, January 27, 1911; Indiana, January 30, 1911; California, January 31, 1911; Nevada, January 31, 1911; South Dakota, February 1, 1911; Nebraska, February 9, 1911; North Carolina, February 11, 1911; Colorado, February 15, 1911; North Dakota, February 17, 1911; Michigan, February 23, 1911; Iowa, February 24, 1911; Kansas, March 2, 1911; Missouri, March 16, 1911; Maine, March 31, 1911; Tennessee, April 7, 1911; Arkansas, April 22, 1911 (after having rejected the amendment at the session begun January 9, 1911); Wisconsin, May 16, 1911; New York, July 12, 1911; Arizona, April 3, 1912; Minnesota, June 11, 1912; Louisiana, June 28, 1912; West Virginia, January 31, 1913; Delaware, February 3, 1913; Wyoming, February 3, 1913; New Mexico, February 3, 1913; New Jersey, February 4, 1913; Vermont, February 19, 1913; Massachusetts, March 4, 1913; New Hampshire, March 7, 1913 (after having rejected the amendment on March 2, 1911). The amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Utah. 9 The Seventeenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on May 13, 1912, when it passed the House, 48 Cong. Rec. (62d Cong., 2d Sess.) 6367, having previously passed the Senate on June 12, 1911. 47 Cong. Rec. (62d Cong., 1st Sess.) 1925. It appears officially in 37 Stat. 646. Ratification was completed on April 8, 1913, when the thirty-sixth State (Connecticut) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On May 31, 1913, Secretary of State Bryan certified that it had become a part of the Constitution. 38 Stat 2049. The several state legislatures ratified the Seventeenth Amendment on the following dates: Massachusetts, May 22, 1912; Arizona, June 3, 1912; Minnesota, June 10, 1912; New York, January 15, 1913; Kansas, January 17, 1913; Oregon, January 23, 1913; North Carolina, January 25, 1913; California, January 28, 1913; Michigan, January 28, 1913; Iowa, January 30, 1913; Montana, January 30, 1913; Idaho, January 31, 1913; West Virginia, February 4, 1913; Colorado, February 5, 1913; Nevada, February 6, 1913; Texas, February 7, 1913; Washington, February 7, 1913; Wyoming, February 8, 1913; Arkansas, February 11, 1913; Illinois, February 13, 1913; North Dakota, February 14, 1913; Wisconsin, February 18, 1913; Indiana, February 19, 1913; New Hampshire, February 19, 1913; Vermont, February 19, 1913; South Dakota, February 19, 1913; Maine, February 20, 1913; Oklahoma, February 24, 1913; Ohio, February 25, 1913; Missouri, March 7, 1913; New Mexico, March 13, 1913; Nebraska, March 14, 1913; New Jersey, March 17, 1913; Tennessee, April 1, 1913; Pennsylvania, April 2, 1913; Connecticut, April 8, 1913; Louisiana, June 5, 1914. The amendment was rejected by Utah on February 26, 1913.

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writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. AMENDMENT [XVIII.] 10 SECTION. 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. SEC. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 10 The Eighteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, when it passed the Senate, Cong. Rec. (65th Cong. 2d Sess.) 478, having previously passed the House on December 17. Id., 470. It appears officially in 40 Stat. 1059. Ratification was completed on January 16, 1919, when the thirty-sixth State approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On January 29, 1919, Acting Secretary of State Polk certified that this amendment had been adopted by the requisite number of States. 40 Stat. 1941. By its terms this amendment did not become effective until 1 year after ratification. The several state legislatures ratified the Eighteenth Amendment on the following dates: Mississippi, January 8, 1918; Virginia, January 11, 1918; Kentucky, January 14, 1918; North Dakota, January 28, 1918 (date on which approved by Governor); South Carolina, January 29, 1918; Maryland, February 13, 1918; Montana, February 19, 1918; Texas, March 4, 1918; Delaware, March 18, 1918; South Dakota, March 20, 1918; Massachusetts, April 2, 1918; Arizona, May 24, 1918; Georgia, June 26, 1918; Louisiana, August 9, 1918 (date on which approved by Governor); Florida, November 27, 1918; Michigan, January 2, 1919; Ohio, January 7, 1919; Oklahoma, January 7, 1919; Idaho, January 8, 1919; Maine, January 8, 1919; West Virginia, January 9, 1919; California, January 13, 1919; Tennessee, January 13, 1919; Washington, January 13, 1919; Arkansas, January 14, 1919; Kansas, January 14, 1919; Illinois, January 14, 1919; Indiana, January 14, 1919; Alabama, January 15, 1919; Colorado, January 15, 1919; Iowa, January 15, 1919; New Hampshire, January 15, 1919; Oregon, January 15, 1919; Nebraska, January 16, 1919; North Carolina, January 16, 1919; Utah, January 16, 1919; Missouri, January 16, 1919; Wyoming, January 16, 1919; Minnesota, January 17, 1919; Wisconsin, January 17, 1919; New Mexico, January 20, 1919; Nevada, January 21, 1919; Pennsylvania, February 25, 1919; Connecticut, May 6, 1919; New Jersey, March 9, 1922; New York, January 29, 1919; Vermont, January 29, 1919.

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SEC. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. AMENDMENT [XIX.] 11 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT [XX.] 12 SECTION. 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms 11 The Nineteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on June 4, 1919, when it passed the Senate, Cong. Rec. (66th Cong., 1st Sess.) 635, having previously passed the house on May 21. Id., 94. It appears officially in 41 Stat. 362. Ratification was completed on August 18, 1920, when the thirty-sixth State (Tennessee) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On August 26, 1920, Secretary of Colby certified that it had become a part of the Constitution. 41 Stat. 1823. The several state legislatures ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on the following dates: Illinois, June 10, 1919 (readopted June 17, 1919); Michigan, June 10, 1919; Wisconsin, June 10, 1919; Kansas, June 16, 1919; New York, June 16, 1919; Ohio, June 16, 1919; Pennsylvania, June 24, 1919; Massachusetts, June 25, 1919; Texas, June 28, 1919; Iowa, July 2, 1919 (date on which approved by Governor); Missouri, July 3, 1919; Arkansas, July 28, 1919; Montana, August 2, 1919 (date on which approved by governor); Nebraska, August 2, 1919; Minnesota, September 8, 1919; New Hampshire, September 10, 1919 (date on which approved by Governor); Utah, October 2, 1919; California, November 1, 1919; Maine, November 5, 1919; North Dakota, December 1, 1919; South Dakota, December 4, 1919 (date on which certified); Colorado, December 15, 1919 (date on which approved by Governor); Kentucky, January 6, 1920; Rhode Island, January 6, 1920; Oregon, January 13, 1920; Indiana, January 16, 1920; Wyoming, January 27, 1920; Nevada, February 7, 1920; New Jersey, February 9, 1920; Idaho, February 11, 1920; Arizona, February 12, 1920; New Mexico, February 21, 1920 (date on which approved by govrnor); Oklahoma, February 28, 1920; West Virginia, March 10, 1920 (confirmed September 21, 1920); Vermont, February 8, 1921. The amendment was rejected by Georgia on July 24, 1919; by Alabama on September 22, 1919; by South Carolina on January 29, 1920; by Virginia on February 12, 1920; by Maryland on February 24, 1920; by Mississippi on March 29, 1920; by Louisiana on July 1, 1920. This amendment was subsequently ratified by Virginia in 1952, Alabama in 1953, Florida in 1969, and Georgia and Louisiana in 1970. 12 The Twentieth Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 2, 1932, when it passed the Senate, Cong. Rec. (72d Cong., 1st Sess.) 5086, having previously passed the House on March 1. Id., 5027. It appears officially in 47 Stat. 745. Ratification was completed on January 23, 1933, when the thirty-sixth State approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On February 6, 1933, Secretary of State Stimson certified that it had become a part of the Constitution. 47 Stat. 2569.

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of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin. SEC. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. SEC. 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified. The several state legislatures ratified the Twentieth Amendment on the following dates: Virginia, March 4, 1932; New York, March 11, 1932; Mississippi, March 16, 1932; Arkansas March 17, 1932; Kentucky, March 17, 1932; New Jersey, March 21, 1932; South Carolina, March 25, 1932; Michigan, March 31, 1932; Maine, April 1, 1932; Rhode Island, April 14, 1932; Illinois, April 21, 1932; Louisiana, June 22, 1932; West Virginia, July 30, 1932; Pennsylvania, August 11, 1932; Indiana, August 15, 1932; Texas, September 7, 1932; Alabama, September 13, 1932; California, January 4, 1933; North Carolina, January 5, 1933; North Dakota, January 9, 1933; Minnesota, January 12, 1933; Arizona, January 13, 1933; Montana, January 13, 1933; Nebraska, January 13, 1933; Oklahoma, January 13, 1933; Kansas, January 16, 1933; Oregon, January 16, 1933; Delaware, January 19, 1933; Washington, January 19, 1933; Wyoming, January 19, 1933; Iowa, January 20, 1933; South Dakota, January 20, 1933; Tennessee, January 20, 1933; Idaho, January 21, 1933; New Mexico, January 21, 1933; Georgia, January 23, 1933; Missouri, January 23, 1933; Ohio, January 23, 1933; Utah, January 23, 1933; Colorado, January 24, 1933; Massachusetts, January 24, 1933; Wisconsin, January 24, 1933; Nevada, January 26, 1933; Connecticut, January 27, 1933; New Hampshire, January 31, 1933; Vermont, February 2, 1933; Maryland, March 24, 1933; Florida, April 26, 1933.

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SEC. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them. SEC. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article. SEC. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission. AMENDMENT [XXI.] 13 SECTION. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. SEC. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use 13 The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by Congress on February 20, 1933, when it passed the House, Cong. Rec. (72d Cong., 2d Sess.) 4516, having previously passed the Senate on February 16. Id., 4231. It appears officially in 47 Stat. 1625. Ratification was completed on December 5, 1933, when the thirty-sixth State (Utah) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On December 5, 1933, Acting Secretary of State Phillips certified that it had been adopted by the requisite number of States. 48 Stat. 1749. The several state conventions ratified the Twenty-first Amendment on the following dates: Michigan, April 10, 1933; Wisconsin, April 25, 1933; Rhode Island, May 8, 1933; Wyoming, May 25, 1933; New Jersey, June 1, 1933; Delaware, June 24, 1933; Indiana, June 26, 1933; Massachusetts, June 26, 1933; New York, June 27, 1933; Illinois, July 10, 1933; Iowa, July 10, 1933; Connecticut, July 11, 1933; New Hampshire, July 11, 1933; California, July 24, 1933; West Virginia, July 25, 1933; Arkansas, August 1, 1933; Oregon, August 7, 1933; Alabama, August 8, 1933; Tennessee, August 11, 1933; Missouri, August 29, 1933; Arizona, September 5, 1933; Nevada, September 5, 1933; Vermont, September 23, 1933; Colorado, September 26, 1933; Washington, October 3, 1933; Minnesota, October 10, 1933; Idaho, October 17, 1933; Maryland, October 18, 1933; Virginia, October 25, 1933; New Mexico, November 2, 1933; Florida, November 14, 1933; Texas, November 24, 1933; Kentucky, November 27, 1933; Ohio, December 5, 1933; Pennsylvania, December 5, 1933; Utah, December 5, 1933; Maine, December 6, 1933; Montana, August 6, 1934. The amendment was rejected by a convention in the State of South Carolina, on December 4, 1933. The electorate of the State of North Carolina voted against holding a convention at a general election held on November 7, 1933.

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therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. SEC. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. AMENDMENT [XXII.] 14 SECTION. 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of 14 The Twenty-second Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 24, 1947, having passed the House on March 21, 1947, Cong. Rec. (80th Cong., 1st Sess.) 2392, and having previously passed the Senate on March 12, 1947. Id., 1978. It appears officially in 61 Stat. 959. Ratification was completed on February 27, 1951, when the thirty-sixth State (Minnesota) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On March 1, 1951, Jess Larson, Administrator of General Services, certified that it had been adopted by the requisite number of States. 16 Fed. Reg. 2019. A total of 41 state legislatures ratified the Twenty-second Amendment on the following dates: Maine, March 31, 1947; Michigan, March 31, 1947; Iowa, April 1, 1947; Kansas, April 1, 1947; New Hampshire, April 1, 1947; Delaware, April 2, 1947; Illinois, April 3, 1947; Oregon, April 3, 1947; Colorado, April 12, 1947; California, April 15, 1947; New Jersey, April 15, 1947; Vermont, April 15, 1947; Ohio, April 16, 1947; Wisconsin, April 16, 1947; Pennsylvania, April 29, 1947; Connecticut, May 21, 1947; Missouri, May 22, 1947; Nebraska, May 23, 1947; Virginia, January 28, 1948; Mississippi, February 12, 1948; New York, March 9, 1948; South Dakota, January 21, 1949; North Dakota, February 25, 1949; Louisiana, May 17, 1950; Montana, January 25, 1951; Indiana, January 29, 1951; Idaho, January 30, 1951; New Mexico, February 12, 1951; Wyoming, February 12, 1951; Arkansas, February 15, 1951; Georgia, February 17, 1951; Tennessee, February 20, 1951; Texas, February 22, 1951; Utah, February 26, 1951; Nevada, February 26, 1951; Minnesota, February 27, 1951; North Carolina, February 28, 1951; South Carolina, March 13, 1951; Maryland, March 14, 1951; Florida, April 16, 1951; and Alabama, May 4, 1951.

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President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. SEC. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress. AMENDMENT [XXIII.] 15 SECTION. 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment. 15 The Twenty-third Amendment was proposed by Congress on June 16, 1960, when it passed the Senate, Cong. Rec. (86th Cong., 2d Sess.) 12858, having previously passed the House on June 14. Id., 12571. It appears officially in 74 Stat. 1057. Ratification was completed on March 29, 1961, when the thirty-eighth State (Ohio) approved the amendment, there being then 50 States in the Union. On April 3, 1961, John L. Moore, Administrator of General Services, certified that it had been adopted by the requisite number of States. 26 Fed. Reg. 2808. The several state legislatures ratified the Twenty-third Amendment on the following dates: Hawaii, June 23, 1960; Massachusetts, August 22, 1960; New Jersey, December 19, 1960; New York, January 17, 1961; California, January 19, 1961; Oregon, January 27, 1961; Maryland, January 30, 1961; Idaho, January 31, 1961; Maine, January 31, 1961; Minnesota, January 31, 1961; New Mexico, February 1, 1961; Nevada, February 2, 1961; Montana, February 6, 1961; Colorado, February 8, 1961; Washington, February 9, 1961; West Virginia, February 9, 1961; Alaska, February 10, 1961; Wyoming, February 13, 1961; South Dakota, February 14, 1961; Delaware, February 20, 1961; Utah, February 21, 1961; Wisconsin, February 21, 1961; Pennsylvania, February 28, 1961; Indiana, March 3, 1961; North Dakota, March 3, 1961; Tennessee, March 6, 1961; Michigan, March 8, 1961; Connecticut, March 9, 1961; Arizona, March 10, 1961; Illinois, March 14, 1961; Nebraska, March 15, 1961; Vermont, March 15, 1961; Iowa, March 16, 1961; Missouri, March 20, 1961; Oklahoma, March 21, 1961; Rhode Island, March 22, 1961; Kansas, March 29, 1961; Ohio, March 29, 1961, and New Hampshire, March 30, 1961.

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SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT [XXIV.] 16 SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. SECTION. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT [XXV.] 17 SECTION. 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President. 16 The Twenty-fourth Amendment was proposed by Congress on September 14, 1962, having passed the House on August 27, 1962. Cong. Rec. (87th Cong., 2d Sess.) 17670 and having previously passed the Senate on March 27, 1962. Id., 5105. It appears officially in 76 Stat. 1259. Ratification was completed on January 23, 1964, when the thirty-eighth State (South Dakota) approved the Amendment, there being then 50 States in the Union. On February 4, 1964, Bernard L. Boutin, Administrator of General Services, certified that it had been adopted by the requisite number of States. 25 Fed. Reg. 1717. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed this certificate. Thirty-eight state legislatures ratified the Twenty-fourth Amendment on the following dates: Illinois, November 14, 1962; New Jersey, December 3, 1962; Oregon, January 25, 1963; Montana, January 28, 1963; West Virginia, February 1, 1963; New York, February 4, 1963; Maryland, February 6, 1963; California, February 7, 1963; Alaska, February 11, 1963; Rhode Island, February 14, 1963; Indiana, February 19, 1963; Michigan, February 20, 1963; Utah, February 20, 1963; Colorado, February 21, 1963; Minnesota, February 27, 1963; Ohio, February 27, 1963; New Mexico, March 5, 1963; Hawaii, March 6, 1963; North Dakota, March 7, 1963; Idaho, March 8, 1963; Washington, March 14, 1963; Vermont, March 15, 1963; Nevada, March 19, 1963; Connecticut, March 20, 1963; Tennessee, March 21, 1963; Pennsylvania, March 25, 1963; Wisconsin, March 26, 1963; Kansas, March 28, 1963; Massachusetts, March 28, 1963; Nebraska, April 4, 1963; Florida, April 18, 1963; Iowa, April 24, 1963; Delaware, May 1, 1963; Missouri, May 13, 1963; New Hampshire, June 16, 1963; Kentucky, June 27, 1963; Maine, January 16, 1964; South Dakota, January 23, 1964. 17 This Amendment was proposed by the Eighty-ninth Congress by Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, which was approved by the Senate on February 19, 1965, and by the House of Representatives, in amended form, on April 13, 1965. The House of Representatives agreed to a Conference Report on June 30, 1965, and the Senate agreed to the Conference Report on July 6, 1965. It was declared by the Administrator of General Services, on February 23, 1967, to have been ratified.

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SECTION. 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. SECTION. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President. SECTION. 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. This Amendment was ratified by the following States: Nebraska, July 12, 1965; Wisconsin, July 13, 1965; Oklahoma, July 16, 1965; Massachusetts, August 9, 1965; Pennsylvania, August 18, 1965; Kentucky, September 15, 1965; Arizona, September 22, 1965; Michigan, October 5, 1965; Indiana, October 20, 1965; California, October 21, 1965; Arkansas, November 4, 1965; New Jersey, November 29, 1965; Delaware, December 7, 1965; Utah, January 17, 1966; West Virginia, January 20, 1966; Maine, January 24, 1966; Rhode Island, January 28, 1966; Colorado, February 3, 1966; New Mexico, February 3, 1966; Kansas, February 8, 1966; Vermont, February 10, 1966; Alaska, February 18, 1966; Idaho, March 2, 1966; Hawaii, March 3, 1966; Virginia, March 8, 1966; Mississippi, March 10, 1966; New York, March 14, 1966; Maryland, March 23, 1966; Missouri, March 30, 1966; New Hampshire, June 13, 1966; Louisiana, July 5, 1966; Tennessee, January 12, 1967; Wyoming, January 25, 1967; Washington, January 26, 1967; Iowa, January 26, 1967; Oregon, February 2, 1967; Minnesota, February 10, 1967; Nevada, February 10, 1967; Connecticut, February 14, 1967; Montana, February 15, 1967; South Dakota, March 6, 1967; Ohio, March 7, 1967; Alabama, March 14, 1967; North Carolina, March 22, 1967 Illinois, March 22, 1967; Texas, April 25, 1967; Florida, May 25, 1967. Publication of the certifying statement of the Administrator of General Services that the Amendment had become valid was made on February 25, 1967, F.R. Doc. 67–2208, 32 Fed. Reg. 3287.

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Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within fortyeight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by twothirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office. AMENDMENT [XXVI] 18 SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied 18 The Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, upon passage by the House of Representatives, the Senate having previously passed an identical resolution on March 10, 1971. It appears officially in 85 Stat. 825. Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971, when action by the legislature of the 38th State, North Carolina, was concluded, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration officially certified it to have been duly ratified on July 5, 1971. 36 Fed. Reg. 12725. As of the publication of this volume, 42 States had ratified this Amendment: Connecticut, March 23, 1971; Delaware, March 23, 1971; Minnesota, March 23, 1971; Tennessee, March 23, 1971; Washington, March 23, 1971; Hawaii, March 24, 1971; Massachusetts, March 24, 1971; Montana, March 29, 1971; Arkansas, March 30, 1971; Idaho, March 30, 1971; Iowa, March 30, 1971; Nebraska, April 2, 1971; New Jersey, April 3, 1971; Kansas, April 7, 1971; Michigan, April 7, 1971; Alaska, April 8, 1971; Maryland, April 8, 1971; Indiana, April

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or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. SECTION. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. AMENDMENT [XXVII] 19 No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

8, 1971; Maine, April 9, 1971; Vermont, April 16, 1971; Louisiana, April 17, 1971; California, April 19, 1971; Colorado, April 27, 1971; Pennsylvania, April 27, 1971; Texas, April 27, 1971; South Carolina, April 28, 1971; West Virginia, April 28, 1971; New Hampshire, May 13, 1971; Arizona, May 14, 1971; Rhode Island, May 27, 1971; New York, June 2, 1971; Oregon, June 4, 1971; Missouri, June 14, 1971; Wisconsin, June 22, 1971; Illinois, June 29, 1971; Alabama, June 30, 1971; Ohio, June 30, 1971; North Carolina, July 1, 1971; Oklahoma, July 1, 1971; Virginia, July 8, 1971; Wyoming, July 8, 1971; Georgia, October 4, 1971. 19 This purported amendment was proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, when it passed the Senate, having previously passed the House on September 24. (1 Annals of Congress 88, 913). It appears officially in 1 Stat. 97. Having received in 1789–1791 only six state ratifications, the proposal then failed of ratification while ten of the 12 sent to the States by Congress were ratified and proclaimed and became the Bill of Rights. The provision was proclaimed as having been ratified and having become the 27th Amendment, when Michigan ratified on May 7, 1992, there being 50 States in the Union. Proclamation was by the Archivist of the United States, pursuant to 1 U.S.C. § 106b, on May 19, 1992. F.R.Doc. 92–11951, 57 FED. REG. 21187. It was also proclaimed by votes of the Senate and House of Representatives. 138 CONG. REC. (daily ed) S 6948–49, H 3505–06. The several state legislatures ratified the proposal on the following dates: Maryland, December 19, 1789; North Carolina, December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; Vermont, November 3, 1791; Virginia, December 15, 1791; Ohio, May 6, 1873; Wyoming, March 6, 1978; Maine, April 27, 1983; Colorado, April 22, 1984; South Dakota, February 1985; New Hampshire, March 7, 1985; Arizona, April 3, 1985; Tennessee, May 28, 1985; Oklahoma, July 10, 1985; New Mexico, February 14, 1986; Indiana, February 24, 1986; Utah, February 25, 1986; Arkansas, March 13, 1987; Montana, March 17, 1987; Connecticut, May 13, 1987; Wisconsin, July 15, 1987; Georgia, February 2, 1988; West Virginia, March 10, 1988; Louisiana, July 7, 1988; Iowa, February 9, 1989; Idaho, March 23, 1989; Nevada, April 26, 1989; Alaska, May 6, 1989; Oregon, May 19, 1989; Minnesota, May 22, 1989; Texas, May 25, 1989; Kansas, April 5, 1990; Florida, May 31, 1990; North Dakota, Mary 25, 1991; Alabama, May 5, 1992; Missouri, May 5, 1992; Michigan, May 7, 1992. New Jersey subsequently ratified on May 7, 1992.

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PROPOSED AMENDMENTS NOT RATIFIED BY THE STATES

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PROPOSED AMENDMENTS NOT RATIFIED BY THE STATES During the course of our history, in addition to the 27 amendments which have been ratified by the required three-fourths of the States, six other amendments have been submitted to the States but have not been ratified by them. Beginning with the proposed Eighteenth Amendment, Congress has customarily included a provision requiring ratification within seven years from the time of the submission to the States. The Supreme Court in Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939), declared that the question of the reasonableness of the time within which a sufficient number of States must act is a political question to be determined by the Congress. In 1789, at the time of the submission of the Bill of Rights, twelve proposed amendments were submitted to the States. Of these, Articles III-XII were ratified and became the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Proposed Articles I and II were not ratified with these ten, but, in 1992, Article II was proclaimed as ratified, 203 years later. The following is the text of proposed Article I: ARTICLE I. After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.

Thereafter, in the 2d session of the 11th Congress, the Congress proposed the following amendment to the Constitution relating to acceptance by citizens of the United States of titles of nobility from any foreign government. The proposed amendment which was not ratified by three-fourths of the States reads as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following section be submitted to the legislatures of the several states, which, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the states, shall be valid and binding, as a part of the constitution of the United States. If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.

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During the second session of the 36th Congress on March 2, 1861, the following proposed amendment to the Constitution relating to slavery was signed by the President. It is interesting to note in this connection that this is the only proposed amendment to the Constitution ever signed by the President. The President’s signature is considered unnecessary because of the constitutional provision that upon the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress the proposal shall be submitted to the States and shall be ratified by three-fourths of the States. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution, viz: ‘‘ARTICLE THIRTEEN ‘‘No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.’’

In more recent times, only three proposed amendments have not been ratified by three-fourths of the States. The first is the proposed child-labor amendment, which was submitted to the States during the 1st session of the 68th Congress in June 1924, as follows: JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING

AN

AMENDMENT

TO THE

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

UNITED STATES

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution: ARTICLE——— SECTION 1. The Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under 18 years of age. SECTION 2. The power of the several States is unimpaired by this article except that the operation of State laws shall be suspended to the extent necessary to give effect to legislation enacted by the Congress.

The second proposed amendment to have failed of ratification is the equal rights amendment, which formally died on June 30, 1982, after a disputed congressional extension of the original seven-year period for ratification.

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

208

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That The following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress: ‘‘SECTION 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. ‘‘SECTION 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. ‘‘SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.’’

The third proposed amendment relating to representation in Congress for the District of Columbia failed of ratification, 16 States having ratified as of the 1985 expiration date for the ratification period. HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

554

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress: ‘‘ARTICLE ‘‘SECTION 1. For purposes of representation in the Congress, election of the President and Vice President, and article V of this Constitution, the District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be treated as though it were a State. ‘‘SEC. 2. The exercise of the rights and powers conferred under this article shall be by the people of the District constituting the seat of government, and as shall be provided by the Congress. ‘‘SEC. 3. The twenty-third article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. ‘‘SEC. 4. This article shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.’’

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THE

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WITH ANALYSIS

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THE PREAMBLE

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, esablish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Purpose and Effect of the Preamble Although the preamble is not a source of power for any department of the Federal Government, 1 the Supreme Court has often referred to it as evidence of the origin, scope, and purpose of the Constitution. 2 ‘‘Its true office,’’ wrote Joseph Story in his Commentaries, ‘‘is to expound the nature and extent and application of the powers actually conferred by the Constitution, and not substantively to create them. For example, the preamble declares one object to be, ‘provide for the common defense.’ No one can doubt that this does not enlarge the powers of Congress to pass any measures which they deem useful for the common defence. But suppose the terms of a given power admit of two constructions, the one more restrictive, the other more liberal, and each of them is consistent with the words, but is, and ought to be, governed by the intent of the power; if one could promote and the other defeat the common defence, ought not the former, upon the soundest principles of interpretation, to be adopted?’’ 3

1 Jacobson

v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 22 (1905). the Court has read the preamble as bearing witness to the fact that the Constitution emanated from the people and was not the act of sovereign and independent States. McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. (17 U.S.) 316, 403 (1819) Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. (2 U.S.) 419, 471 (1793); Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. (14 U.S.) 304, 324 (1816), and that it was made for, and is binding only in, the United States of America. Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901); In re Ross, 140 U.S. 453, 464 (1891). 3 1 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 462 (1833). For a lengthy exegesis of the preamble phrase by phrase, see M. ADLER & W. GORMAN, THE AMERICAN TESTAMENT 63-118 (1975). 2 E.g.,

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ARTICLE I LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT CONTENTS Page

Section 1. Legislative Powers ................................................................................................... Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances ............................................................. The Theory Elaborated and Implemented ................................................................ Judicial Enforcement .................................................................................................. Bicameralism ...................................................................................................................... Enumerated, Implied, Resulting, and Inherent Powers .................................................. Delegation of Legislative Power ........................................................................................ The History of the Doctrine of Nondelegability ........................................................ The Nature and Scope of Permissible Delegations ................................................... Filling Up the Details .......................................................................................... Contingent Legislation ........................................................................................ Standards .............................................................................................................. Preemptive Reach of Delegated Authority ......................................................... Delegations to the President in Areas of Shared Authority .................................... Foreign Affairs ..................................................................................................... Military ................................................................................................................. Delegations to States and to Private Entities ........................................................... Delegations to States ........................................................................................... Delegation to Private Entities ............................................................................. Particular Subjects or Concerns—Closer Scrutiny or Uniform Standard? ............. Crime and Punishment ............................................................................................... Delegation and Individual Liberties .......................................................................... Congressional Investigations ............................................................................................. Source of the Power to Investigate ............................................................................ Investigations of Conduct of Executive Department ................................................ Investigations of Members of Congress ..................................................................... Investigations in Aid of Legislation ........................................................................... Purpose ................................................................................................................. Protection of Witnesses: Pertinency and Related Matters ............................... Protection of Witnesses: Constitutional Guarantees ......................................... Sanctions of the Investigatory Power: Contempt ..................................................... Section 2. The House of Representatives ................................................................................. Clause 1. Congressional Districting .................................................................................. Elector Qualifications .................................................................................................. Clause 2. Qualifications of Members of Congress ............................................................ When the Qualifications Must Be Possessed ............................................................ Exclusivity of Constitutional Qualifications ............................................................. Congressional Additions ............................................................................................. State Additions ............................................................................................................ Clause 3. Apportionment of Seats in the House .............................................................. The Census Requirement ........................................................................................... Clause 4. Vacancies ............................................................................................................ Clause 5. Officers and Power of Impeachment ................................................................

63 63 63 65 70 71 73 73 77 79 80 81 85 86 86 87 88 88 88 90 91 93 93 93 95 97 97 97 100 104 107 109 109 113 114 114 114 114 117 120 120 122 122

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Section 3. The Senate ................................................................................................................ Clause 1. Composition and Selection ................................................................................ Clause 2. Classes of Senators ............................................................................................ Clause 3. Qualifications ..................................................................................................... Clause 4. The Vice President ............................................................................................. Clause 5. Officers ................................................................................................................ Clause 6. Trial of Impeachments ...................................................................................... Clause 7. Judgments on Impeachment ............................................................................. Section 4. Elections .................................................................................................................... Clause 1. Congressional Power to Regulate ..................................................................... Legislation Protecting Electoral Process ................................................................... Clause 2. Time of Assembling ........................................................................................... Section 5. Powers and Duties of the Houses ........................................................................... Clause 1. Power to Judge Elections .................................................................................. Clause 2. Rules of Proceedings .......................................................................................... Clause 3. Duty to Keep a Journal ..................................................................................... Clause 4. Adjournments ..................................................................................................... Power to Judge Elections ............................................................................................ ‘‘A Quorum to Do Business’’ ....................................................................................... Rules of Proceedings ................................................................................................... Powers of the Houses Over Members ........................................................................ Duty to Keep a Journal .............................................................................................. Section 6. Rights and Disabilities of Members ........................................................................ Clause 1. Compensation and Immunities of Members .................................................... Congressional Pay ....................................................................................................... Privilege from Arrest .................................................................................................. Privilege of Speech or Debate ..................................................................................... Members ............................................................................................................... Congressional Employees .................................................................................... Clause 2. Disabilities .......................................................................................................... Appointment to Executive Office ............................................................................... Incompatible Offices .................................................................................................... Section 7. Bills and Resolutions ............................................................................................... Clause 1. Revenue Bills ..................................................................................................... Clause 2. Approval by the President ................................................................................ Clause 3. Presentation of Resolutions .............................................................................. The Legislative Process .............................................................................................. Revenue Bills ........................................................................................................ Approval by the President ................................................................................... The Veto Power .................................................................................................... Presentation of Resolutions ................................................................................. The Legislative Veto ..................................................................................... The Line Item Veto ....................................................................................... Section 8. Powers of Congress .................................................................................................. Clause 1. Power to Tax and Spend ................................................................................... Kinds of Taxes Permitted ........................................................................................... Decline of the Forbidden Subject Matter Test ................................................... Federal Taxation of State Interests .................................................................... Scope of State Immunity from Federal Taxation .............................................. Uniformity Requirement ..................................................................................... Purposes of Taxation ................................................................................................... Regulation by Taxation ........................................................................................ Extermination by Taxation .................................................................................

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Section 8. Powers of Congress—Continued Clause 1. Power to Tax and Spend—Continued Promotion of Business: Protective Tariff ............................................................ Spending for the General Welfare ............................................................................. Scope of the Power ............................................................................................... Social Security Act Cases ............................................................................. Conditional Grants-In-Aid ............................................................................ Earmarked Funds ......................................................................................... Debts of the United States ........................................................................... Clause 2. Borrowing Power ................................................................................................ Clause 3. Commerce Power ............................................................................................... Power to Regulate Commerce ..................................................................................... Purposes Served by the Grant ............................................................................ Definition of Terms .............................................................................................. Commerce ...................................................................................................... Among the Several States ............................................................................ Regulate ......................................................................................................... Necessary and Proper Clause ...................................................................... Federalism Limits on Exercise of Commerce Power .................................. Illegal Commerce .......................................................................................... Interstate versus Foreign Commerce ......................................................................... Instruments of Commerce .......................................................................................... Congressional Regulation of Waterways ................................................................... Navigation ............................................................................................................ Hydroelectric Power; Flood Control .................................................................... Congressional Regulation of Land Transportation ................................................... Federal Stimulation of Land Transportation ..................................................... Federal Regulation of Land Transportation ...................................................... Federal Regulation of Intrastate Rates .............................................................. Federal Protection of Labor in Interstate Rail Transportation ........................ Regulation of Other Agents of Carriage and Communications ........................ Congressional Regulation of Commerce as Traffic ................................................... The Sherman Act: Sugar Trust Case ................................................................. Sherman Act Revived .......................................................................................... The ‘‘Current of Commerce’’ Concept: The Swift Case ...................................... The Danbury Hatters Case .................................................................................. Stockyards and Grain Futures Acts ................................................................... Securities and Exchange Commission ................................................................ Congressional Regulation of Production and Industrial Relations: Antidepression Legislation ...................................................................................... National Industrial Recovery Act ....................................................................... Agricultural Adjustment Act ............................................................................... Bituminous Coal Conservation Act ..................................................................... Railroad Retirement Act ...................................................................................... National Labor Relations Act .............................................................................. Fair Labor Standards Act .................................................................................... Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act ............................................................. Acts of Congress Prohibiting Commerce ................................................................... Foreign Commerce: Jefferson’s Embargo ........................................................... Foreign Commerce: Protective Tariffs ................................................................ Foreign Commerce: Banned Articles .................................................................. Interstate Commerce: Power to Prohibit Questioned ........................................ Interstate Commerce: National Prohibitions and State Police Power .............

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Section 8. Powers of Congress—Continued Clause 3. Commerce Power—Continued The Lottery Case .................................................................................................. The Darby Case .................................................................................................... The Commerce Clause as a Source of National Police Power ................................. Is There an Intrastate Barrier to Congress’ Commerce Power? ...................... Civil Rights ........................................................................................................... Criminal Law ........................................................................................................ The Commerce Clause as a Restraint on State Powers ........................................... Doctrinal Background .......................................................................................... The State Proprietary Activity Exception .......................................................... Congressional Authorization of Impermissible State Action ............................ State Taxation and Regulation: The Old Law .......................................................... General Considerations ....................................................................................... Taxation ................................................................................................................ Regulation ............................................................................................................. State Taxation and Regulation: The Modern Law ................................................... General Considerations ....................................................................................... Taxation ................................................................................................................ Regulation ............................................................................................................. Foreign Commerce and State Powers ........................................................................ Concurrent Federal and State Jurisdiction ............................................................... The General Issue: Preemption .......................................................................... Preemption Standards .................................................................................. The Standards Applied ................................................................................. Federal Versus State Labor Laws ............................................................... Commerce With Indian Tribes ................................................................................... Clause 4. Naturalization and Bankruptcies ..................................................................... Naturalization and Citizenship .................................................................................. Nature and Scope of Congress’ Power ................................................................ Categories of Citizens: Birth and Naturalization .............................................. The Naturalization of Aliens ............................................................................... Rights of Naturalized Persons ............................................................................ Expatriation: Loss of Citizenship ........................................................................ Aliens ............................................................................................................................ The Power of Congress to Exclude Aliens .......................................................... Deportation ........................................................................................................... Bankruptcy .................................................................................................................. Persons Who May Be Released from Debt ......................................................... Liberalization of Relief Granted and Expansion of the Rights of the Trustee Constitutional Limitations on the Bankruptcy Power ...................................... Constitutional Status of State Insolvency Laws: Preemption .......................... Clauses 5 and 6. Money ..................................................................................................... Fiscal and Monetary Powers of Congress .................................................................. Coinage, Weights, and Measures ........................................................................ Punishment of Counterfeiting ............................................................................. Borrowing Power versus Fiscal Power ............................................................... Clause 7. Post Office .......................................................................................................... Postal Power ................................................................................................................ ‘‘Establish’’ ............................................................................................................ Power to Protect the Mails .................................................................................. Power to Prevent Harmful Use of the Postal Facilities .................................... Exclusive Power as an Adjunct to Other Powers ..............................................

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Section 8. Powers of Congress—Continued Clause 7. Post Office—Continued State Regulations Affecting the Mails ................................................................ Clause 8. Copyrights and Patents ..................................................................................... Copyrights and Patents .............................................................................................. Scope of the Power ............................................................................................... Patentable Discoveries ......................................................................................... Procedure in Issuing Patents .............................................................................. Nature and Scope of the Right Secured ............................................................. Power of Congress over Patents and Copyrights ............................................... State Power Affecting Patents and Copyrights ................................................. Trade-Marks and Advertisements ...................................................................... Clause 9. Creation of Courts ............................................................................................. Clause 10. Maritime Crimes .............................................................................................. Piracies, Felonies, and Offenses Against the Law of Nations ................................. Origin of the Clause ............................................................................................. Definition of Offenses .......................................................................................... Extraterritorial Reach of the Power ................................................................... Clauses 11, 12, 13, and 14. War; Military Establishment .............................................. The War Power ............................................................................................................ Source and Scope ................................................................................................. Three Theories .............................................................................................. An Inherent Power ........................................................................................ A Complexus of Granted Powers ................................................................. Declaration of War ............................................................................................... The Power to Raise and Maintain Armed Forces ..................................................... Purpose of Specific Grants .................................................................................. Time Limit on Appropriations for the Army ...................................................... Conscription .......................................................................................................... Care of the Armed Forces .................................................................................... Trial and Punishment of Offenses: Servicemen, Civilian Employees, and Dependents ............................................................................................................ Servicemen .................................................................................................... Civilians and Dependents ............................................................................ War Legislation ........................................................................................................... War Powers in Peacetime .................................................................................... Delegation of Legislative Power in Wartime ..................................................... Constitutional Rights in Wartime .............................................................................. Constitution and the Advance of the Flag ......................................................... Theater of Military Operations .................................................................... Enemy Country ............................................................................................. Enemy Property ............................................................................................ Prizes of War ................................................................................................. The Constitution at Home in Wartime .............................................................. Personal Liberty ............................................................................................ Enemy Aliens ................................................................................................ Eminent Domain ........................................................................................... Rent and Price Controls ............................................................................... Clauses 15 and 16. The Militia ......................................................................................... The Militia Clauses ..................................................................................................... Calling Out the Militia ........................................................................................ Regulation of the Militia ..................................................................................... Clause 17. District of Columbia; Federal Property ..........................................................

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Section 8. Powers of Congress—Continued Clause 17. District of Columbia; Federal Property—Continued Seat of the Government .............................................................................................. Authority Over Places Purchased .............................................................................. ‘‘Places’’ ................................................................................................................. Duration of Federal Jurisdiction ......................................................................... Reservation of Jurisdiction by States ................................................................. Clause 18. Necessary and Proper Clause ......................................................................... Necessary and Proper Clause ..................................................................................... Scope of Incidental Powers .................................................................................. Operation of Clause ............................................................................................. Definition of Punishment and Crimes ................................................................ Chartering of Banks ............................................................................................ Currency Regulations .......................................................................................... Power to Charter Corporations ........................................................................... Courts and Judicial Proceedings ......................................................................... Special Acts Concerning Claims ......................................................................... Maritime Law ....................................................................................................... Section 9. Powers Denied to Congress ..................................................................................... Clause 1. Importation of Slaves ........................................................................................ In General .................................................................................................................... Clause 2. Habeas Corpus Suspension ............................................................................... In General .................................................................................................................... Clause 3. Bills of Attainder and Ex Post Facto Laws ...................................................... Bills of Attainder ......................................................................................................... Ex Post Facto Laws ..................................................................................................... Definition .............................................................................................................. What Constitutes Punishment ............................................................................ Change in Place or Mode of Trial ....................................................................... Clause 4. Taxes ................................................................................................................... Direct Taxes ................................................................................................................. The Hylton Case ................................................................................................... From the Hylton to the Pollock Case .................................................................. Restriction of the Pollock Decision ..................................................................... Miscellaneous ....................................................................................................... Clause 5. Duties on Exports from States ......................................................................... Taxes on Exports ......................................................................................................... Stamp Taxes ......................................................................................................... Clause 6. Preference to Ports ............................................................................................ The ‘‘No Preference’’ Clause ....................................................................................... Clause 7. Appropriations and Accounting of Public Money ............................................ Appropriations ............................................................................................................. Payment of Claims ...................................................................................................... Clause 8. Titles of Nobility; Presents ............................................................................... In General .................................................................................................................... Section 10. Powers Denied to the States ................................................................................. Clause 1. Making Treaties, Coining Money, Ex Post Facto Laws, Impairing Contracts ................................................................................................................................ Treaties, Alliances, or Confederations ....................................................................... Bills of Credit .............................................................................................................. Legal Tender ................................................................................................................ Bills of Attainder ......................................................................................................... Ex Post Facto Laws .....................................................................................................

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Section 10. Powers Denied to the States—Continued Clause 1. Making Treaties, Coining Money, Ex Post Facto Laws, Impairing Contracts—Continued Scope of the Provision .......................................................................................... Denial of Future Privileges to Past Offenders ................................................... Changes in Punishment ...................................................................................... Changes in Procedure .......................................................................................... Obligation of Contracts ............................................................................................... ‘‘Law’’ Defined ....................................................................................................... Status of Judicial Decisions ................................................................................ ‘‘Obligation’’ Defined ............................................................................................ ‘‘Impair’’ Defined .................................................................................................. Vested Rights Not Included ................................................................................ Public Grants That Are Not ‘‘Contracts’’ ............................................................ Tax Exemptions: When Not ‘‘Contracts’’ ............................................................ ‘‘Contracts’’ Include Public Contracts and Corporate Charters ........................ Corporate Charters: Different Ways of Regarding ............................................ Reservation of Right to Alter or Repeal Corporate Charters ........................... Corporation Subject to the Law and Police Power ............................................ Strict Construction of Charters, Tax Exemptions ............................................. Strict Construction and the Police Power .......................................................... Doctrine of Inalienability as Applied to Eminent Domain, Taxing, and Police Powers ........................................................................................................ Private Contracts ................................................................................................. Remedy a Part of the Private Obligation ........................................................... Private Contracts and the Police Power ............................................................. Evaluation of the Clause Today .......................................................................... Clause 2. Duties on Exports and Imports ........................................................................ Duties on Exports and Imports .................................................................................. Scope ..................................................................................................................... Privilege Taxes ..................................................................................................... Property Taxes ..................................................................................................... Inspection Laws .................................................................................................... Clause 3. Tonnage Duties, Keeping Troops, Making Compacts, War ............................ Tonnage Duties ............................................................................................................ Keeping Troops ............................................................................................................ Interstate Compacts .................................................................................................... Background of Clause .......................................................................................... Subject Matter of Interstate Compacts .............................................................. Consent of Congress ............................................................................................. Grants of Franchise to Corporations by Two States ......................................... Legal Effects of Interstate Compacts .................................................................

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LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT ARTICLE I

SECTION 1 All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. SEPARATION OF POWERS AND CHECKS AND BALANCES The Constitution nowhere contains an express injunction to preserve the boundaries of the three broad powers it grants, nor does it expressly enjoin maintenance of a system of checks and balances. Yet, it does grant to three separate branches the powers to legislate, to execute, and to adjudicate, and it provides throughout the document the means by which each of the branches could resist the blandishments and incursions of the others. The Framers drew up our basic charter against a background rich in the theorizing of scholars and statesmen regarding the proper ordering in a system of government of conferring sufficient power to govern while withholding the ability to abridge the liberties of the governed. 1 The Theory Elaborated and Implemented When the colonies separated from Great Britain following the Revolution, the framers of their constitutions were imbued with the profound tradition of separation of powers, and they freely and expressly embodied the principle in their charters. 2 But the theory of checks and balances was not favored because it was drawn from Great Britain, and, as a consequence, violations of the separationof-powers doctrine by the legislatures of the States were common1 Among the best historical treatments are M.Vile, Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers (1967), and W. Gwyn, The Meaning of the Separation of Powers (1965). 2 Thus the Constitution of Virginia of 1776 provided: ‘‘The legislative, executive, and judiciary department shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the other; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them, at the same time[.]’’ Reprinted in 10 SOURCES AND DOCUMENTS OF UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONS 52 (W. S. Windler ed., 1979). See also 5 id. at 96, Art. XXX of Part First, Massachusetts Constitution of 1780: ‘‘In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men.’’

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place events prior to the convening of the Convention. 3 Theory as much as experience guided the Framers in the summer of 1787. 4 The doctrine of separation of powers, as implemented in drafting the Constitution, was based on several principles generally held: the separation of government into three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial; the conception that each branch performs unique and identifiable functions that are appropriate to each; and the limitation of the personnel of each branch to that branch, so that no one person or group should be able to serve in more than one branch simultaneously. To a great extent, the Constitution effectuated these principles, but critics objected to what they regarded as a curious intermixture of functions, to, for example, the veto power of the President over legislation and to the role of the Senate in the appointment of executive officers and judges and in the treaty-making process. It was to these objections that Madison turned in a powerful series of essays. 5 Madison recurred to ‘‘the celebrated’’ Montesquieu, the ‘‘oracle who is always consulted,’’ to disprove the contentions of the critics. ‘‘[T]his essential precaution in favor of liberty,’’ that is, the separation of the three great functions of government, had been achieved, but the doctrine did not demand rigid separation. Montesquieu and other theorists ‘‘did not mean that these departments ought to have no partial agency in, or control over, the acts of each other,’’ but rather liberty was endangered ‘‘where the whole power of one department is exercised by the same hands which possess the whole power of another department.’’ 6 That the doctrine did not demand absolute separation provided the basis for preservation of separation of powers in action. Neither sharply drawn demarcations of institutional boundaries nor appeals to the electorate were sufficient. 7 Instead, the security against concentration of powers ‘‘consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.’’ Thus, ‘‘[a]mbition must be made to 3 ‘‘In republican government the legislative authority, necessarily, predominates.’’ THE FEDERALIST, No. 51 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 350 (Madison). See also id. at No. 48, 332–334. This theme continues today to influence the Court’s evaluation of congressional initiatives. E.g., Metropolitan Washington Airports Auth. v. Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise, 501 U.S. 252, 273–74, 277 (1991). But compare id. at 286 n. 3 (Justice White dissenting). 4 The intellectual history through the state period and the Convention proceedings is detailed in G. WOOD, THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, 1776– 1787 (1969) (see index entries under ‘‘separation of powers’’). 5 THE FEDERALIST Nos. 47–51 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 323–353 (Madison). 6 Id. at No. 47, 325–326 (emphasis in original). 7 Id. at Nos. 47–49, 325–343.

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counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.’’ 8 Institutional devices to achieve these principles pervade the Constitution. Bicameralism reduces legislative predominance, while the presidential veto gives to the Chief Magistrate a means of defending himself and of preventing congressional overreaching. The Senate’s role in appointments and treaties checks the President. The courts are assured independence through good behavior tenure and security of compensation, and the judges through judicial review will check the other two branches. The impeachment power gives to Congress the authority to root out corruption and abuse of power in the other two branches. And so on. Judicial Enforcement Throughout much of our history, the ‘‘political branches’’ have contended between themselves in application of the separation-ofpowers doctrine. Many notable political disputes turned on questions involving the doctrine. Inasmuch as the doctrines of separation of powers and of checks and balances require both separation and intermixture, 9 the role of the Supreme Court in policing the maintenance of the two doctrines is problematic at best. And, indeed, it is only in the last two decades that cases involving the doctrines have regularly been decided by the Court. Previously, informed understandings of the principles have underlain judicial construction of particular clauses or guided formulation of constitutional common law. That is, the nondelegation doctrine was from the beginning suffused with a separation-of-powers premise, 10 and the effective demise of the doctrine as a judicially-enforceable construct reflects the Court’s inability to give any meaningful content to it. 11 On the other hand, periodically, the Court has essayed a strong separation position on behalf of the President, sometimes with lack of success, 12 sometimes successfully. 8 Id.

at No. 51, 349. the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity.’’ Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635 (1952) (Justice Jackson concurring). 10 E.g., Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 692 (1892); Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1, 42 (1825). 11 See Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 415–416 (1989) (Justice Scalia dissenting). 12 The principal example is Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926), written by Chief Justice Taft, himself a former President. The breadth of the holding was modified in considerable degree in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), and the premise of the decision itself was recast and largely softened in Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988). 9 ‘‘While

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Following a lengthy period of relative inattention to separation of powers issues, the Court since 1976 13 has recurred to the doctrine in numerous cases, and the result has been a substantial curtailing of congressional discretion to structure the National Government. Thus, the Court has interposed constitutional barriers to a congressional scheme to provide for a relatively automatic deficitreduction process because of the critical involvement of an officer with significant legislative ties, 14 to the practice set out in more than 200 congressional enactments establishing a veto of executive actions, 15 and to the vesting of broad judicial powers to handle bankruptcy cases in officers not possessing security of tenure and salary. 16 On the other hand, the highly-debated establishment by Congress of a process by which independent special prosecutors could be established to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption in the Executive Branch was sustained by the Court in a opinion that may presage a judicial approach in separation of powers cases more accepting of some blending of functions at the federal level. 17 Important as the results were in this series of cases, the development of two separate and inconsistent doctrinal approaches to separation of powers issues occasioned the greatest amount of commentary. The existence of the two approaches, which could apparently be employed in the discretion of the Justices, made difficult the prediction of the outcomes of differences over proposals and alternatives in governmental policy. Significantly, however, it appeared that the Court most often used a more strict analysis in cases in which infringements of executive powers were alleged and a less strict analysis when the powers of the other two Branches were concerned. The special prosecutor decision, followed by the decision sustaining the Sentencing Commission, may signal the adoption of a single analysis, the less strict analysis, for all separation of power cases or it may turn out to be but an exception to the Court’s dual doctrinal approach. 18 13 Beginning with Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 109–43 (1976), a relatively easy case, in which Congress had attempted to reserve to itself the power to appoint certain officers charged with enforcement of a law. 14 Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986). 15 INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983). 16 Northern Pipeline Constr. Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50 (1982). 17 Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988). See also Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989). 18 The tenor of a later case, Metropolitan Washington Airports Auth. v. Citizens for the Abatement of Airport Noise, 501 U.S. 252 (1991), was decidedly formalistic, but it involved a factual situation and a doctrinal predicate easily rationalized by the principles of Morrison and Mistretta, aggrandizement of its powers by Congress. Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33 (1989), reasserted the fundamental status of Marathon, again in a bankruptcy courts context, although the issue was

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While the two doctrines have been variously characterized, the names generally attached to them have been ‘‘formalist,’’ applied to the more strict line, and ‘‘functional,’’ applied to the less strict. The formalist approach emphasizes the necessity to maintain three distinct branches of government through the drawing of bright lines demarcating the three branches from each other determined by the differences among legislating, executing, and adjudicating. 19 The functional approach emphasizes the core functions of each branch and asks whether the challenged action threatens the essential attributes of the legislative, executive, or judicial function or functions. Under this approach, there is considerable flexibility in the moving branch, usually Congress acting to make structural or institutional change, if there is little significant risk of impairment of a core function or in the case of such a risk if there is a compelling reason for the action. 20 Chadha used the formalist approach to invalidate the legislative veto device by which Congress could set aside a determination by the Attorney General, pursuant to a delegation from Congress, to suspend deportation of an alien. Central to the decision were two conceptual premises. First, the action Congress had taken was legthe right to a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment rather than strictly speaking a separation-of-powers question. Freytag v. CIR, 501 U.S. 868 (1991), pursued a straightforward appointments-clause analysis, informed by a separation-of-powers analysis but not governed by it. Finally, in Public Citizen v. U. S. Department of Justice, 491 U.S. 440, 467 (1989) (concurring), Justice Kennedy would have followed the formalist approach, but he explicitly grounded it on the distinction between an express constitutional vesting of power as against implicit vestings. Separately, the Court has for some time viewed the standing requirement for access to judicial review as reflecting a separation-of-powers component—confining the courts to their proper sphere— Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 752 (1984), but that view seemed largely superfluous to the conceptualization of standing rules. However, in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 577 (1992), the Court imported the take-care clause, obligating the President to see to the faithful execution of the laws, into standing analysis, creating a substantial barrier to congressional decisions to provide for judicial review of executive actions. It is not at all clear, however, that the effort, by Justice Scalia, enjoys the support of a majority of the Court. Id. at 579-81 (Justices Kennedy and Souter concurring). The cited cases do seem to demonstrate that a strongly formalistic wing of the Court does continue to exist. 19 ‘‘The hydraulic pressure inherent within each of the separate Branches to exceed the outer limits of its power . . . must be resisted. Although not ‘hermetically’ sealed from one another, the powers delegated to the three Branches are functionally identifiable.’’ INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 951 (1983). See id. at 944–51; Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 64–66 (1982) (plurality opinion); Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714, 721–727 (1986). 20 CFTC v. Schor, 478 U.S. 833, 850–51, 856–57 (1986); Thomas v. Union Carbide Agric. Products Co., 473 U.S. 568, 587, 589–93 (1985). The Court had first formulated this analysis in cases challenging alleged infringments on presidential powers, United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 713 (1974); Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 442–43 (1977), but it had subsequently turned to the more strict test. Schor and Thomas both involved provisions challenged as infringing judicial powers.

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islative, because it had the purpose and effect of altering the legal rights, duties, and relations of persons outside the Legislative Branch, and thus Congress had to comply with the bicameralism and presentment requirements of the Constitution. 21 Second, the Attorney General was performing an executive function in implementing the delegation from Congress, and the legislative veto was an impermissible interference in the execution of the laws. Congress could act only by legislating, by changing the terms of its delegation. 22 In Bowsher, the Court held that Congress could not vest even part of the execution of the laws in an officer, the Comptroller General, who was subject to removal by Congress because this would enable Congress to play a role in the execution of the laws. Congress could act only by passing other laws. 23 On the same day that Bowsher was decided through a formalist analysis, the Court in Schor utilized the less strict, functional approach in resolving a challenge to the power of a regulatory agency to adjudicate as part of a larger canvas a state common-law issue, the very kind of issue that Northern Pipeline, in a formalist plurality opinion with a more limited concurrence, had denied to a non-Article III bankruptcy court. 24 Sustaining the agency’s power, the Court emphasized ‘‘the principle that ‘practical attention to substance rather than doctrinaire reliance on formal categories should inform application of Article III.’’’ 25 It held that in evaluating such a separation of powers challenge, the Court had to consider the extent to which the ‘‘essential attributes of judicial power’’ were reserved to Article III courts and conversely the extent to which the non-Article III entity exercised the jurisdiction and powers normally vested only in Article III courts, the origin and importance of the rights to be adjudicated, and the concerns that drove Congress to depart from the requirements of Article III. 26 Bowsher, the Court said, was not contrary, because ‘‘[u]nlike Bowsher, this case raises no question of the aggrandizement of congressional power at the expense of a coordinate branch.’’ 27 The test was a balancing one, whether Congress had impermissibly undermined 21 INS

v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 952 (1983). at 954–955. v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714, 726–727, 733–734 (1986). 24 While the agency in Schor was an independent regulatory commission and the bankruptcy court in Northern Pipeline was either an Article I court or an adjunct to an Article III court, the characterization of the entity is irrelevant and, in fact, the Court made nothing of the difference. The issue in either case was whether the judicial power of the United States could be conferred on an entity not an Article III court. 25 CFTC v. Schor, 478 U.S. 833, 848 (1986) (quoting Thomas v. Union Carbide Agric. Products Co., 473 U.S. 568, 587 (1985)). 26 Schor, 478 U.S. at 851. 27 478 U.S. at 856. 22 Id.

23 Bowsher

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the role of another branch without appreciable expansion of its own power. While the Court, in applying one or the other analysis in separation of powers cases, had never indicated its standards for choosing one analysis over the other, beyond inferences that the formalist approach was proper when the Constitution fairly clearly committed a function or duty to a particular branch and the functional approach was proper when the constitutional text was indeterminate and a determination must be made on the basis of the likelihood of impairment of the essential powers of a branch, the overall results had been a strenuous protection of executive powers and a concomitant relaxed view of the possible incursions into the powers of the other branches. It was thus a surprise, then, when in the independent counsel case, the Court, again without stating why it chose that analysis, utilized the functional standard to sustain the creation of the independent counsel. 28 The independentcounsel statute, the Court emphasized, was not an attempt by Congress to increase its own power at the expense of the executive nor did it constitute a judicial usurpation of executive power. Moreover, the Court stated, the law did not ‘‘impermissibly undermine’’ the powers of the Executive Branch nor did it ‘‘disrupt the proper balance between the coordinate branches [by] prevent[ing] the Executive Branch from accomplishing its constitutionally assigned functions.’’ 29 Acknowledging that the statute undeniably reduced executive control over what it had previously identified as a core executive function, the execution of the laws through criminal prosecution , through its appointment provisions and its assurance of independence by limitation of removal to a ‘‘good cause’’ standard, the Court nonetheless noticed the circumscribed nature of the reduction, the discretion of the Attorney General to initiate appointment, the limited jurisdiction of the counsel, and the power of the Attorney General to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed by the counsel. This balancing, the Court thought, left the President with sufficient control to ensure that he is able to perform his constitutionally assigned functions. A notably more pragmatic, functional analysis suffused the opinion of the Court when it upheld the con28 To be sure, the appointments clause did specifically provide that Congress could vest in the courts the power to appoint inferior officers, Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654, 670–677 (1988), making possible the contention that, unlike Chadha and Bowsher, Morrison is a textual commitment case. But the Court’s separate evaluation of the separation of powers issue does not appear to turn on that distinction. Id. at 685–96. Nevertheless, the existence of this possible distinction should make one wary about lightly reading Morrison as a rejection of formalism when executive powers are litigated. 29 487 U.S. at 695 (quoting, respectively, Schor, 478 U.S. at 856, and Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. at 443).

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stitutionality of the Sentencing Commission. 30 Charged with promulgating guidelines binding on federal judges in sentencing convicted offenders, the seven-member Commission, three members of which had to be Article III judges, was made an independent entity in the judicial branch. The President appointed all seven members, the judges from a list compiled by the Judicial Conference, and he could remove from the Commission any member for cause. According to the Court, its separation-of-powers jurisprudence is always animated by the concerns of encroachment and aggrandizement. ‘‘Accordingly, we have not hesitated to strike down provisions of law that either accrete to a single Branch powers more appropriately diffused among separate Branches or that undermine the authority and independence of one or another coordinate Branch.’’ 31 Thus, to each of the discrete questions, the placement of the Commission, the appointment of the members, especially the service of federal judges, and the removal power, the Court carefully analyzed whether one branch had been given power it could not exercise or had enlarged its powers impermissibly and whether any branch would have its institutional integrity threatened by the structural arrangement. Although it is possible, even likely, that Morrison and Mistretta represent a decision by the Court to adopt for all separation-of-powers cases the functional analysis, the history of adjudication since 1976 and the shift of approach between Myers and Humphrey’s Executor suggest caution. Recurrences of the formalist approach have been noted. Additional decisions must be forthcoming before it can be decided that the Court has finally settled on the functional approach. BICAMERALISM By providing for a National Legislature of two Houses, the Framers, deliberately or adventitiously, served several functions. Examples of both unicameralism and bicameralism abounded. Some of the ancient republics, to which the Framers often repaired for the learning of experience, had two-house legislatures, and the Parliament of Great Britain was based in two social orders, the hereditary aristocracy represented in the House of Lords and the freeholders of the land represented in the House of Commons. A number of state legislatures, following the Revolution, were created 30 Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989). Significantly, the Court did acknowledge reservations with respect to the placement of the Commission as an independent entity in the judicial branch. Id. at 384, 397, 407–08. As in Morrison, Justice Scalia was the lone dissenter, arguing for a fairly rigorous application of separation-of-powers principles. Id. at 413, 422–27. 31 488 U.S. at 382.

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unicameral, and the Continental Congress, limited in power as it was, consisted of one house. From the beginning in the Convention, in the Virginia Plan, a two-house Congress was called for. The Great Compromise, one of the critical decisions leading to a successful completion of the Convention, resolved the dispute about the national legislature by providing for a House of Representatives apportioned on population and a Senate in which the States were equally represented. The first function served, thus, was federalism. 32 Coextensively important, however, was the separation-of-powers principle served. The legislative power, the Framers both knew and feared, was predominant in a society dependent upon the suffrage of the people, and it was important to have a precaution against the triumph of transient majorities. Hence, the Constitution’s requirement that before lawmaking could be carried out bills must be deliberated in two Houses, their Members beholden to different constituencies, was in pursuit of this observation from experience. 33 Events since 1787, of course, have altered both the separationof-powers and the federalism bases of bicameralism, in particular the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment resulting in the popular election of Senators, so that the differences between the two Chambers are today less pronounced. ENUMERATED, IMPLIED, RESULTING, AND INHERENT POWERS Two important doctrines of constitutional law—that the Federal Government is one of enumerated powers and that legislative powers may not be delegated—are derived in part from this section. The classical statement of the former is that by Chief Justice Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland: ‘‘This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it, would seem too apparent, to have required to be enforced by all those arguments, which its enlightened friends, while it was depending before the people, found it necessary to urge; that principle is now universally admitted.’’ 34 That, however, ‘‘the executive power’’ is not confined to those items expressly enumerated in Article II was asserted early in the history of the Constitution by Madison and Hamilton alike 32 THE

FEDERALIST, No. 39 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 250–257 (Madison). at No. 51, 347–353 (Madison). The assurance of the safeguard is built into the presentment clause. Article I, § 7, cl. 2; and see id. at cl. 3. The structure is not often the subject of case law, but it was a foundational matter in INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 944–951 (1983). 34 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 405 (1819). 33 Id.

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and is found in decisions of the Court; 35 a similar latitudinarian conception of ‘‘the judicial power of the United States’’ was voiced in Justice Brewer’s opinion for the Court in Kansas v. Colorado. 36 But even when confined to ‘‘the legislative powers herein granted,’’ the doctrine is severely strained by Marshall’s conception of some of these as set forth in his McCulloch v. Maryland opinion. He asserts that ‘‘the sword and the purse, all the external relations and no inconsiderable portion of the industry of the nation, are intrusted to its government;’’ 37 he characterizes ‘‘the power of making war,’’ of ‘‘levying taxes,’’ and of ‘‘regulating commerce’’ as ‘‘great, substantive and independent powers;’’ 38 and the power conferred by the ‘‘necessary and proper’’ clause embraces, he declares, all legislative ‘‘means which are appropriate’’ to carry out the legitimate ends of the Constitution, unless forbidden by ‘‘the letter and spirit of the Constitution.’’ 39 Nine years later, Marshall introduced what Story in his Commentaries labels the concept of ‘‘resulting powers,’’ those which ‘‘rather be a result from the whole mass of the powers of the National Government, and from the nature of political society, than a consequence or incident of the powers specially enumerated.’’ 40 Story’s reference is to Marshall’s opinion in American Insurance Co. v. Canter, 41 where the latter said, that ‘‘the Constitution confers absolutely on the government of the Union, the powers of making war, and of making treaties; consequently, that government possesses the power of acquiring territory, either by conquest or by treaty.’’ 42 And from the power to acquire territory, he continues, arises as ‘‘the inevitable consequence’’ the right to govern it. 43 Subsequently, powers have been repeatedly ascribed to the National Government by the Court on grounds that ill accord with the doctrine of enumerated powers: the power to legislate in effectuation of the ‘‘rights expressly given, and duties expressly enjoined’’ by the Constitution; 44 the power to impart to the paper currency of the Government the quality of legal tender in the payment 35 See discussion under Article II, § 1, cl. 1, Executive Power: Theory of the Presidential Office, infra. 36 206 U.S. 46, 82 (1907). 37 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) at 407. 38 17 U.S. at 411. 39 17 U.S. at 421. 40 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 1256 (1833). See also id. at 1286 and 1330. 41 26 U.S. (1 Pet.) 511 (1828). 42 26 U.S. at 542. 43 26 U.S. at 543. 44 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539, 616, 618–619 (1842).

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of debts; 45 the power to acquire territory by discovery; 46 the power to legislate for the Indian tribes wherever situated in the United States; 47 the power to exclude and deport aliens; 48 and to require that those who are admitted be registered and fingerprinted; 49 and finally the complete powers of sovereignty, both those of war and peace, in the conduct of foreign relations. Thus, in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Corp., 50 decided in 1936, Justice Sutherland asserted the dichotomy of domestic and foreign powers, with the former limited under the enumerated powers doctrine and the latter virtually free of any such restraint. That doctrine has been the source of much scholarly and judicial controversy, but, although limited, it has not been repudiated. Yet, for the most part, these holdings do not, as Justice Sutherland suggested, directly affect ‘‘the internal affairs’’ of the nation; they touch principally its peripheral relations, as it were. The most serious inroads on the doctrine of enumerated powers are, in fact, those which have taken place under cover of the doctrine—the vast expansion in recent years of national legislative power in the regulation of commerce among the States and in the expenditure of the national revenues. Verbally, at least, Marshall laid the ground for these developments in some of the phraseology above quoted from his opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland. DELEGATION OF LEGISLATIVE POWER The History of the Doctrine of Nondelegability The Supreme Court has sometimes declared categorically that ‘‘the legislative power of Congress cannot be delegated,’’ 51 and on other occasions has recognized more forthrightly, as Chief Justice Marshall did in 1825, that, although Congress may not delegate powers that ‘‘are strictly and exclusively legislative,’’ it may delegate ‘‘powers which [it] may rightfully exercise itself.’’ 52 The categorical statement has never been literally true, the Court having upheld the delegation at issue in the very case in which the statement was made. 53 The Court has long recognized that administra45 Juilliard v. Greenman, 110 U.S. 421, 449–450 (1884). See also Justice Bradley’s concurring opinion in Knox v. Lee, 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 457, 565 (1871). 46 United States v. Jones, 109 U.S. 513 (1883). 47 United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886). 48 Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698 (1893). 49 Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52 (1941). 50 299 U.S. 304 (1936). 51 United States v. Shreveport Grain & Elevator Co., 287 U.S. 77, 85 (1932). See also Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 692 (1892). 52 Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1, 41 (1825). 53 The Court in Shreveport Grain & Elevator upheld a delegation of authority to the FDA to allow reasonable variations, tolerances, and exemptions from mis-

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tion of the law requires exercise of discretion, 54 and that ‘‘in our increasingly complex society, replete with ever changing and more technical problems, Congress simply cannot do its job absent an ability to delegate power under broad general directives.’’ 55 The real issue is where to draw the line. Chief Justice Marshall recognized ‘‘that there is some difficulty in discerning the exact limits,’’ and that ‘‘the precise boundary of this power is a subject of delicate and difficult inquiry, into which a court will not enter unnecessarily.’’ 56 Accordingly, the Court’s solution has been to reject delegation challenges in all but the most extreme cases, and to accept delegations of vast powers to the President or to administrative agencies. With the exception of a brief period in the 1930’s when the Court was striking down New Deal legislation on a variety of grounds, the Court has consistently upheld grants of authority that have been challenged as invalid delegations of legislative power. The modern doctrine may be traced to the 1928 case J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, in which the Court, speaking through Chief Justice Taft, upheld Congress’ delegation to the President of the authority to set tariff rates that would equalize production costs in the United States and competing countries. 57 Although formally invoking the contingency theory, the Court’s opinion also looked forward, emphasizing that in seeking the cooperation of another branch Congress was restrained only according to ‘‘common sense and the inherent necessities’’ of the situation. 58 This vague statement was elaborated somewhat in the statement that the Court would sustain delegations whenever Congress provided an ‘‘intelligible principle’’ to which the President or an agency must conform. 59 branding prohibitions that were backed by criminal penalties. It was ‘‘not open to reasonable dispute’’ that such a delegation was permissible to fill in details ‘‘impracticable for Congress to prescribe.’’ 54 J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394, 406 (1928) (‘‘In determining what [Congress] may do in seeking assistance from another branch, the extent and character of that assistance must be fixed according to common sense and the inherent necessities of the government co-ordination’’). 55 Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 372 (1989). See also Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381, 398 (1940) (‘‘Delegation by Congress has long been recognized as necessary in order that the exertion of legislative power does not become a futility’’). 56 Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) at 42. For particularly useful discussions of delegations, see 1 K. DAVIS, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW TREATISE Ch. 3 (2d ed., 1978); L. JAFFE, JUDICIAL CONTROL OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION ch. 2 (1965). 57 276 U.S. 394 (1928). 58 276 U.S. at 406. 59 276 U.S. at 409. The ‘‘intelligible principle’’ test of Hampton is the same as the ‘‘legislative standards’’ test of A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States,

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As characterized by the Court, the delegations struck down in 1935 in the Panama Refining 60 and Schechter 61 cases were not only broad but unprecedented. Both cases involved provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act. At issue in Panama Refining was a delegation to the President of authority to prohibit interstate transportation of what was known as ‘‘hot oil’’ – oil produced in excess of quotas set by state law. The problem was that the Act provided no guidance to the President in determining whether or when to exercise this authority, and required no finding by the President as a condition of exercise of the authority. Congress ‘‘declared no policy, . . . established no standard, [and] laid down no rule,’’ but rather ‘‘left the matter to the President without standard or rule, to be dealt with as he pleased.’’ 62 At issue in Schechter was a delegation to the President of authority to promulgate codes of fair competition that could be drawn up by industry groups or prescribed by the President on his own initiative. The codes were required to implement the policies of the Act, but those policies were so general as to be nothing more than an endorsement of whatever might be thought to promote the recovery and expansion of the particular trade or industry. The President’s authority to approve, condition, or adopt codes on his own initiative was similarly devoid of meaningful standards, and ‘‘virtually unfettered.’’ 63 This broad delegation was ‘‘without precedent.’’ The Act supplied ‘‘no standards’’ for any trade or industry group, and, unlike other broad delegations that had been upheld, did not set policies that could be implemented by an administrative agency required to follow ‘‘appropriate administrative procedure.’’ ‘‘Instead of prescribing rules of conduct, [the Act] authorize[d] the making of codes to prescribe them.’’ 64 Since 1935, the Court has not struck down a delegation to an administrative agency. 65 Rather, the Court has approved, ‘‘without deviation, Congress’ ability to delegate power under broad stand295 U.S. 495, 530 (1935), and Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388, 421 (1935). 60 Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388 (1935). 61 A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935). 62 293 U.S. at 430, 418, respectively. Similarly, the executive order exercising the authority contained no finding or other explanation by which the legality of the action could be tested. Id. at 431-33. 63 295 U.S. at 542. 64 295 U.S. at 541. Other concerns were that the industrial codes were backed by criminal sanction, and that regulatory power was delegated to private individuals. See Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 373 n.7 (1989). 65 A year later, the Court invalidated the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act on delegation grounds, but that delegation was to private entities. Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936).

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ards.’’ 66 The Court has upheld, for example, delegations to administrative agencies to determine ‘‘excessive profits’’ during wartime, 67 to determine ‘‘unfair and inequitable distribution of voting power’’ among securities holders, 68 to fix ‘‘fair and equitable’’ commodities prices, 69 to determine ‘‘just and reasonable’’ rates, 70 and to regulate broadcast licensing as the ‘‘public interest, convenience, or necessity require.’’ 71 During all this time the Court ‘‘has not seen fit . . . to enlarge in the slightest [the] relatively narrow holdings’’ of Panama Refining and Schechter. 72 Again and again, the Court has distinguished the two cases, sometimes by finding adequate standards in the challenged statute, 73 sometimes by contrasting the vast scope of the power delegated by the National Industrial Recovery Act, 74 and sometimes by pointing to required administrative findings and procedures that were absent in the NIRA. 75 The Court has also relied on the constitutional doubt principle of statutory construction to narrow interpretations of statutes that, interpreted broadly, might have presented delegation issues. 76 Concerns in the scholarly literature with respect to the scope of the delegation doctrine 77 have been reflected in the opinions of 66 Mistretta

v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 373 (1989). v. United States, 334 U.S. 742 (1948). 68 American Power & Light Co. v. SEC, 329 U.S. 90 (1946). 69 Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414 (1944). 70 FPC v. Hope Natural Gas Co., 320 U.S. 591 (1944). 71 National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 190 (1943). 72 Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88, 122 (1976) (Justice Rehnquist, dissenting). 73 Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 373-79 (1989) 74 See, e.g., Fahey v. Mallonee, 332 U.S. 245, 250 (1947) (contrasting the delegation to deal with ‘‘unprecedented economic problems of varied industries’’ with the delegation of authority to deal with problems of the banking industry, where there was ‘‘accumulated experience’’ derived from long regulation and close supervision); Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457, 474 (2001) (the NIRA ‘‘conferred authority to regulate the entire economy on the basis of no more precise a standard than stimulating the economy by assuring ‘fair competition’’’). 75 See, e.g., Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 424-25 (1944) (Schechter involved delegation ‘‘not to a public official . . . but to private individuals’’; it suffices if Congress has sufficiently marked the field within which an administrator may act ‘‘so it may be known whether he has kept within it in compliance with the legislative will.’’) 76 See, e.g., Industrial Union Dep’t v. American Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 645-46 (1980) (plurality opinion) (invalidating an occupational safety and health regulation, and observing that the statute should not be interpreted to authorize enforcement of a standard that is not based on an ‘‘understandable’’ quantification of risk); National Cable Television Ass’n v. United States, 415 U.S. 336, 342 (1974) (‘‘hurdles revealed in [Schechter and J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States] lead us to read the Act narrowly to avoid constitutional problems’’). 77 E.g., A Symposium on Administrative Law: Part I - Delegation of Powers to Administrative Agencies, 36 AMER. U. L. REV. 295 (1987); Schoenbrod, The Delegation Doctrine: Could the Court Give It Substance?, 83 MICH. L. REV. 1223 (1985); Aranson, Gellhorn & Robinson, A Theory of Legislative Delegation, 68 CORN. L. REV. 1 (1982). 67 Lichter

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some of the Justices. 78 Nonetheless, the Court’s decisions continue to approve very broad delegations, 79 and the practice will likely remain settled. The fact that the Court has gone so long without holding a statute to be an invalid delegation does not mean that the nondelegation doctrine is a dead letter. The long list of rejected challenges does suggest, however, that the doctrine applies only to standardless delegations of the most sweeping nature. The Nature and Scope of Permissible Delegations Application of two distinct constitutional principles contributed to the development of the nondelegation doctrine: separation of powers and due process. A rigid application of separation of powers would prevent the lawmaking branch from divesting itself of any of its power and conferring it on one of the other branches. But the doctrine is not so rigidly applied as to prevent conferral of significant authority on the executive branch. 80 In J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 81 Chief Justice Taft explained the doctrine’s import in the delegation context. ‘‘The Federal Constitution . . . divide[s] the governmental power into three branches. . . . [I]n carrying out that constitutional division . . . it is a breach of the National fundamental law if Congress gives up its legislative power and transfers it to the President, or to the Judicial branch, or if by law it attempts to invest itself or its members with either execu78 American Textile Mfrs. Inst. v. Donovan, 452 U.S. 490, 543 (1981) (Chief Justice Burger dissenting); Industrial Union Dep’t v. American Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 671 (1980) (then-Justice Rehnquist concurring). See also United States v. Midwest Video Corp., 406 U.S. 649, 675, 677 (1972) (Chief Justice Burger concurring, Justice Douglas dissenting); Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, 625–26 (1963) (Justice Harlan dissenting in part). Occasionally, statutes are narrowly construed, purportedly to avoid constitutional problems with delegations. E.g., Industrial Union Dep’t, 448 U.S. at 645–46 (plurality opinion); National Cable Television Ass’n v. United States, 415 U.S. 336, 342 (1974). 79 E.g., Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 371–79 (1989). See also Skinner v. Mid-America Pipeline Co., 490 U.S. 212, 220–24 (1989); Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160, 164–68 (1991); Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 547 (2001). While expressing considerable reservations about the scope of delegations, Justice Scalia, in Mistretta, 488 U.S. at 415–16, conceded both the inevitability of delegations and the inability of the courts to police them. Notice Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), in which the Court struck down the Line Item Veto Act, intended by Congress to be a delegation to the President, finding that the authority conferred on the President was legislative power, not executive power, which failed because the presentment clause had not and could not have been complied with. The dissenting Justices argued that the law was properly treated as a delegation and was clearly constitutional. Id. at 453 (Justice Scalia concurring in part and dissenting in part), 469 (Justice Breyer dissenting). 80 Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 692 (1892); Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1, 42 (1825). 81 276 U.S. 394, 405–06 (1928).

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tive power or judicial power. This is not to say that the three branches are not co-ordinate parts of one government and that each in the field of its duties may not invoke the action of the two other branches in so far as the action invoked shall not be an assumption of the constitutional field of action of another branch. In determining what it may do in seeking assistance from another branch, the extent and character of that assistance must be fixed according to common sense and the inherent necessities of the governmental co-ordination.’’ 82 In Loving v. United States, 83 the Court distinguished between its usual separation-of-powers doctrine—emphasizing arrogation of power by a branch and impairment of another branch’s ability to carry out its functions—and the delegation doctrine, ‘‘another branch of our separation of powers jurisdiction,’’ which is informed not by the arrogation and impairment analyses but solely by the provision of standards. 84 This confirmed what had long been evident – that the delegation doctrine is unmoored to traditional separation-of-powers principles. The second principle underlying delegation law is a due process conception that undergirds delegations to administrative agencies. The Court has contrasted the delegation of authority to a public agency, which typically is required to follow established procedures in building a public record to explain its decisions and to enable a reviewing court to determine whether the agency has stayed within its ambit and complied with the legislative mandate, with delegations to private entities, which typically are not required to adhere to such procedural safeguards. 85 Two theories suggested themselves to the early Court to justify the results of sustaining delegations. The Chief Justice alluded to the first in Wayman v. Southard. 86 He distinguished between ‘‘important’’ subjects, ‘‘which must be entirely regulated by the legislature itself,’’ and subjects ‘‘of less interest, in which a general provi82 Chief Justice Taft traced the separation of powers doctrine to the maxim delegata potestas non potest delegari (a delegated power may not be delegated), 276 U.S. at 405, but the maxim does not help differentiate between permissible and impermissible delegations, and Court has not repeated this reference in later delegation cases. 83 517 U.S. 748 (1996). 84 517 U.S. at 758–59. 85 Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238, 310–12 (1936); Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 424-25 (1944). Since the separation-of-powers doctrine is inapplicable to the States as a requirement of federal constitutional law, Dreyer v. Illinois, 187 U.S. 71, 83–84 (1902), it is the due process clause to which federal courts must look for authority to review delegations by state legislatures. See, e.g., Eubank v. City of Richmond, 226 U.S. 137 (1912); Embree v. Kansas City Road Dist., 240 U.S. 242 (1916). 86 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1, 41 (1825).

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sion may be made, and power given to those who are to act under such general provisions, to fill up the details.’’ While his distinction may be lost, the theory of the power ‘‘to fill up the details’’ remains current. A second theory, formulated even earlier, is that Congress may legislate contingently, leaving to others the task of ascertaining the facts that bring its declared policy into operation. 87 Filling Up the Details.—In finding a power to ‘‘fill up the details,’’ the Court in Wayman v. Southard 88 rejected the contention that Congress had unconstitutionally delegated power to the federal courts to establish rules of practice. 89 Chief Justice Marshall agreed that the rule-making power was a legislative function and that Congress could have formulated the rules itself, but he denied that the delegation was impermissible. Since then, of course, Congress has authorized the Supreme Court to prescribe rules of procedure for the lower federal courts. 90 Filling up the details of statutes has long been the standard. For example, the Court upheld a statute requiring the manufacturers of oleomargarine to have their packages ‘‘marked, stamped and branded as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue . . . shall prescribe,’’ rejecting a contention that the prosecution was not for violation of law but for violation of a regulation. 91 ‘‘The criminal offence,’’ said Chief Justice Fuller, ‘‘is fully and completely defined by the act and the designation by the Commissioner of the particular marks and brands to be used was a mere matter of detail.’’ 92 Kollock was not the first such case, 93 and it was followed by a multitude of delegations that the Court sustained. In one such case, for example, the Court upheld an act directing the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate minimum standards of quality and purity for tea imported into the United States. 94 87 The

Brig Aurora, 11 U.S. (7 Cr.) 382 (1813). U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1 (1825). 89 Act of May 8, 1792, § 2, 1 Stat. 275, 276. 90 The power to promulgate rules of civil procedure was conferred by the Act of June 19, 1934, 48 Stat. 1064; the power to promulgate rules of criminal procedure was conferred by the Act of June 29, 1940, 54 Stat. 688. These authorities are now subsumed under 28 U.S.C. § 2072. In both instances Congress provided for submission of the rules to it, presumably reserving the power to change or to veto the rules. Additionally, Congress has occasionally legislated rules itself. See, e.g., 82 Stat. 197 (1968), 18 U.S.C. §§ 3501–02 (admissibility of confessions in federal courts). 91 In re Kollock, 165 U.S. 526 (1897). 92 165 U.S. at 533. 93 United States v. Bailey, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 238 (1835); Caha v. United States, 152 U.S. 211 (1894). 94 Buttfield v. Stranahan, 192 U.S. 470 (1904). See also United States v. Grimaud, 220 U.S. 506 (1911) (upholding act authorizing executive officials to make rules governing use of forest reservations); ICC v. Goodrich Transit Co., 224 U.S. 88 23

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Contingent Legislation.—An entirely different problem arises when, instead of directing another department of government to apply a general statute to individual cases, or to supplement it by detailed regulation, Congress commands that a previously enacted statute be revived, suspended, or modified, or that a new rule be put into operation, upon the finding of certain facts by an executive or administrative officer. Since the delegated function in such cases is not that of ‘‘filling up the details’’ of a statute, authority for it must be sought under some other theory. Contingent delegation was approved in an early case, The Brig Aurora, 95 upholding the revival of a law upon the issuance of a presidential proclamation. After previous restraints on British shipping had lapsed, Congress passed a new law stating that those restrictions should be renewed in the event the President found and proclaimed that France had abandoned certain practices that violated the neutral commerce of the United States. To the objection that this was an invalid delegation of legislative power, the Court answered briefly that ‘‘we can see no sufficient reason, why the legislature should not exercise its discretion in reviving the act of March 1st, 1809, either expressly or conditionally, as their judgment should direct.’’ 96 The theory was utilized again in Field v. Clark, 97 where the Tariff Act of 1890 was assailed as unconstitutional because it directed the President to suspend the free importation of enumerated commodities ‘‘for such time as he shall deem just’’ if he found that other countries imposed upon agricultural or other products of the United States duties or other exactions, which ‘‘he may deem to be reciprocally unequal and unjust.’’ In sustaining this statute the Court relied heavily upon two factors: (1) legislative precedents, which demonstrated that ‘‘in the judgment of the legislative branch of the government, it is often desirable, if not essential, . . . to invest the President with large discretion in matters arising out of the execution of statutes relating to trade and commerce with other nations;’’ 98 (2) that the act did ‘‘not, in any real sense, invest the President with the power of legislation. . . . Congress itself prescribed, in advance, the duties to be levied, . . . while the suspension lasted. Nothing involving the expediency or the just operation of such legislation was left to the determination of the President. . . . He had no discretion in the premises except in respect to the dura194 (1912) (upholding delegation to prescribe methods of accounting for carriers in interstate commerce). 95 11 U.S. (7 Cr.) 382 (1813). 96 11 U.S. (7 Cr.) at 388. 97 143 U.S. 649 (1892). 98 143 U.S. at 691.

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tion of the suspension so ordered.’’ 99 By similar reasoning, the Court sustained the flexible provisions of the Tariff Act of 1922 whereby duties were increased or decreased to reflect differences in cost of production at home and abroad, as such differences were ascertained and proclaimed by the President. 100 Standards.—Implicit in the concept of filling in the details is the idea that there is some intelligible guiding principle or framework to apply. Indeed, the requirement that Congress set forth ‘‘intelligible principles’’ or ‘‘standards’’ to guide as well as limit the agency or official in the performance of its assigned task has been critical to the Court’s acceptance of legislative delegations. In theory, the requirement of standards serves two purposes: ‘‘it insures that the fundamental policy decisions in our society will be made not by an appointed official but by the body immediately responsible to the people, [and] it prevents judicial review from becoming merely an exercise at large by providing the courts with some measure against which to judge the official action that has been challenged.’’ 101 The only two instances in which the Court has found an unconstitutional delegation to a public entity have involved grants of discretion that the Court found to be unbounded, hence standardless. Thus, in Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 102 the President was authorized to prohibit the shipment in interstate commerce of ‘‘hot oil’’—oil produced in excess of state quotas. Nowhere – not in the language conferring the authority, nor in the ‘‘declaration of policy,’’ nor in any other provision – did the statute specify a policy to guide the President in determining when and under what circumstances to exercise the power. 103 While the scope of granted authority in Panama Refining was narrow, the grant in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States 104 was sweeping. The National Industrial Recovery Act devolved on the executive branch the power to formulate codes of ‘‘fair competition’’ for all industry in order to promote ‘‘the policy of this title.’’ The policy was ‘‘to eliminate unfair competitive practices, to promote the fullest possible 99 143

U.S. at 692, 693. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394 (1928). 101 Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, 626 (1963) (Justice Harlan, dissenting). 102 293 U.S. 388 (1935). 103 The Court, in the view of many observers, was influenced heavily by the fact that the President’s orders were nowhere published and notice of regulations bearing criminal penalties for their violations was spotty at best. Cf. E. CORWIN, THE PRESIDENT—OFFICE AND POWERS 1787–1957 394–95 (4th ed. 1958). The result of the Government’s discomfiture in Court was enactment of the Federal Register Act, 49 Stat. 500 (1935), 44 U.S.C. § 301, providing for publication of Executive Orders and agency regulations in the daily Federal Register. 104 295 U.S. 495 (1935). 100 J.

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utilization of the present productive capacity of industries, . . . and otherwise to rehabilitate industry. . . .’’ 105 Though much of the opinion is written in terms of the failure of these policy statements to provide meaningful standards, the Court was also concerned with the delegation’s vast scope – the ‘‘virtually unfettered’’ discretion conferred on the President of ‘‘enacting laws for the government of trade and industry throughout the country.’’ 106 Typically the Court looks to the entire statute to determine whether there is an intelligible standard to guide administrators, and a statute’s declaration of policies or statement of purposes can provide the necessary guidance. If a statute’s declared policies are not open-ended, then a delegation of authority to implement those policies can be upheld. For example, in United States v. Rock Royal Co-operatives, 107 the Court contrasted the National Industrial Recovery Act’s statement of policy, ‘‘couched in most general terms’’ and found lacking in Schechter, with the narrower policy that an agricultural marketing law directed the Secretary of Agriculture to implement. 108 Similarly, the Court found ascertainable standards in the Emergency Price Control Act’s conferral of authority to set prices for commodities if their prices had risen in a manner ‘‘inconsistent with the purposes of this Act.’’ 109 The Court has been notably successful in finding standards that are constitutionally adequate. Standards have been ascertained to exist in such formulations as ‘‘just and reasonable,’’ 110 ‘‘public interest,’’ 111 ‘‘public convenience, interest, or ne105 48

Stat. 195 (1933), Tit. I, § 1. U.S. at 541–542. A delegation of narrower scope led to a different result in Fahey v. Mallonee, 332 U.S. 245, 250 (1947), the Court finding explicit standards unnecessary because ‘‘[t]he provisions are regulatory’’ and deal with but one enterprise, banking, the problems of which are well known and the authorized remedies as equally well known. ‘‘A discretion to make regulations to guide supervisory action in such matters may be constitutionally permissible while it might not be allowable to authorize creation of new crimes in uncharted fields.’’ The Court has recently explained that ‘‘the degree of agency discretion that is acceptable varies according to the scope of the power congressionally conferred.’’ Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457, 475 (2001) (Congress need not provide ‘‘any direction’’ to EPA in defining ‘‘country elevators,’’ but ‘‘must provide substantial guidance on setting air standards that affect the entire national economy’’). 107 307 U.S. 533 (1939). 108 307 U.S. at 575. Other guidance in the marketing law limited the terms of implementing orders and specified the covered commodities. 109 Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414 (1944) (the principal purpose was to control wartime inflation, and the administrator was directed to give ‘‘due consideration’’ to a specified pre-war base period). 110 Tagg Bros. & Moorhead v. United States, 280 U.S. 420 (1930). 111 New York Central Securities Corp. v. United States, 287 U.S. 12 (1932). 106 295

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cessity,’’ 112 ‘‘unfair methods of competition,’’ 113 and ‘‘requisite to protect the public health [with] an adequate margin of safety.’’ 114 Thus, in National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, 115 the Court found that the discretion conferred on the Federal Communications Commission to license broadcasting stations to promote the ‘‘public interest, convenience, or necessity’’ conveyed a standard ‘‘as complete as the complicated factors for judgment in such a field of delegated authority permit.’’ 116 Yet the regulations upheld were directed to the contractual relations between networks and stations and were designed to reduce the effect of monopoly in the industry, a policy on which the statute was silent. 117 When in the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, Congress authorized the President ‘‘to issue such orders and regulations as he may deem appropriate to stabilize prices, rents, wages, and salaries,’’ and the President responded by imposing broad national controls, the lower court decision sustaining the action was not even appealed to the Supreme Court. 118 Explicit standards are not even required in all situations, the Court having found standards reasonably implicit in a delegation to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to regulate banking associations. 119 The Court has recently emphatically rejected the idea that administrative implementation of a congressional enactment may provide the intelligible standard necessary to uphold a delegation. The Court’s decision in Lichter v. United States 120 could be read as approving of a bootstrap theory, the Court in that case having upheld the validity of a delegation of authority to recover ‘‘excessive profits’’ as applied to profits earned prior to Congress’s incorporation into the statute of the administrative interpretation. 121 In Whit112 Federal

Radio Comm’n v. Nelson Bros. Bond & Mortgage Co., 289 U.S. 266

(1933). 113 FTC

v. Gratz, 253 U.S. 421 (1920). v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 547 (2001). 115 319 U.S. 190 (1943). 116 319 U.S. at 216. 117 Similarly, the promulgation by the FCC of rules creating a ‘‘fairness doctrine’’ and a ‘‘right to reply’’ rule has been sustained, Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969), as well as a rule requiring the carrying of anti-smoking commercials. Banzhaf v. FCC, 405 F.2d 1082 (D.C. Cir. 1968), cert. denied sub nom. Tobacco Institute v. FCC, 396 U.S. 842 (1969). 118 Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen v. Connally, 337 F. Supp. 737 (D.D.C. 1971). The three-judge court relied principally on Yakus. 119 Fahey v. Mallonee, 332 U.S. 245, 250 (1947) (the Court explained that both the problems of the banking industry and the authorized remedies were well known). 120 334 U.S. 742 (1948). 121 In upholding the delegation as applied to the pre-incorporation administrative definition, the Court explained that ‘‘[t]he statutory term ‘excessive profits,’ in its context, was a sufficient expression of legislative policy and standards to render it constitutional.’’ 334 U.S. at 783. The ‘‘excessive profits’’ standard, prior to defini114 Whitman

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man v. American Trucking Associations, 122 however, the Court asserted that Lichter mentioned agency regulations only ‘‘because a subsequent Congress had incorporated the regulations into a revised version of the statute.’’ 123 ‘‘We have never suggested that an agency can cure an unlawful delegation of legislative power by adopting in its discretion a limiting construction . . . ,’’ 124 the Court concluded. Even in ‘‘sweeping regulatory schemes’’ that affect the entire economy, the Court has ‘‘never demanded . . . that statutes provide a ‘determinate criterion’ for saying ‘how much [of the regulated harm] is too much.’’’ 125 Thus Congress need not quantify how ‘‘imminent’’ is too imminent, how ‘‘necessary’’ is necessary enough, how ‘‘hazardous’’ is too hazardous, or how much profit is ‘‘excess.’’ Rather, discretion to make such determinations may be conferred on administrative agencies. 126 While Congress must ordinarily provide some guidance that indicates broad policy objectives, there is no general prohibition on delegating authority that includes the exercise of policy judgment. In Mistretta v. United States, 127 the Court approved congressional delegations to the Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch, to develop and promulgate guidelines binding federal judges and cabining their discretion in sentencing criminal defendants. Although the Court enumerated the standards Congress had provided, it admitted that significant discretion existed with respect to making policy judgments about the relative severity of different crimes and the relative weight of the characteristics of offenders that are to be considered, and stated forthrightly that delegations may carry with them ‘‘the need to exercise judgment on matters of policy.’’ 128 A number of cases illustrate the point. Thus, the Court has upheld complex economic regulations of industries in instances in which the agencies had first denied possession of such power, had unsuccessfully sought authorization from Congress, and had finally acted without the requested congressional guidance. 129 The Court has also recognized that when tion, was contained in Tit. 8 of the Act of October 21, 1942, 56 Stat. 798, 982. The administrative definition was added by Tit. 7 of the Act of February 25, 1944, 58 Stat. 21, 78. 122 531 U.S. 547 (2001). 123 531 U.S. at 472. 124 Id. 125 Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457, 475 (2001). 126 Whitman, 531 U.S. at 475-76. 127 488 U.S. 361 (1989). 128 488 U.S. at 378. 129 E.g., Permian Basin Area Rate Cases, 390 U.S. 747 (1968); American Trucking Ass’ns v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., 387 U.S. 397 (1967).

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Administrations change, new officials may have sufficient discretion under governing statutes to change or even reverse agency policies. 130 It seems therefore reasonably clear that the Court does not really require much in the way of standards from Congress. The minimum which the Court usually insists on is that Congress employ a delegation which ‘‘sufficiently marks the field within which the Administrator is to act so that it may be known whether he has kept within it in compliance with the legislative will.’’ 131 Where the congressional standards are combined with requirements of notice and hearing and statements of findings and considerations by the administrators, so that judicial review under due process standards is possible, the constitutional requirements of delegation have been fulfilled. 132 This requirement may be met through the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 133 but where that Act is inapplicable or where the Court sees the necessity for exceeding its provisions, due process can supply the safeguards of required hearing, notice, supporting statements, and the like. 134 Preemptive Reach of Delegated Authority.—In exercising a delegated power the President or another officer may effectively suspend or rescind a law passed by Congress, or may preempt state law. A rule or regulation properly promulgated under authority received from Congress is law, and under the supremacy clause of the Constitution can preempt state law. 135 Similarly, a valid regu130 Chevron, U.S.A. v. NRDC, 467 U.S. 837, 842–45, 865–66 (1984) (‘‘[A]n agency to which Congress has delegated policymaking responsibilities may, within the limits of that delegation, properly rely upon the incumbent administration’s views of wise policy to inform its judgments.’’ Id. at 865). See also Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n v. State Farm Mut. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 42–44, 46–48, 51–57 (1983) (recognizing agency could have reversed its policy but finding reasons not supported on record). 131 Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 425 (1944). 132 Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 426; Skinner v. Mid-America Pipeline Co., 490 U.S. 212, 218 (1989); American Light & Power Co. v. SEC, 329 U.S. 90, 107, 108 (1946); Opp Cotton Mills v. Administrator, 312 U.S. 126, 144 (1941). It should be remembered that the Court has renounced strict review of economic regulation wholly through legislative enactment, forsaking substantive due process, so that review of the exercise of delegated power by the same relaxed standard forwards a consistent policy. E.g., Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U.S. 726 (1963); Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 (1955). 133 Act of June 11, 1946, 60 Stat. 237, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551–559. In NLRB v. WymanGordon Co., 394 U.S. 759 (1969), six Justices agreed that a Board proceeding had been in fact rule-making and not adjudication and that the APA should have been complied with. The Board won the particular case, however, because of a coalescence of divergent views of the Justices, but the Board has since reversed a policy of not resorting to formal rule-making. 134 E.g., Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970); Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433 (1971). 135 City of New York v. FCC, 486 U.S. 57, 63–64 (1988); Louisiana PSC v. FCC, 476 U.S. 355, 368–69 (1986); Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 153–54 (1982).

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lation can supersede a federal statute. Early cases sustained contingency legislation giving the President power, upon the finding of certain facts, to revive or suspend a law, 136 and the President’s power to raise or lower tariff rates equipped him to alter statutory law. 137 The Court in Opp Cotton Mills v. Administrator 138 upheld Congress’ decision to delegate to the Wage and Hour Administrator of the Labor Department the authority to establish a minimum wage in particular industries greater than the statutory minimum but no higher than a prescribed figure. Congress has not often expressly addressed the issue of repeals or supersessions, but in authorizing the Supreme Court to promulgate rules of civil and criminal procedure and of evidence it directed that such rules supersede previously enacted statutes with which they conflict. 139 Delegations to the President in Areas of Shared Authority Foreign Affairs.—That the delegation of discretion in dealing with foreign relations stands upon a different footing than the transfer of authority to regulate domestic concerns was asserted in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation. 140 There the Court upheld a joint resolution of Congress making it unlawful to sell arms to certain warring countries upon certain findings by the President, a typically contingent type of delegation. But Justice Sutherland for the Court proclaimed that the President is largely free of the constitutional constraints imposed by the nondelegation doctrine when he acts in foreign affairs. 141 Sixty years later, the Court, relying on Curtiss-Wright, reinforced such a distinction in a case involving the President’s authority over military justice. 142 Whether or not the President is the ‘‘sole organ of the nation’’ in its foreign relations, as asserted in Curtiss-Wright, 143 a lesser 136 E.g.,

The Brig Aurora, 11 U.S. (7 Cr.) 382 (1813). J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394 (1928); Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1892). 138 312 U.S. 126 (1941). 139 See 28 U.S.C. § 2072. In Davis v. United States, 411 U.S. 233, 241 (1973), the Court referred in passing to the supersession of statutes without evincing any doubts about the validity of the results. When Congress amended the Rules Enabling Acts in the 100th Congress, P.L. 100–702, 102 Stat. 4642, 4648, amending 28 U.S.C. § 2072, the House would have altered supersession, but the Senate disagreed, the House acquiesced, and the old provision remained. See H.R. 4807, H. Rep. No. 100–889, 100th Cong., 2d sess. (1988), 27–29; 134 CONG REC. 23573–84 (1988), id. at 31051–52 (Sen. Heflin); id. at 31872 (Rep. Kastenmeier). 140 299 U.S. 304, 319-29 (1936). 141 299 U.S. at 319–22. For a particularly strong, recent assertion of the point, see Haig v. Agee, 453 U.S. 280, 291–92 (1981). This view also informs the Court’s analysis in Dames & Moore v. Regan, 453 U.S. 654 (1981). See also United States v. Chemical Foundation, 272 U.S. 1 (1926) (Trading With Enemy Act delegation to dispose of seized enemy property). 142 Loving v. United States, 517 U.S. 748, 772-73 (1996). 143 299 U.S. at 319. 137 E.g.,

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standard of delegation is applied in areas of power shared by the President and Congress. Military.—Superintendence of the military is another area in which shared power with the President affects delegation doctrine. The Court in Loving v. United States 144 approved a virtually standardless delegation to the President. Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 145 provides for the death penalty for premeditated murder and felony murder for persons subject to the Act, but the statute does not comport with the Court’s capital punishment jurisdiction, which requires the death sentence to be cabined by standards so that the sentencing authority must narrow the class of convicted persons to be so sentenced and must justify the individual imposition of the sentence. 146 However, the President in 1984 had promulgated standards that purported to supply the constitutional validity the UCMJ needed. 147 The Court in Loving held that Congress could delegate to the President the authority to prescribe standards for the imposition of the death penalty – Congress’ power under Article I, § 8, cl. 14, is not exclusive – and that Congress had done so in the UCMJ by providing that the punishment imposed by a court-martial may not exceed ‘‘such limits as the President may prescribe.’’ 148 Acknowledging that a delegation must contain some ‘‘intelligible principle’’ to guide the recipient of the delegation, the Court nonetheless held this not to be true when the delegation was made to the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief. ‘‘The same limitations on delegation do not apply’’ if the entity authorized to exercise delegated authority itself possesses independent authority over the subject matter. The President’s responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief require him to superintend the military, including the courts-martial, and thus the delegated duty is interlinked with duties already assigned the President by the Constitution. 149 144 517

U.S. 748 (1996). U.S.C. §§ 918(1), (4). 146 The Court assumed the applicability of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), and its progeny, to the military, 517 U.S. at 755–56, a point on which Justice Thomas disagreed, id. at 777. 147 Rule for Courts-Martial; see 517 U.S. at 754. 148 10 U.S.C. §§ 818, 836(a), 856. 149 517 U.S. at 771–74. See also United States v. Mazurie, 419 U.S. 544, 556-57 (1974) (limits on delegation are ‘‘less stringent’’ when delegation is made to an Indian tribe that can exercise independent sovereign authority over the subject matter). 145 10

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Delegations to States and to Private Entities Delegations to the States.—Beginning in the Nation’s early years, Congress has enacted hundreds of statutes that contained provisions authorizing state officers to enforce and execute federal laws. 150 Challenges to the practice have been uniformly rejected. While the Court early expressed its doubt that Congress could compel state officers to act, it entertained no such thoughts about the propriety of authorizing them to act if they chose. 151 When, in the Selective Draft Law Cases, 152 the contention was made that the act was invalid because of its delegations of duties to state officers, the argument was rejected as ‘‘too wanting in merit to require further notice.’’ Congress continues to empower state officers to act. 153 Presidents who have objected have done so not on delegation grounds, but rather on the basis of the Appointments Clause. 154 Delegations to Private Entities.—Statutory delegations to private persons in the form of contingency legislation have passed Court tests. Thus, statutes providing that restrictions upon the production or marketing of agricultural commodities are to become operative only upon a favorable vote by a prescribed majority of those persons affected have been upheld. 155 The rationale of the Court is that such a provision does not involve any delegation of legislative authority, since Congress has merely placed a restriction upon its own regulation by withholding its operation unless it is approved in a referendum. 156 Statutes that have given private entities actual regulatory power, rather than merely made regulation contingent on their approval, have also been upheld. The Court upheld a statute that del150 See Warren, Federal Criminal Laws and the State Courts, 38 HARV. L. REV. 545 (1925); Holcomb, The States as Agents of the Nation, 3 SELECTED ESSAYS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1187 (1938). 151 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 (1842) (duty to deliver fugitive slave); Kentucky v. Dennison, 65 U.S. (24 How.) 66 (1861) (holding that Congress could not compel a Governor to extradite a fugitive). Doubts over Congress’s power to compel extradition were not definitively removed until Puerto Rico v. Branstad, 483 U.S. 219 (1987), in which the Court overruled Dennison. 152 245 U.S. 366, 389 (1918). 153 E.g., P.L. 94–435, title III, 90 Stat. 1394, 15 U.S.C. § 15c (state attorneys general may bring antitrust parens patriae actions); Medical Waste Tracking Act, P.L. 100–582, 102 Stat. 2955, 42 U.S.C. § 6992f (States may impose civil and possibly criminal penalties against violators of the law). 154 See 24 Weekly Comp. of Pres. Docs. 1418 (1988) (President Reagan). The only judicial challenge to such a practice resulted in a rebuff to the presidential argument. Seattle Master Builders Ass’n v. Pacific N.W. Elec. Power Council, 786 F.2d 1359 (9th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1059 (1987). 155 Currin v. Wallace, 306 U.S. 1 (1939); United States v. Rock Royal Co-operative, 307 U.S. 533, 577 (1939); Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111, 115–116 (1942); (1990). 156 Currin v. Wallace, 306 U.S. 1, 15, 16 (1939).

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egated to the American Railway Association, a trade group, the authority to determine the standard height of draw bars for freight cars and to certify the figure to the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was required to accept it. 157 The Court simply cited Buttfield v. Stranahan, 158 in which it had sustained a delegation to the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate minimum standards of quality and purity for imported tea, as a case ‘‘completely in point’’ and resolving the issue without need of further consideration. 159 Similarly, the Court had enforced statutes that gave legal effect to local customs of miners with respect to claims on public lands. 160 The Court has struck down delegations to private entities, but not solely because they were to private entities. The Schechter case condemned the involvement of private trade groups in the drawing up of binding codes of competition in conjunction with governmental agencies, but the Court’s principal objection was to the statute’s lack of adequate standards. 161 In Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 162 the Court struck down the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act in part because the statute penalized persons who failed to observe minimum wage and maximum hour regulations drawn up by prescribed majorities of coal producers and coal employees. But the problem for the Court apparently was not so much that the statute delegated to private entities as that it delegated to private entities whose interests were adverse to the interests of those regulated, thereby denying the latter due process. 163 And several later cases have upheld delegations to private entities. 164 157 St.

Louis, Iron Mt. & So. Ry. v. Taylor, 210 U.S. 281 (1908). U.S. 470 (1904). 159 210 U.S. at 287. 160 Jackson v. Roby, 109 U.S. 440 (1883); Erhardt v. Boaro, 113 U.S. 527 (1885); Butte City Water Co. v. Baker, 196 U.S. 119 (1905). 161 A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 537 (1935). In two subsequent cases, the Court referred to Schechter as having struck down a delegation for its lack of standards. Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 373 n.7 (1989); Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457, 474 (2001). 162 298 U.S. 238 (1936). But compare Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381 (1940) (upholding a delegation in the Bituminous Coal Act of 1937). 163 ‘‘One person may not be entrusted with the power to regulate the business of another, and especially of a competitor.’’ 298 U.S. at 311. 164 See, e.g., Schweiker v. McClure, 456 U.S. 188 (1992) (adjudication of Medicare claims, without right of appeal, by hearing officer appointed by private insurance carrier upheld under due process challenge); Association of Amer. Physicians & Surgeons v. Weinberger, 395 F. Supp. 125 (N.D. Ill.) (three-judge court) (delegation to Professional Standards Review Organization), aff’d per curiam, 423 U.S. 975 (1975); Noblecraft Industries v. Secretary of Labor, 614 F.2d 199 (9th Cir. 1980) (Secretary authorized to adopt interim OSHA standards produced by private organization). Executive Branch objections to these kinds of delegations have involved appointments clause arguments rather than delegation issues per se. 158 192

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Even though the Court has upheld some private delegations by reference to cases involving delegations to public agencies, some uncertainty remains as to whether identical standards apply. The Schechter Court contrasted the National Industrial Recovery Act’s broad and virtually standardless delegation to the President, assisted by private trade groups, 165 with other broad delegations of authority to administrative agencies, characterized by the Court as bodies of experts ‘‘required to act upon notice and hearing,’’ and further limited by the requirement that binding orders must be ‘‘supported by findings of fact which in turn are sustained by evidence.’’ 166 The absence of these procedural protections, designed to ensure fairness – as well as the possible absence of impartiality identified in Carter Coal– could be cited to support closer scrutiny of private delegations. While the Court has emphasized the importance of administrative procedures in upholding broad delegations to administrative agencies, 167 it has not, since Schechter and Carter Coal, relied on the distinction to strike down a private delegation. Particular Subjects or Concerns – Closer Scrutiny or Uniform Standard? The Court has strongly implied that the same principles govern the validity of a delegation regardless of the subject matter of the delegation. ‘‘[A] constitutional power implies a power of delegation of authority under it sufficient to effect its purposes.’’ 168 Holding that ‘‘the delegation of discretionary authority under Congress’ taxing power is subject to no constitutional scrutiny greater than that we have applied to other nondelegation challenges,’’ the Court explained in Skinner v. Mid-America Pipeline Company 169 that 165 The Act conferred authority on the President to approve the codes of competition, either as proposed by the appropriate trade group, or with conditions that he added. Thus the principal delegation was to the President, with the private trade groups being delegated only recommendatory authority. 295 U.S. at 538-39. 166 295 U.S. at 539. 167 See, e.g., Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 424-25 (1944). 168 Lichter v. United States, 334 U.S. 742, 778–79 (1948). 169 490 U.S. 212, 223 (1989). In National Cable Television Ass’n v. United States, 415 U.S. 336, 342 (1974), and FPC v. New England Power Co., 415 U.S. 345 (1974), the Court had appeared to suggest that delegation of the taxing power would be fraught with constitutional difficulties. How this conclusion could have been thought viable after the many cases sustaining delegations to fix tariff rates, which are in fact and law taxes, J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394 (1928); Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1892); and see FEA v. Algonquin SNG, Inc., 426 U.S. 548 (1976) (delegation to President to raise license ‘‘fees’’ on imports when necessary to protect national security), is difficult to discern. Nor should doubt exist respecting the appropriations power. See Synar v. United States, 626 F. Supp. 1374, 1385–86 (D.D.C.) (three-judge court), aff’d on other grounds sub nom. Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986).

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there was ‘‘nothing in the placement of the Taxing Clause’’ in Article I, § 8 that would distinguish it, for purposes of delegation, from the other powers enumerated in that clause. 170 Thus, the test in the taxing area is the same as for other areas – whether the statute has provided the administrative agency with standards to guide its actions in such a way that a court can determine whether the congressional policy has been followed. This does not mean that Congress may delegate its power to determine whether taxes should be imposed. What was upheld in Skinner was delegation of authority to the Secretary of Transportation to collect ‘‘pipeline safety user fees’’ for users of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. ‘‘Multiple restrictions’’ placed on the Secretary’s discretion left no doubt that the constitutional requirement of an intelligible standard had been met. Cases involving the power to impose criminal penalties, described below, further illustrate the difference between delegating the underlying power to set basic policy – whether it be the decision to impose taxes or the decision to declare that certain activities are crimes – and the authority to exercise discretion in administering the policy. Crime and Punishment.—The Court has confessed that its ‘‘cases are not entirely clear as to whether more specific guidance is in fact required’’ for delegations relating to the imposition of criminal sanctions. 171 It is clear, however, that some essence of the power to define crimes and set a range of punishments is not delegable, but must be exercised by Congress. This conclusion derives in part from the time-honored principle that penal statutes are to be strictly construed, and that no one should be ‘‘subjected to a penalty unless the words of the statute plainly impose it.’’ 172 Both Schechter 173 and Panama Refining 174 – the only two cases in which the Court has invalidated delegations – involved broad delegations of power to ‘‘make federal crimes of acts that never had been such before.’’ 175 Thus, Congress must provide by statute that violation of the statute’s terms – or of valid regulations issued pursuant thereto – shall constitute a crime, and the statute must also specify a permissible range of penalties. Punishment in addition to that 170 490 U.S. at 221. Nor is there basis for distinguishing the other powers enumerated in § 8. See, e.g., Loving v. United States, 517 U.S. 748 (1996). But see Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160, 166 (1991) (it is ‘‘unclear’’ whether a higher standard applies to delegations of authority to issue regulations that contemplate criminal sanctions), discussed in the next section. 171 Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160, 166 (1991). 172 Tiffany v. National Bank of Missouri, 85 U.S. (18 Wall.) 409, 410 (1873). 173 A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935). 174 Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388 (1935). 175 Fahey v. Mallonee, 332 U.S. 245, 249 (1947).

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authorized in the statute may not be imposed by administrative action. 176 However, once Congress has exercised its power to declare certain acts criminal, and has set a range of punishment for violations, authority to flesh out the details may be delegated. Congress may provide that violation of valid administrative regulations shall be punished as a crime. 177 For example, the Court has upheld a delegation of authority to classify drugs as ‘‘controlled substances,’’ and thereby to trigger imposition of criminal penalties, set by statute, that vary according to the level of a drug’s classification by the Attorney General. 178 Congress may also confer on administrators authority to prescribe criteria for ascertaining an appropriate sentence within the range between the maximum and minimum penalties that are set by statute. The Court upheld Congress’s conferral of ‘‘significant discretion’’ on the Sentencing Commission to set binding sentencing guidelines establishing a range of determinate sentences for all categories of federal offenses and defendants. 179 Although the Commission was given significant discretionary authority ‘‘to determine the relative severity of federal crimes, . . . assess the relative weight of the offender characteristics listed by Congress, . . . to determine which crimes have been punished too leniently and which too severely, [and] which types of criminals are to be considered similar,’’ Congress also gave the Commission extensive guidance in the Act, and did not confer authority to create new crimes or to enact a federal death penalty for any offense. 180 176 L. P. Steuart & Bro. v. Bowles, 322 U.S. 398, 404 (1944) (‘‘[I]t is for Congress to prescribe the penalties for the laws which it writes. It would transcend both the judicial and the administrative function to make additions to those which Congress has placed behind a statute’’). 177 United States v. Grimaud, 220 U.S. 506 (1911). The Forest Reserve Act at issue in Grimaud clearly provided for punishment for violation of ‘‘rules and regulations of the Secretary.’’ The Court in Grimaud distinguished United States v. Eaton, 144 U.S. 677 (1892), which had held that authority to punish for violation of a regulation was lacking in more general language authorizing punishment for failure to do what was ‘‘required by law.’’ 220 U.S. at 519. Extension of the principle that penal statutes should be strictly construed requires that the prohibited acts be clearly identified in the regulation. M. Kraus & Bros. v. United States, 327 U.S. 614, 621 (1946). The Court summarized these cases in Loving v. United States, 517 U.S. 748 (1996), drawing the conclusion that ‘‘there is no absolute rule . . . against Congress’ delegation of authority to define criminal punishments.’’ 178 Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160 (1991). 179 Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989) 180 488 U.S. at 377-78. ‘‘As for every other offense within the Commission’s jurisdiction, the Commission could include the death penalty within the guidelines only if that punishment was authorized in the first instance by Congress and only if such inclusion comported with the substantial guidance Congress gave the Commission in fulfilling its assignments.’’ Id. at 378 n.11.

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Delegation and Individual Liberties.—It has been argued in separate opinions by some Justices that delegations by Congress of power to affect the exercise of ‘‘fundamental freedoms’’ by citizens must be closely scrutinized to require the exercise of a congressional judgment about meaningful standards. 181 The only pronouncement in a majority opinion, however, is that even with regard to the regulation of liberty the standards of the delegation ‘‘must be adequate to pass scrutiny by the accepted tests.’’ 182 The standard practice of the Court has been to interpret the delegation narrowly so as to avoid constitutional problems. 183 Perhaps refining the delegation doctrine, at least in cases where Fifth Amendment due process interests are implicated, the Court held that a government agency charged with the efficient administration of the executive branch could not assert the broader interests that Congress or the President might have in barring lawfully resident aliens from government employment. The agency could assert only those interests Congress charged it with promoting, and if the action could be justified by other interests, the office with responsibility for promoting those interests must take the action. 184 CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS Source of the Power to Investigate No provision of the Constitution expressly authorizes either House of Congress to make investigations and exact testimony to the end that it may exercise its legislative functions effectively and advisedly. But such a power had been frequently exercised by the British Parliament and by the Assemblies of the American Colonies prior to the adoption of the Constitution. 185 It was asserted by the House of Representatives as early as 1792 when it appointed a 181 United States v. Robel, 389 U.S. 258, 269 (1967) (Justice Brennan concurring). The view was specifically rejected by Justices White and Harlan in dissent, id. at 288–289, and ignored by the majority. 182 Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116, 129 (1958). 183 Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116 (1958); Schneider v. Smith, 390 U.S. 17 (1968); Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 506-08 (1959) (Court will not follow traditional principles of congressional acquiescence in administrative interpretation to infer a delegation of authority to impose an industrial security clearance program that lacks the safeguards of due process). More recently, the Court has eschewed even this limited mode of construction. Haig v. Agee, 453 U. S. 280 (1981). 184 Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88 (1976) (5–to–4 decision). The regulation was reissued by the President, E. O. 11935, 3 C.F.R. 146 (1976), reprinted in 5 U.S.C. § 3301 (app.), and sustained in Vergara v. Hampton, 581 F. 2d 1281 (7th Cir. 1978). 185 Landis, Constitutional Limitations on the Congressional Power of Investigation, 40 HARV. L. REV. 153, 159–166 (1926); M. DIMOCK, CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATING COMMITTEES ch. 2 (1929).

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committee to investigate the defeat of General St. Clair and his army by the Indians in the Northwest and empowered it to ‘‘call for such persons, papers, and records, as may be necessary to assist their inquiries.’’ 186 The Court has long since accorded its agreement with Congress that the investigatory power is so essential to the legislative function as to be implied from the general vesting of legislative power in Congress. ‘‘We are of the opinion,’’ wrote Justice Van Devanter, for a unanimous Court, ‘‘that the power of inquiry—with process to enforce it—is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function. . . . A legislative body cannot legislate wisely or effectively in the absence of information respecting the conditions which the legislation is intended to affect or change; and where the legislative body does not itself possess the requisite information—which not infrequently is true—recourse must be had to others who possess it. Experience has taught that mere requests for such information often are unavailing, and also that information which is volunteered is not always accurate or complete; so some means of compulsion are essential to obtain what is needed. All this was true before and when the Constitution was framed and adopted. In that period the power of inquiry—with enforcing process—was regarded and employed as a necessary and appropriate attribute of the power to legislate—indeed, was treated as inhering in it. Thus there is ample warrant for thinking, as we do, that the constitutional provisions which commit the legislative function to the two houses are intended to include this attribute to the end that the function may be effectively exercised.’’ 187 And in a 1957 opinion generally hostile to the exercise of the investigatory power in the post-War years, Chief Justice Warren did not question the basic power. ‘‘The power of the Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process. That power is broad. It encompasses inquiries concerning the administration of existing laws as well as proposed or possibly needed statutes. It includes surveys of defects in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling the Congress to remedy them. It comprehends probes into departments of the Federal Government to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste.’’ 188 Justice Harlan summarized the matter in 1959. ‘‘The power of inquiry has been employed by Congress throughout our history, over the whole range of the national interests concerning which Congress might 186 3

ANNALS OF CONGRESS 490–494 (1792); 3 A. HINDS’ PRECEDENTS REPRESENTATIVES 1725 (1907). 187 McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135, 174–175 (1927). 188 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 187 (1957).

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legislate or decide upon due investigation not to legislate; it has similarly been utilized in determining what to appropriate from the national purse, or whether to appropriate. The scope of the power of inquiry, in short, is as penetrating and far-reaching as the potential power to enact and appropriate under the Constitution.’’ 189 Broad as the power of inquiry is, it is not unlimited. The power of investigation may properly be employed only ‘‘in aid of the legislative function.’’ 190 Its outermost boundaries are marked, then, by the outermost boundaries of the power to legislate. In principle, the Court is clear on the limitations, clear ‘‘that neither house of Congress possesses a ‘general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen’; that the power actually possessed is limited to inquiries relating to matters of which the particular house ‘has jurisdiction’ and in respect of which it rightfully may take other action; that if the inquiry relates to ‘a matter wherein relief or redress could be had only by a judicial proceeding’ it is not within the range of this power, but must be left to the courts, conformably to the constitutional separation of governmental powers; and that for the purpose of determining the essential character of the inquiry recourse must be had to the resolution or order under which it is made.’’ 191 In practice, much of the litigated dispute has been about the reach of the power to inquire into the activities of private citizens; inquiry into the administration of laws and departmental corruption, while of substantial political consequence, has given rise to fewer judicial precedents. Investigations of Conduct of Executive Department For many years the investigating function of Congress was limited to inquiries into the administration of the Executive Department or of instrumentalities of the Government. Until the administration of Andrew Jackson this power was not seriously challenged. 192 During the controversy over renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, John Quincy Adams contended that an unlimited inquiry into the operations of the bank would be beyond the power of the House. 193 Four years later the legislative 189 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 111 (1959). See also Eastland v. United States Servicemen’s Fund, 421 U.S. 491, 503–507 (1975). 190 Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 189 (1881). 191 McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135, 170 (1927). The internal quotations are from Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190, 193 (1881). 192 In 1800, Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., addressed a letter to the House of Representatives advising them of his resignation from office and inviting an investigation of his office. Such an inquiry was made. 10 ANNALS OF CONGRESS 786–788 (1800). 193 8 CONG. DEB. 2160 (1832).

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power of investigation was challenged by the President. A committee appointed by the House of Representatives ‘‘with power to send for persons and papers, and with instructions to inquire into the condition of the various executive departments, the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted, . . .’’ 194 called upon the President and the heads of departments for lists of persons appointed without the consent of the Senate and the amounts paid to them. Resentful of this attempt ‘‘to invade the just rights of the Executive Departments,’’ the President refused to comply and the majority of the committee acquiesced. 195 Nevertheless, congressional investigations of Executive Departments have continued to the present day. Shortly before the Civil War, contempt proceedings against a witness who refused to testify in an investigation of John Brown’s raid upon the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry occasioned a thorough consideration by the Senate of the basis of this power. After a protracted debate, which cut sharply across sectional and party lines, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to imprison the contumacious witness. 196 Notwithstanding this firmly established legislative practice, the Supreme Court took a narrow view of the power in the case of Kilbourn v. Thompson. 197 It held that the House of Representatives had overstepped its jurisdiction when it instituted an investigation of losses suffered by the United States as a creditor of Jay Cooke and Company, whose estate was being administered in bankruptcy by a federal court. 198 But nearly half a century later, in McGrain v. Daugherty, 199 it ratified in sweeping terms, the power of Congress to inquire into the administration of an executive department and to sift charges of malfeasance in such administration. 200 194 13

CONG. DEB. 1057–1067 (1836). R. Rep. No. 194, 24th Congress, 2d sess., 1, 12, 31 (1837). 196 CONG. GLOBE, 36th Congress, 1st sess., 1100–1109 (1860). 197 103 U.S. 168 (1881). 198 The Court held that inasmuch as the entire proceedings arising out of the bankruptcy were pending in court, as the authorizing resolution contained no suggestion of contemplated legislation, as in fact no valid legislation could be enacted on the subject, and as the only relief which the United States could seek was judicial relief in the bankruptcy proceeding, the House had exceeded its powers in authorizing the inquiry. But see Hutcheson v. United States, 369 U.S. 599 (1962). 199 273 U.S. 135, 177, 178 (1927). 200 We consider elsewhere the topic of executive privilege, the claimed right of the President and at least some of his executive branch officers to withhold from Congress information desired by it or by one of its committees. Although the issue has been one of contention between the two branches of Government since Washington’s refusal in 1796 to submit certain correspondence to the House of Representatives relating to treaty negotiations, it has only recently become a judicial issue. 195 H.

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Investigations of Members of Congress When either House exercises a judicial function, as in judging of elections or determining whether a member should be expelled, it is clearly entitled to compel the attendance of witnesses to disclose the facts upon which its action must be based. Thus, the Court held that since a House had a right to expel a member for any offense which it deemed incompatible with his trust and duty as a member, it was entitled to investigate such conduct and to summon private individuals to give testimony concerning it. 201 The decision in Barry v. United States ex rel. Cunningham 202 sanctioned the exercise of a similar power in investigating a senatorial election. Investigations in Aid of Legislation Purpose.—Beginning with the resolution adopted by the House of Representatives in 1827, which vested its Committee on Manufactures ‘‘with the power to send for persons and papers with a view to ascertain and report to this House in relation to a revision of the tariff duties on imported goods,’’ 203 the two Houses have asserted the right to collect information from private persons as well as from governmental agencies when necessary to enlighten their judgment on proposed legislation. The first case to review the assertion saw a narrow view of the power taken and the Court held that the purpose of the inquiry was to pry improperly into private affairs without any possibility of legislating on the basis of what might be learned and further that the inquiry overstepped the bounds of legislative jurisdiction and invaded the provinces of the judiciary. 204 Subsequent cases, however, have given the Congress the benefit of a presumption that its object is legitimate and related to the possible enactment of legislation. Shortly after Kilbourn, the Court declared that ‘‘it was certainly not necessary that the resolution should declare in advance what the Senate meditated doing when the investigation was concluded’’ in order that the inquiry be under a lawful exercise of power. 205 Similarly, in McGrain v. Daugherty, 206 the investigation was presumed to have been undertaken in good faith to aid the Senate in legislating. Then, in Sinclair v. United States, 207 on its facts presenting a close parallel to 201 In

re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661 (1897). U.S. 597 (1929). 203 4 CONG. DEB. 862, 868, 888, 889 (1827). 204 Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168 (1881). 205 In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661, 670 (1897). 206 273 U.S. 135, 178 (1927). 207 279 U.S. 263 (1929). 202 279

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Kilbourn, the Court affirmed the right of the Senate to carry out investigations of fraudulent leases of government property after suit for recovery had been instituted. The president of the lessee corporation had refused to testify on the ground that the questions related to his private affairs and to matters cognizable only in the courts wherein they were pending, asserting that the inquiry was not actually in aid of legislation. The Senate had prudently directed the investigating committee to ascertain what, if any, legislation might be advisable. Conceding ‘‘that Congress is without authority to compel disclosures for the purpose of aiding the prosecution of pending suits,’’ the Court declared that the authority ‘‘to require pertinent disclosures in aid of its own constitutional power is not abridged because the information sought to be elicited may also be of use in such suits.’’ 208 While Sinclair and McGrain involved inquiries into the activities and dealings of private persons, these activities and dealings were in connection with property belonging to the United States Government, so that it could hardly be said that the inquiries concerned the merely personal or private affairs of any individual. 209 But where the business, the activities and conduct, the behavior of individuals are subject to congressional regulation, there exists the power of inquiry, 210 and in practice the areas of any individual’s life immune from inquiry are probably fairly limited. ‘‘In the decade following World War II, there appeared a new kind of congressional inquiry unknown in prior periods of American history. Principally this was the result of the various investigations into the threat of subversion of the United States Government, but other subjects of congressional interest also contributed to the changed scene. This new phase of legislative inquiry involved a broad-scale intrusion into the lives and affairs of private citizens.’’ 211 Inasmuch as Congress clearly has power to legislate to protect the Nation and its citizens from subversion, espionage, and sedition, 212 it has power to inquire into the existence of the dangers of domestic or foreign-based subversive activities in many areas of American 208 279

U.S. at 295. U.S. at 294. 210 The first case so holding is ICC v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447 (1894), which asserts that inasmuch as Congress could itself have made the inquiry to appraise its regulatory activities it could delegate the power of inquiry to the agency to which it had delegated the regulatory function. 211 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 195 (1957). 212 See Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951); Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 127 (1959); American Communications Ass’n v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382 (1950). 209 279

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life—in education, 213 in labor and industry, 214 and other areas. 215 Because its powers to regulate interstate commerce afford Congress the power to regulate corruption in labor-management relations, congressional committees may inquire into the extent of corruption in labor unions. 216 Because of its powers to legislate to protect the civil rights of its citizens, Congress may investigate organizations which allegedly act to deny those civil rights. 217 It is difficult in fact to conceive of areas into which congressional inquiry might not be carried, which is not the same, of course, as saying that the exercise of the power is unlimited. One limitation on the power of inquiry which has been much discussed in the cases concerns the contention that congressional investigations often have no legislative purpose but rather are aimed at achieving results through ‘‘exposure’’ of disapproved persons and activities: ‘‘We have no doubt,’’ wrote Chief Justice Warren, ‘‘that there is no congressional power to expose for the sake of exposure.’’ 218 Although some Justices, always in dissent, have attempted to assert limitations in practice based upon this concept, the majority of Justices has adhered to the traditional precept that courts will not inquire into legislators’ motives but will look 219 only 213 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 129–132 (1959); Deutch v. United States, 367 U.S. 456 (1961); cf. Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234 (1957) (state inquiry). 214 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178 (1957); Flaxer v. United States, 358 U.S. 147 (1958); Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399 (1961). 215 McPhaul v. United States, 364 U.S. 372 (1960). 216 Hutcheson v. United States, 369 U.S. 599 (1962). 217 Shelton v. United States, 404 F.2d 1292 (D.C. Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1024 (1969). 218 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 200 (1957). The Chief Justice, however, noted: ‘‘We are not concerned with the power of the Congress to inquire into and publicize corruption, maladministration or inefficiency in agencies of the Government. That was the only kind of activity described by Woodrow Wilson in Congressional Government when he wrote: ‘The informing function of Congress should be preferred even to its legislative function.’ Id. at 303. From the earliest times in its history, the Congress has assiduously performed an ‘informing function’ of this nature.’’ Id. at 200 n. 33. In his book, Wilson continued, following the sentence quoted by the Chief Justice: ‘‘The argument is not only that discussed and interrogated administration is the only pure and efficient administration, but, more than that, that the only really self-governing people is that people which discusses and interrogates its administration. . . . It would be hard to conceive of there being too much talk about the practical concerns . . . of government.’’ Congressional Government (1885), 303–304. For contrasting views of the reach of this statement, compare United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 43 (1953), with Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 777–778 (1962) (Justice Douglas dissenting). 219 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 153–162, 166 (1959); Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399, 415, 423 (1961); Braden v. United States, 365 U.S. 431, 446 (1961); but see DeGregory v. Attorney General, 383 U.S. 825 (1966) (a state investigative case).

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to the question of power. 220 ‘‘So long as Congress acts in pursuance of its constitutional power, the Judiciary lacks authority to intervene on the basis of the motives which spurred the exercise of that power.’’ 221 Protection of Witnesses; Pertinency and Related Matters.—A witness appearing before a congressional committee is entitled to require of the committee a demonstration of its authority to inquire with regard to his activities and a showing that the questions asked of him are pertinent to the committee’s area of inquiry. A congressional committee possesses only those powers delegated to it by its parent body. The enabling resolution that has given it life also contains the grant and limitations of the committee’s power. 222 In Watkins v. United States, 223 Chief Justice Warren cautioned that ‘‘[b]roadly drafted and loosely worded . . . resolutions can leave tremendous latitude to the discretion of the investigators. The more vague the committee’s charter is, the greater becomes the possibility that the committee’s specific actions are not in conformity with the will of the parent House of Congress.’’ Speaking directly of the authorizing resolution, which created the House Un-American Activities Committee, 224 the Chief Justice thought it ‘‘difficult to imagine a less explicit authorizing resolution.’’ 225 But the far-reaching implications of these remarks were circumscribed by Barenblatt v. United States, 226 in which the Court, ‘‘[g]ranting the vagueness of the Rule,’’ noted that Congress had long since put upon it a persuasive gloss of legislative history through practice and interpretation, which, read with the enabling resolution, showed that ‘‘the House has clothed the Un-American Activities Committee with pervasive authority to investigate Communist activities in this country.’’ 227 ‘‘[W]e must conclude that [the Committee’s] authority to conduct the inquiry presently under con220 ‘‘Legislative committees have been charged with losing sight of their duty of disinterestedness. In times of political passion, dishonest or vindicative motives are readily attributable to legislative conduct and as readily believed. Courts are not the place for such controversies.’’ Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U.S. 367, 377–378 (1951). For a statement of the traditional unwillingness to inquire into congressional motives in the judging of legislation, see United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 382– 386 (1968). But note that in Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411 (1969), in which the legislation establishing a state crime investigating commission clearly authorized the commission to designate individuals as law violators, due process was violated by denying witnesses the rights existing in adversary criminal proceedings. 221 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 132 (1959). 222 United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 44 (1953). 223 354 U.S. 178, 201 (1957). 224 The Committee has since been abolished. 225 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 202 (1957). 226 360 U.S. 109 (1959). 227 360 U.S. at 117–18.

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sideration is unassailable, and that . . . the Rule cannot be said to be constitutionally infirm on the score of vagueness.’’ 228 Because of the usual precision with which authorizing resolutions have generally been drafted, few controversies have arisen about whether a committee has projected its inquiry into an area not sanctioned by the parent body. 229 But in United States v. Rumely, 230 the Court held that the House of Representatives, in authorizing a select committee to investigate lobbying activities devoted to the promotion or defeat of legislation, did not thereby intend to empower the committee to probe activities of a lobbyist that were unconnected with his representations directly to Congress but rather designed to influence public opinion by distribution of literature. Consequently the committee was without authority to compel the representative of a private organization to disclose the names of all who had purchased such literature in quantity. 231 Still another example of lack of proper authority is Gojack v. United States, 232 in which the Court reversed a contempt citation because there was no showing that the parent committee had delegated to the subcommittee before whom the witness had appeared the authority to make the inquiry and neither had the full committee specified the area of inquiry. Watkins v. United States, 233 remains the leading case on pertinency, although it has not the influence on congressional investigations that some hoped and some feared in the wake of its announcement. When questioned by a Subcommittee of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Watkins refused to supply the names of past associates, who, to his knowledge, had terminated their membership in the Communist Party and supported his noncompliance by, inter alia, contending that the questions were unrelated to the work of the Committee. Sustaining the witness, the Court emphasized that inasmuch as a witness by his refusal exposes himself to a criminal prosecution for contempt, he is entitled 228 360 U.S. at 122–23. But note that in Stamler v. Willis, 415 F. 2d 1365 (7th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 399 U.S. 929 (1970), the court ordered to trial a civil suit contesting the constitutionality of the Rule establishing the Committee on allegations of overbreadth and overbroad application, holding that Barenblatt did not foreclose the contention. 229 But see Tobin v. United States, 306 F. 2d 270 (D.C. Cir. 1962), cert. denied, 371 U.S. 902 (1962). 230 345 U.S. 41 (1953). 231 The Court intimated that if the authorizing resolution did confer such power upon the committee, the validity of the resolution would be subject to doubt on First Amendment principles. Justices Black and Douglas would have construed the resolution as granting the authority and would have voided it under the First Amendment. 345 U.S. at 48 (concurring opinion). 232 384 U.S. 702 (1966). 233 354 U.S. 178 (1957).

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to be informed of the relation of the question to the subject of the investigation with the same precision as the due process clause requires of statutes defining crimes. 234 For ascertainment of the subject matter of an investigation, the witness might look, noted the Court, to several sources, including (1) the authorizing resolution, (2) the resolution by which the full committee authorized the subcommittee to proceed, (3) the introductory remarks of the chairman or other members, (4) the nature of the proceedings, (5) the chairman’s response to the witness when the witness objects to the line of question on grounds of pertinency. 235 Whether a precise delineation of the subject matter of the investigation in but one of these sources would satisfy the requirements of due process was left unresolved, since the Court ruled that in this case all of them were deficient in providing Watkins with the guidance to which he was entitled. The sources had informed Watkins that the questions were asked in a course of investigation of something that ranged from a narrow inquiry into Communist infiltration into the labor movement to a vague and unlimited inquiry into ‘‘subversion and subversive propaganda.’’ 236 By and large, the subsequent cases demonstrated that Watkins did not represent a determination by the Justices to restrain broadly the course of congressional investigations, though several contempt citations were reversed on narrow holdings. But with regard to pertinency, the implications of Watkins were held in check and, without amending its rules or its authorizing resolution, the Un-American Activities Committee was successful in convincing a majority of the Court that its subsequent investigations were authorized and that the questions asked of recalcitrant witnesses were pertinent to the inquiries. 237 234 354

U.S. at 208–09. U.S. at 209–15. 236 Id. See also Sacher v. United States, 356 U.S. 576 (1958), a per curiam reversal of a contempt conviction on the ground that the questions did not relate to a subject ‘‘within the subcommittee’s scope of inquiry,’’ arising out of a hearing pertaining to a recantation of testimony by a witness in which the inquiry drifted into a discussion of legislation barring Communists from practice at the federal bar, the unanswered questions being asked then; and Flaxer v. United States, 358 U.S. 147 (1958), a reversal for refusal to produce membership lists because of an ambiguity in the committee’s ruling on the time of performance; and Scull v. Virginia ex rel. Committee, 359 U.S. 344 (1959), a reversal on a contempt citation before a state legislative investigating committee on pertinency grounds. 237 Notice should be taken, however, of two cases which, though decided four and five years after Watkins, involved persons who were witnesses before the UnAmerican Activities Committee either shortly prior to or shortly following Watkins’ appearance and who were cited for contempt before the Supreme Court decided Watkins’ case. In Deutch v. United States, 367 U.S. 456 (1961), involving an otherwise cooperative witness who had refused to identify certain persons with whom he had been 235 354

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Thus, in Barenblatt v. United States, 238 the Court concluded that the history of the Un-American Activities Committee’s activities, viewed in conjunction with the Rule establishing it, evinced clear investigatory authority to inquire into Communist infiltration in the field of education, an authority with which the witness had shown familiarity. Additionally, the opening statement of the chairman had pinpointed that subject as the nature of the inquiry that day and the opening witness had testified on the subject and had named Barenblatt as a member of the Communist Party at the University of Michigan. Thus, pertinency and the witness’ knowledge of the pertinency of the questions asked him was shown. Similarly, in Wilkinson v. United States, 239 the Court held that when the witness was apprised at the hearing that the Committee was empowered to investigate Communist infiltration of the textile industry in the South, that it was gathering information with a view to ascertaining the manner of administration and need to amend various laws directed at subversive activities, that Congress hitherto had enacted many of its recommendations in this field, and that it was possessed of information about his Party membership, he was notified effectively that a question about that affiliation was relevant to a valid inquiry. A companion case was held to be controlled by Wilkinson, 240 and in both cases the majority rejected the contention that the Committee inquiry was invalid because both associated at Cornell in Communist Party activities, the Court agreed that Deutch had refused on grounds of moral scruples to answer the questions and had not challenged them as not pertinent to the inquiry, but the majority ruled that the Government had failed to establish at trial the pertinency of the questions, thus vitiating the conviction. Justices Frankfurter, Clark, Harlan, and Whittaker dissented, arguing that any argument on pertinency had been waived but in any event thinking it had been established. Id. at 472, 475. In Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749 (1962), the Court struck down contempt convictions for insufficiency of the indictments. Indictments, which merely set forth the offense in the words of the contempt statute, the Court asserted, in alleging that the unanswered questions were pertinent to the subject under inquiry but not identifying the subject in detail, are defective because they do not inform defendants what they must be prepared to meet and do not enable courts to decide whether the facts alleged are sufficient to support convictions. Justice Stewart for the Court noted that the indicia of subject matter under inquiry were varied and contradictory, thus necessitating a precise governmental statement of particulars. Justices Harlan and Clark in dissent contended that it was sufficient for the Government to establish pertinency at trial and noted that no objections relating to pertinency had been made at the hearings. Id. at 781, 789–793. Russell was cited in the per curiam reversals in Grumman v. United States, 370 U.S. 288 (1962), and Silber v. United States, 370 U.S. 717 (1962). 238 360

U.S. 109 (1959).

239 365

U.S. 399 (1961).

240 Braden

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Wilkinson and Braden, when they were called, were engaged in organizing activities against the Committee. 241 Related to the cases discussed in this section are those cases requiring that congressional committees observe strictly their own rules. Thus, in Yellin v. United States, 242 a contempt conviction was reversed because the Committee had failed to observe its rule providing for a closed session if a majority of the Committee believed that a witness’ appearance in public session might unjustly injure his reputation. The Court ruled that the Committee had ignored the rule when it subpoenaed the witness for a public hearing and then in failing to consider as a Committee his request for a closed session. 243 Finally, it should be noted that the Court has blown hot and cold on the issue of a quorum as a prerequisite to a valid contempt citation and that no firm statement of a rule is possible, although it seems probable that ordinarily no quorum is necessary. 244 Protection of Witnesses; Constitutional Guarantees.— ‘‘[T]he Congress, in common with all branches of the Government, must exercise its powers subject to the limitations placed by the Constitution on governmental action, more particularly in the context of this case, the relevant limitations of the Bill of Rights.’’ 245 Just as the Constitution places limitations on Congress’ power to legislate, so it limits the power to investigate. In this section, we 241 The majority denied that the witness’ participation in a lawful and protected course of action, such as petitioning Congress to abolish the Committee, limited the Committee’s right of inquiry. ‘‘[W]e cannot say that, simply because the petitioner at the moment may have been engaged in lawful conduct, his Communist activities in connection therewith could not be investigated. The subcommittee had reasonable ground to suppose that the petitioner was an active Communist Party member, and that as such he possessed information that would substantially aid it in its legislative investigation. As the Barenblatt opinion makes clear, it is the nature of the Communist activity involved, whether the momentary conduct is legitimate or illegitimate politically, that establishes the Government’s overbalancing interest.’’ Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399, 414 (1961). In both cases, the dissenters, Chief Justice Warren and Justices Black, Douglas, and Brennan argued that the Committee action was invalid because it was intended to harass persons who had publicly criticized committee activities. Id. at 415, 423, 429. 242 374 U.S. 109 (1963). 243 Failure to follow its own rules was again an issue in Gojack v. United States, 384 U.S. 702 (1966), in which the Court noted that while a committee rule required the approval of a majority of the Committee before a ‘‘major’’ investigation was initiated, such approval had not been sought before a Subcommittee proceeded. 244 In Christoffel v. United States, 338 U.S. 84 (1949), the Court held that a witness can be found guilty of perjury only where a quorum of the committee is present at the time the perjury is committed; it is not enough to prove that a quorum was present when the hearing began. But in United States v. Bryan, 339 U.S. 323 (1950), the Court ruled that a quorum was not required under the statute punishing refusal to honor a valid subpoena issued by an authorized committee. 245 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 112 (1959).

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are concerned with the limitations the Bill of Rights places on the scope and nature of the congressional power to inquire. The most extensive amount of litigation in this area has involved the privilege against self-incrimination guaranteed against governmental abridgment by the Fifth Amendment. Observance of the privilege by congressional committees has been so uniform that no court has ever held that it must be observed, though the dicta are plentiful. 246 Thus, the cases have explored not the issue of the right to rely on the privilege but rather the manner and extent of its application. There is no prescribed form in which one must plead the privilege. When a witness refused to answer a question about Communist Party affiliations and based his refusal upon the assertion by a prior witness of ‘‘the first amendment supplemented by the fifth,’’ the Court held that he had sufficiently invoked the privilege, at least in the absence of committee inquiry seeking to force him to adopt a more precise stand. 247 If the committee suspected that the witness was being purposely vague, in order perhaps to avoid the stigma attached to a forthright claim of the privilege, it should have requested him to state specifically the ground of his refusal to testify. Another witness, who was threatened with prosecution for his Communist activities, could claim the privilege even to some questions the answers to which he might have been able to explain away as unrelated to criminal conduct; if an answer might tend to be incriminatory, the witness is not deprived of the privilege merely because he might have been able to refute inferences of guilt. 248 In still another case, the Court held that the Committee had not clearly overruled the claim of privilege and directed an answer. 249 The privilege against self-incrimination is not available as a defense to an organizational officer who refuses to turn over organization documents and records to an investigating committee. 250 In Hutcheson v. United States, 251 the Court rejected a challenge to a Senate Committee inquiry into union corruption on the part of a witness who was under indictment in state court on charges relating to the same matters about which the Committee sought to interrogate him. The witness did not plead his privilege against self-incrimination but contended that by questioning him about matters which would aid the state prosecutor the Committee 246 360 U.S. at 126; Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 196 (1957); Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155, 161 (1955). 247 Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155 (1955). 248 Emspak v. United States, 349 U.S. 190 (1955). 249 Bart v. United States, 349 U.S. 219 (1955). 250 McPhaul v. United States, 364 U.S. 372 (1960). 251 369 U.S. 599 (1962).

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had denied him due process. The plurality opinion of the Court rejected his ground for refusing to answer, noting that if the Committee’s public hearings rendered the witness’ state trial unfair, then he could properly raise that issue on review of his state conviction. 252 Claims relating to the First Amendment have been frequently asserted and as frequently denied. It is not that the First Amendment is inapplicable to congressional investigations, it is that under the prevailing Court interpretation the First Amendment does not bar all legislative restrictions of the rights guaranteed by it. 253 ‘‘[T]he protections of the First Amendment, unlike a proper claim of the privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment, do not afford a witness the right to resist inquiry in all circumstances. Where First Amendment rights are asserted to bar governmental interrogation, resolution of the issue always involves a balancing by the courts of the competing private and public interests at stake in the particular circumstances shown.’’ 254 Thus, the Court has declined to rule that under the circumstances of the cases investigating committees are precluded from making inquiries simply because the subject area was education 255 or because the witnesses at the time they were called were engaged in protected activities such as petitioning Congress to abolish the inquiring committee. 256 However, in an earlier case, the Court intimated that it was taking a narrow view of the committee’s authority because a determination that authority existed 252 Justice Harlan wrote the opinion of the Court which Justices Clark and Stewart joined. Justice Brennan concurred solely because the witness had not claimed the privilege against self-incrimination but he would have voted to reverse the conviction had there been a claim. Chief Justice Warren and Justice Douglas dissented on due process grounds. Justices Black, Frankfurter, and White did not participate. At the time of the decision, the self-incrimination clause did not restrain the States through the Fourteenth Amendment so that it was no violation of the clause for either the Federal Government or the States to compel testimony which would incriminate the witness in the other jurisdiction. Cf. United States v. Murdock, 284 U.S. 141 (1931); Knapp v. Schweitzer, 357 U.S. 371 (1958). The Court has since reversed itself, Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1 (1964); Murphy v. Waterfront Comm’n, 378 U.S. 52 (1964), thus leaving the vitality of Hutcheson doubtful. 253 The matter is discussed fully in the section on the First Amendment but a good statement of the balancing rule may be found in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 51 (1971), by Justice Black, supposedly an absolutist on the subject: ‘‘Where a statute does not directly abridge free speech, but—while regulating a subject within the State’s power—tends to have the incidental effect of inhibiting First Amendment rights, it is well settled that the statute can be upheld if the effect on speech is minor in relation to the need for control of the conduct and the lack of alternative means for doing so.’’ 254 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 126 (1959). 255 Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109 (1959). 256 Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399 (1961); Braden v. United States, 365 U.S. 431 (1961).

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would raise a serious First Amendment issue. 257 And in a state legislative investigating committee case, the majority of the Court held that an inquiry seeking the membership lists of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was so lacking in a ‘‘nexus’’ between the organization and the Communist Party that the inquiry infringed the First Amendment. 258 Dicta in the Court’s opinions acknowledge that the Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures are applicable to congressional committees. 259 The issue would most often arise in the context of subpoenas, inasmuch as that procedure is the usual way by which committees obtain documentary material and inasmuch as Fourth Amendment standards apply as well to subpoenas as to search warrants. 260 But there are no cases in which a holding turns on this issue. 261 Other constitutional rights of witnesses have been asserted at various times, but without success or even substantial minority support. Sanctions of the Investigatory Power: Contempt Explicit judicial recognition of the right of either House of Congress to commit for contempt a witness who ignores its summons or refuses to answer its inquiries dates from McGrain v. Daugherty. 262 But the principle there applied had its roots in an early case, Anderson v. Dunn, 263 which stated in broad terms the right of either branch of the legislature to attach and punish a person other than a member for contempt of its authority. 264 The right to punish a contumacious witness was conceded in Marshall v. Gordon, 265 although the Court there held that the implied power to 257 United

States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41 (1953). v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, 372 U.S. 539 (1963). See also DeGregory v. Attorney General, 383 U.S. 825 (1966). 259 Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 188 (1957). 260 See Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186 (1946), and cases cited. 261 Cf. McPhaul v. United States, 364 U.S. 372 (1960). 262 273 U.S. 135 (1927). 263 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 204 (1821). 264 The contempt consisted of an alleged attempt to bribe a Member of the House for his assistance in passing a claims bill. The case was a civil suit brought by Anderson against the Sergeant at Arms of the House for assault and battery and false imprisonment. Cf. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168 (1881). The power of a legislative body to punish for contempt one who disrupts legislative business was reaffirmed in Groppi v. Leslie, 404 U.S. 496 (1972), but a unanimous Court there held that due process required a legislative body to give a contemnor notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to conviction and sentencing. Although this case dealt with a state legislature, there is no question it would apply to Congress as well. 265 243 U.S. 521 (1917). 258 Gibson

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deal with contempt did not extend to the arrest of a person who published matter defamatory of the House. The cases emphasize that the power to punish for contempt rests upon the right of self-preservation. That is, in the words of Chief Justice White, ‘‘the right to prevent acts which in and of themselves inherently obstruct or prevent the discharge of legislative duty or the refusal to do that which there is inherent legislative power to compel in order that legislative functions may be performed’’ necessitates the contempt power. 266 Thus, in Jurney v. MacCracken, 267 the Court turned aside an argument that the Senate had no power to punish a witness who, having been commanded to produce papers, destroyed them after service of the subpoena. The punishment would not be efficacious in obtaining the papers in this particular case, but the power to punish for a past contempt is an appropriate means of vindicating ‘‘the established and essential privilege of requiring the production of evidence.’’ 268 Under the rule laid down by Anderson v. Dunn, 269 imprisonment by one of the Houses of Congress could not extend beyond the adjournment of the body which ordered it. Because of this limitation and because contempt trials before the bar of the House charging were time-consuming, in 1857 Congress enacted a statute providing for criminal process in the federal courts with prescribed penalties for contempt of Congress. 270 The Supreme Court has held that the purpose of this statute is merely supplementary of the power retained by Congress, and all constitutional objections to it were overruled. ‘‘We grant that Congress could not divest itself, or either of its Houses, of the essential and inherent power to punish for contempt, in cases to which the power of either House properly extended; but because Congress, by the Act of 1857, sought to aid each of the Houses in the discharge of its constitutional functions, it does not follow that any delegation of the power in each to punish for contempt was involved.’’ 271 Because Congress has invoked the aid of the federal judicial system in protecting itself against contumacious conduct, the consequence, the Court has asserted numerous times, is that the duty has been conferred upon the federal courts to accord a person prosecuted for his statutory offense every safeguard which the law ac266 243

U.S. at 542. U.S. 125 (1935). 268 294 U.S. at 150. 269 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 204 (1821). 270 Act of January 24, 1857, 11 Stat. 155. With only minor modification, this statute is now 2 U.S.C. § 192. 271 In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661, 671–672 (1897). 267 294

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cords in all other federal criminal cases, 272 and the discussion in previous sections of many reversals of contempt convictions bears witness to the assertion in practice. What constitutional protections ordinarily necessitated by due process requirements, such as notice, right to counsel, confrontation, and the like, prevail in a contempt trial before the bar of one House or the other is an open question. 273 It has long been settled that the courts may not intervene directly to restrain the carrying out of an investigation or the manner of an investigation, and that a witness who believes the inquiry to be illegal or otherwise invalid in order to raise the issue must place himself in contempt and raise his beliefs as affirmative defenses on his criminal prosecution. This understanding was sharply reinforced when the Court held that the speech-or-debate clause utterly foreclosed judicial interference with the conduct of a congressional investigation, through review of the propriety of subpoenas or otherwise. 274 It is only with regard to the trial of contempts that the courts may review the carrying out of congressional investigations and may impose constitutional and other constraints.

SECTION 2. Clause 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTING A major innovation in constitutional law in recent years has been the development of a requirement that election districts in each State be so structured that each elected representative should represent substantially equal populations. 275 While this require272 Sinclair v. United States, 279 U.S. 263, 296–297 (1929); Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 207 (1957); Sacher v. United States, 356 U.S. 576, 577 (1958); Flaxer v. United States, 358 U.S. 147, 151 (1958); Deutch v. United States, 367 U.S. 456, 471 (1961); Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 755 (1962). Protesting the Court’s reversal of several contempt convictions over a period of years, Justice Clark was moved to suggest that ‘‘[t]his continued frustration of the Congress in the use of the judicial process to punish those who are contemptuous of its committees indicates to me that the time may have come for Congress to revert to ‘its original practice of utilizing the coercive sanction of contempt proceedings at the bar of the House [affected].’’’ Id. at 781; Watkins, 354 U.S. at 225. 273 Cf. Groppi v. Leslie, 404 U.S. 496 (1972). 274 Eastland v. United States Servicemen’s Fund, 421 U.S. 491 (1975). 275 The phrase ‘‘one person, one vote’’ which came out of this litigation might well seem to refer to election districts drawn to contain equal numbers of voters

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ment has generally been gleaned from the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 276 in Wesberry v. Sanders, 277 the Court held that ‘‘construed in its historical context, the command of Art. 1, § 2, that Representatives be chosen ‘by the People of the several States’ means that as nearly as is practicable one man’s vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another’s.’’ 278 Court involvement in this issue developed slowly. In our early history, state congressional delegations were generally elected atlarge instead of by districts, and even when Congress required single-member districting 279 and later added a provision for equally populated districts 280 the relief sought by voters was action by the House refusing to seat Members-elect selected under systems not in compliance with the federal laws. 281 The first series of cases did not reach the Supreme Court, in fact, until the States began redistricting through the 1930 Census, and these were resolved without reaching constitutional issues and indeed without resolving the issue whether such voter complaints were justiciable at all. 282 In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the Court utilized the ‘‘political question’’ doctrine to decline to adjudicate districting and apportionment suits, a position changed in Baker v. Carr. 283 For the Court in Wesberry, 284 Justice Black argued that a reading of the debates of the Constitutional Convention conclusively demonstrated that the Framers had meant, in using the phrase ‘‘by the People,’’ to guarantee equality of representation in rather than equal numbers of persons. But it seems clear from a consideration of all the Court’s opinions and the results of its rulings that the statement in the text accurately reflects the constitutional requirement. The case expressly holding that total population, or the exclusion only of transients, is the standard is Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73 (1966), a legislative apportionment case. Notice that considerable population disparities exist from State to State, as a result of the requirement that each State receive at least one Member and the fact that state lines cannot be crossed in districting. At least under present circumstances, these disparities do not violate the Constitution. U.S. Department of Commerce v. Montana, 503 U.S. 442 (1992). 276 Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964) (legislative apportionment and districting); Hadley v. Junior College Dist., 397 U.S. 50 (1970) (local governmental units). 277 376 U.S. 1 (1964). See also Martin v. Bush, 376 U.S. 222 (1964). 278 376 U.S. at 7. 279 Act of June 25, 1842, 5 Stat. 491. 280 Act of February 2, 1872, 17 Stat. 28. 281 The House uniformly refused to grant any such relief. 1 A. HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 310 (1907). See L. SCHMECKEBIER, CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT 135–138 (1941). 282 Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355 (1932); Koenig v. Flynn, 285 U.S. 375 (1932); Carroll v. Becker, 285 U.S. 380 (1932); Wood v. Broom, 287 U.S. 1 (1932); Mahan v. Hume, 287 U.S. 575 (1932). 283 369 U.S. 186 (1962). 284 Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964).

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the election of Members of the House of Representatives. 285 Justice Harlan in dissent argued that the statements relied on by the majority had uniformly been in the context of the Great Compromise—Senate representation of the States with Members elected by the state legislatures, House representation according to the population of the States, qualified by the guarantee of at least one Member per State and the counting of slaves as three-fifths of persons—and not at all in the context of intrastate districting. Further, he thought the Convention debates clear to the effect that Article I, § 4, had vested exclusive control over state districting practices in Congress, and that the Court action overrode a congressional decision not to require equally-populated districts. 286 The most important issue, of course, was how strict a standard of equality the Court would adhere to. At first, the Justices seemed inclined to some form of de minimis rule with a requirement that the State present a principled justification for the deviations from equality which any districting plan presented. 287 But in Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 288 a sharply divided Court announced the rule that a State must make a ‘‘good-faith effort to achieve precise mathematical equality.’’ 289 Therefore, ‘‘[u]nless population variances among congressional districts are shown to have resulted despite such [good-faith] effort [to achieve precise mathematical equality], the State must justify each variance, no matter how small.’’ 290 The strictness of the test was revealed not only by the phrasing of the test but by the fact that the majority rejected every proffer of a justification which the State had made and which could likely be made. Thus, it was not an adequate justification that deviations resulted from (1) an effort to draw districts to maintain intact areas with distinct economic and social interests, 291 (2) the requirements of legislative compromise, 292 (3) a desire to maintain the integrity of political subdivision lines, 293 (4) the exclusion from total population figures of certain military personnel and students 285 376

U.S. at 7–18. U.S. at 20–49. 287 Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 385 U.S. 450 (1967), and Duddleston v. Grills, 385 U.S. 455 (1967), relying on the rule set out in Swann v. Adams, 385 U.S. 440 (1967), a state legislative case. 288 394 U.S. 526 (1969). See also Wells v. Rockefeller, 394 U.S. 542 (1969). 289 Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 530 (1969). 290 394 U.S. at 531. 291 394 U.S. at 533. People vote as individuals, Justice Brennan said for the Court, and it is the equality of individual voters that is protected. 292 Id. Political ‘‘practicality’’ may not interfere with a rule of ‘‘practicable’’ equality. 293 394 U.S. at 533–34. The argument is not ‘‘legally acceptable.’’ 286 376

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not residents of the areas in which they were found, 294 (5) an attempt to compensate for population shifts since the last census, 295 or (6) an effort to achieve geographical compactness. 296 Illustrating the strictness of the standard, the Court upheld a lower court voiding of a Texas congressional districting plan in which the population difference between the most and least populous districts was 19,275 persons and the average deviation from the ideally populated district was 3,421 persons. 297 Adhering to the principle of strict population equality in a subsequent case, the Court refused to find a plan valid simply because the variations were smaller than the estimated census undercount. Rejecting the plan, the difference in population between the most and least populous districts being 3,674 people, in a State in which the average district population was 526,059 people, the Court opined that, given rapid advances in computer technology, it is now ‘‘relatively simple to draw contiguous districts of equal population and at the same time . . . further whatever secondary goals the State has.’’ 298 Attacks on partisan gerrymandering have proceeded under equal-protection analysis, and, while the Court has held justiciable claims of denial of effective representation, the standards are so high neither voters nor minority parties have yet benefitted from the development. 299

294 394 U.S. at 534–35. Justice Brennan questioned whether anything less than a total population basis was permissible but noted that the legislature in any event had made no consistent application of the rationale. 295 394 U.S. at 535. This justification would be acceptable if an attempt to establish shifts with reasonable accuracy had been made. 296 394 U.S. at 536. Justifications based upon ‘‘the unaesthetic appearance’’ of the map will not be accepted. 297 White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783 (1973). The Court did set aside the district court’s own plan for districting, instructing that court to adhere more closely to the legislature’s own plan insofar as it reflected permissible goals of the legislators, reflecting an ongoing deference to legislatures in this area to the extent possible. 298 Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U.S. 725 (1983). Illustrating the point about computer-generated plans containing absolute population equality is Hastert v. State Bd. of Elections, 777 F. Supp. 634 (N.D. Ill. 1991) (three-judge court), in which the court adopted a congressional-districting plan in which 18 of the 20 districts had 571,530 people each and each of the other two had 571,531 people. 299 The principal case was Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U.S. 109 (1986), a legislative apportionment case, but no doubt should exist that congressional districting is covered. See Badham v. Eu, 694 F. Supp. 664 (N.D. Cal.) (three-judge court) (adjudicating partisan gerrymandering claim as to congressional districts but deciding against plaintiffs on merits), aff’d, 488 U.S. 1024 (1988); Pope v. Blue, 809 F. Supp. 392 (W.D.N.C.) (three-judge court) (same), aff’d, 506 U.S. 801 (1992).

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ELECTOR QUALIFICATIONS It was the original constitutional scheme to vest the determination of qualifications for electors in congressional elections 300 solely in the discretion of the States, save only for the express requirement that the States could prescribe no qualifications other than those provided for voters for the more numerous branch of the legislature. 301 This language has never been expressly changed, but the discretion of the States, and not only with regard to the qualifications of congressional electors, has long been circumscribed by express constitutional limitations 302 and by judicial decisions. 303 Further, beyond the limitation of discretion on the part of the States, Congress has assumed the power, with judicial acquiescence, to legislate to provide qualifications at least with regard to some elections. 304 Thus, in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 305 Congress legislated changes of a limited nature in the literacy laws of some of the States, 306 and in the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 307 Congress successfully lowered the minimum voting age in federal elections 308 and prescribed residency qualifications for presidential elections, 309 the Court striking down an attempt to lower the minimum voting age for all elections. 310 These developments greatly limited the discretion granted in Article I, § 2, cl. 1, and are more fully dealt with in the treatment of § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Notwithstanding the vesting of discretion to prescribe voting qualifications in the States, conceptually the right to vote for United States Representatives is derived from the Federal Con300 The clause refers only to elections to the House of Representatives, of course, and, inasmuch as Senators were originally chosen by state legislatures and presidential electors as the States would provide, it was only with the qualifications for these voters with which the Constitution was originally concerned. 301 Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162, 171 (1875); Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277, 283 (1937). See 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 576–585 (1833). 302 The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments limited the States in the setting of qualifications in terms of race, sex, payment of poll taxes, and age. 303 The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the equal protection clause has excluded certain qualifications. E.g., Carrington v. Rash, 380 U.S. 89 (1965); Kramer v. Union Free School Dist., 395 U.S. 621 (1969); City of Phoenix v. Kolodziejski, 399 U.S. 204 (1970). The excluded qualifications were in regard to all elections. 304 The power has been held to exist under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U.S. 641 (1966); Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970); City of Rome v. United States, 446 U.S. 156 (1980). 305 § 4(e), 79 Stat. 437, 439, 42 U.S.C. § 1973b(e), as amended. 306 Upheld in Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U.S. 641 (1966). 307 Titles 2 and 3, 84 Stat. 314, 42 U.S.C. § 1973bb. 308 Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 119–131, 135–144, 239–281 (1970). 309 Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 134, 147–150, 236–239, 285–292 (1970). 310 Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 119–131, 152–213, 293–296 (1970).

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stitution, 311 and Congress has had the power under Article I, § 4, to legislate to protect that right against both official 312 and private denial. 313

Clause 2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the State in which he shall be chosen. QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS When the Qualifications Must Be Possessed A question much disputed but now seemingly settled is whether a condition of eligibility must exist at the time of the election or whether it is sufficient that eligibility exist when the Memberelect presents himself to take the oath of office. While the language of the clause expressly makes residency in the State a condition at the time of election, it now appears established in congressional practice that the age and citizenship qualifications need only be met when the Member-elect is to be sworn. 314 Thus, persons elected to either the House of Representatives or the Senate before attaining the required age or term of citizenship have been admitted as soon as they became qualified. 315 Exclusivity of Constitutional Qualifications Congressional Additions.—Writing in The Federalist with reference to the election of Members of Congress, Hamilton firmly stated that ‘‘[t]he qualifications of the persons who may . . . be chosen . . . are defined and fixed in the constitution; and are unalterable by the legislature.’’ 316 Until the Civil War, the issue was not 311 ‘‘The right to vote for members of the Congress of the United States is not derived merely from the constitution and laws of the state in which they are chosen, but has its foundation in the Constitution of the United States.’’ Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651, 663 (1884). See also Wiley v. Sinkler, 179 U.S. 58, 62 (1900); Swafford v. Templeton, 185 U.S. 487, 492 (1902); United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 315, 321 (1941). 312 United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383 (1915). 313 United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 315 (1941). 314 See S. Rep. No. 904, 74th Congress, 1st sess. (1935), reprinted in 79 CONG. REC. 9651–9653 (1935). 315 1 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES § 418 (1907); 79 CONG. REC. 9841–9842 (1935); cf. HINDS’ PRECEDENTS, supra § 429. 316 No. 60 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 409. See also 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES §§ 623–627 (1833) (relating to the power of the States to add qualifications).

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raised, the only actions taken by either House conforming to the idea that the qualifications for membership could not be enlarged by statute or practice. 317 But in the passions aroused by the fratricidal conflict, Congress enacted a law requiring its members to take an oath that they had never been disloyal to the National Government. 318 Several persons were refused seats by both Houses because of charges of disloyalty, 319 and thereafter House practice, and Senate practice as well, was erratic. 320 But in Powell v. McCormack, 321 it was conclusively established that the qualifications listed in cl. 2 are exclusive 322 and that Congress could not add to them by excluding Members-elect not meeting the additional qualifications. 323 Powell was excluded from the 90th Congress on grounds that he had asserted an unwarranted privilege and immunity from the process of a state court, that he had wrongfully diverted House funds for his own uses, and that he had made false reports on the expenditures of foreign currency. 324 The Court determination that he had been wrongfully excluded proceeded in the main from the Court’s analysis of historical developments, the Convention de317 All the instances appear to be, however, cases in which the contest arose out of a claimed additional state qualification. 318 Act of July 2, 1862, 12 Stat. 502. Note also the disqualification written into § 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 319 1 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 451, 449, 457 (1907). 320 In 1870, the House excluded a Member-elect who had been re-elected after resigning earlier in the same Congress when expulsion proceedings were instituted against him for selling appointments to the Military Academy. Id. at § 464. A Member-elect was excluded in 1899 because of his practice of polygamy, id. at 474–80, but the Senate refused, after adopting a rule requiring a two-thirds vote, to exclude a Member-elect on those grounds. Id. at §§ 481–483. The House twice excluded a socialist Member-elect in the wake of World War I on allegations of disloyalty. 6 CANNON’S PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 56–58 (1935). See also S. Rep. No. 1010, 77th Congress, 2d sess. (1942), and R. Hupman, Senate Election, Expulsion and Censure Cases From 1789 to 1960, S. DOC. NO. 71, 87th Congress, 2d sess. (1962), 140 (dealing with the effort to exclude Senator Langer of North Dakota). 321 395 U.S. 486 (1969). The Court divided eight to one, Justice Stewart dissenting on the ground the case was moot. Powell’s continuing validity was affirmed in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), both by the Court in its holding that the qualifications set out in the Constitution are exclusive and may not be added to by either Congress or the States, id. at 787–98, and by the dissent, who would hold that Congress, for different reasons could not add to qualifications, although the States could. Id. at 875–76. 322 The Court declined to reach the question whether the Constitution in fact does impose other qualifications. 395 U.S. at 520 n. 41 (possibly Article I, § 3, cl. 7, disqualifying persons impeached, Article I, § 6, cl. 2, incompatible offices, and § 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment). It is also possible that the oath provision of Article VI, cl. 3, could be considered a qualification. See Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116, 129–131 (1966). 323 395 U.S. at 550. 324 H. Rep. No. 27, 90th Congress, 1st sess. (1967); 395 U.S. at 489–493.

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bates, and textual considerations. This process led the Court to conclude that Congress’ power under Article I, § 5 to judge the qualifications of its Members was limited to ascertaining the presence or absence of the standing qualifications prescribed in Article I, § 2, cl. 2, and perhaps in other express provisions of the Constitution. 325 The conclusion followed because the English parliamentary practice and the colonial legislative practice at the time of the drafting of the Constitution, after some earlier deviations, had settled into a policy that exclusion was a power exercisable only when the Member-elect failed to meet a standing qualifications 326 because in the Constitutional Convention the Framers had defeated provisions allowing Congress by statute either to create property qualifications or to create additional qualifications without limitation, 327 and because both Hamilton and Madison in the Federalist Papers and Hamilton in the New York ratifying convention had strongly urged that the Constitution prescribed exclusive qualifications for Members of Congress. 328 Further, the Court observed that the early practice of Congress, with many of the Framers serving, was consistently limited to the view that exclusion could be exercised only with regard to a Member-elect failing to meet a qualification expressly prescribed in the Constitution. Not until the Civil War did contrary precedents appear, and later practice was mixed. 329 Finally, even were the intent of the Framers less clear, said the Court, it would still be compelled to interpret the power to exclude narrowly. ‘‘A fundamental principle of our representative democracy is, in Hamilton’s words, ‘that the people should choose whom they please to govern them.’ 2 Elliot’s Debates 257. As Madison pointed out at the Convention, this principle is undermined as much by limiting whom the people can select as by limiting the franchise itself. In apparent agreement with this basic philosophy, the Convention adopted his suggestion limiting the power to expel. To allow essentially that same power to be exercised under the guise of judging qualifications, would be to ignore Madison’s warning, borne out in the Wilkes case and some of Congress’ own post-Civil War exclusion cases, against ‘vesting an improper and dangerous power in the Legislature.’ 2 Farrand 249.’’ 330 Thus, the Court appears to say, to allow the House to exclude Powell on this basis of qualifications of its own choosing would impinge on the interests of his constituents 325 Powell 326 395 327 395 328 395 329 395 330 395

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v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 518–47 (1969). U.S. at 522–31. U.S. at 532–39. U.S. at 539–41. U.S. at 541–47. U.S. at 547–48.

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in effective participation in the electoral process, an interest which could be protected by a narrow interpretation of Congressional power. 331 The result in the Powell case had been foreshadowed earlier when the Court held that the exclusion of a Member-elect by a state legislature because of objections he had uttered to certain national policies constituted a violation of the First Amendment and was void. 332 In the course of that decision, the Court denied state legislators the power to look behind the willingness of any legislator to take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, prescribed by Article VI, cl. 3, to test his sincerity in taking it. 333 The unanimous Court noted the views of Madison and Hamilton on the exclusivity of the qualifications set out in the Constitution and alluded to Madison’s view that the unfettered discretion of the legislative branch to exclude members could be abused in behalf of political, religious or other orthodoxies. 334 The First Amendment holding and the holding with regard to testing the sincerity with which the oath of office is taken is no doubt as applicable to the United States Congress as to state legislatures. State Additions.—However much Congress may have deviated from the principle that the qualifications listed in the Constitution are exclusive when the issue has been congressional enlargement of those qualifications, it has been uniform in rejecting efforts by the States to enlarge the qualifications. Thus, the House in 1807 seated a Member-elect who was challenged as not being in compliance with a state law imposing a twelve-month durational residency requirement in the district, rather than the federal requirement of being an inhabitant of the State at the time of election; the state requirement, the House resolved, was unconstitutional. 335 Similarly, both the House and Senate have seated other Members-elect who did not meet additional state qualifications or who suffered particular state disqualifications on eligibility, such as running for Congress while holding particular state offices. 331 The protection of the voters’ interest in being represented by the person of their choice is thus analogized to their constitutionally secured right to cast a ballot and have it counted in general elections, Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884), and in primary elections, United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299 (1941), to cast a ballot undiluted in strength because of unequally populated districts, Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964), and to cast a vote for candidates of their choice unfettered by onerous restrictions on candidate qualification for the ballot. Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U.S. 23 (1968). 332 Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (1966). 333 385 U.S. at 129–31, 132, 135. 334 385 U.S. at 135 n.13. 335 1 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES § 414 (1907).

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The Supreme Court reached the same conclusion as to state power, albeit by a surprisingly close 5-4 vote, in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton. 336 Arkansas, along with twenty-two other States, all but two by citizen initiatives, had limited the number of terms that Members of Congress may serve. In striking down the Arkansas term limits, the Court determined that the Constitution’s qualifications clauses 337 establish exclusive qualifications for Members that may not be added to either by Congress or the States. 338 Six years later, the Court relied on Thornton to invalidate a Missouri law requiring that labels be placed on ballots alongside the names of congressional candidates who had ‘‘disregarded voters’ instruction on term limits’’ or declined to pledge support for term limits. 339 Both majority and dissenting opinions in Thornton were richly embellished with disputatious arguments about the text of the Constitution, the history of its drafting and ratification, and the practices of Congress and the States in the nation’s early years, 340 and these differences over text, creation, and practice derived from disagreement about the fundamental principle underlying the Constitution’s adoption. In the dissent’s view, the Constitution was the result of the resolution of the peoples of the separate States to create the National Government. The conclusion to be drawn from this was that the peoples in the States agreed to surrender only those powers expressly forbidden them and those limited powers that they had delegated to the Federal Government expressly or by necessary implication. They retained all other powers and still retain them. Thus, ‘‘where the Constitution is silent about the exercise of a particular power—that is, where the Constitution does not speak either expressly or by necessary implication—the Federal Government lacks that power and the States enjoy it.’’ 341 The Constitution’s silence 336 514 U.S. 779 (1995). The majority was composed of Justice Stevens (writing the opinion of the Court) and Justices Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer. Dissenting were Justice Thomas (writing the opinion) and Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O’Connor and Scalia. Id. at 845. 337 Article I, § 2, cl. 2, provides that a person may qualify as a Representative if she is at least 25 years old, has been a United States citizen for at least 7 years, and is an inhabitant, at the time of the election, of the State in which she is chosen. The qualifications established for Senators, Article I, § 3, cl. 3, are an age of 30 years, nine years’ citizenship, and being an inhabitant of the State at the time of election. 338 The four-Justice dissent argued that while Congress has no power to increase qualifications, the States do. 514 U.S. at 845. 339 Cook v. Gralike, 531 U.S. 510 (2001). 340 See Sullivan, Dueling Sovereignties: U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 109 HARV. L. REV. 78 (1995). 341 514 U.S. at 848 (Justice Thomas dissenting). See generally id. at 846–65.

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as to authority to impose additional qualifications meant that this power resides in the states. The majority’s views were radically different. After the adoption of the Constitution, the states had two kinds of powers: reserved powers that they had before the founding and that were not surrendered to the Federal Government, and those powers delegated to them by the Constitution. It followed that the States could have no reserved powers with respect to the Federal Government. ‘‘As Justice Story recognized, ‘the states can exercise no powers whatsoever, which exclusively spring out of the existence of the national government, which the constitution does not delegate to them. . . . No state can say, that it has reserved, what it never possessed.’’’ 342 The States could not before the founding have possessed powers to legislate respecting the Federal Government, and since the Constitution did not delegate to the States the power to prescribe qualifications for Members of Congress, the States did not have any such power. 343 Evidently, the opinions in this case reflect more than a decision on this particular dispute. They rather represent conflicting philosophies within the Court respecting the scope of national power in relation to the States, an issue at the core of many controversies today.

Clause 3. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons]. 344 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after 342 514

U.S. at 802. U.S. at 798–805. And see id. at 838–45 (Justice Kennedy concurring). The Court applied similar reasoning in Cook v. Gralike, 531 U.S. 510, 522-23 (2001), invalidating ballot labels identifying congressional candidates who had not pledged to support term limits. Because congressional offices arise from the Constitution, the Court explained, no authority to regulate these offices could have preceded the Constitution and been reserved to the states, and the ballot labels were not valid exercise of the power granted by Article I, § 4 to regulate the ‘‘manner’’ of holding elections. See discussion under Federal Legislation Protecting Electoral Process, infra. 344 The part of this clause relating to the mode of apportionment of representatives among the several States was changed by the Fourteenth Amendment, § 2 and as to taxes on incomes without apportionment, by the Sixteenth Amendment. 343 514

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the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut, five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. APPORTIONMENT OF SEATS IN THE HOUSE The Census Requirement The Census Clause ‘‘reflects several important constitutional determinations: that comparative state political power in the House would reflect comparative population, not comparative wealth; that comparative power would shift every 10 years to reflect population changes; that federal tax authority would rest upon the same base; and that Congress, not the States, would determine the manner of conducting the census.’’ 345 These determinations ‘‘all suggest a strong constitutional interest in accuracy.’’ 346 The language employed – ‘‘actual enumeration’’ – requires an actual count, but gives Congress wide discretion in determining the methodology of that count. The word ‘‘enumeration’’ refers to a counting process without describing the count’s methodological details. The word ‘‘actual’’ merely refers to the enumeration to be used for apportioning the Third Congress, and thereby distinguishes ‘‘a deliberately taken count’’ from the conjectural approach that had been used for the First Congress. Finally, the conferral of authority on Congress to ‘‘direct’’ the ‘‘manner’’ of enumeration underscores ‘‘the breadth of congressional methodological authority.’’ Thus, the Court held in Utah v. Evans, ‘‘hot deck imputation,’’ a method used to fill in missing data by imputing to an address the number of persons found at a nearby address or unit of the same type, does not run 345 Utah

v. Evans, 122 S. Ct. 2191, 2206 (2002).

346 Id.

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afoul of the ‘‘actual enumeration’’ requirement. 347 The Court distinguished imputation from statistical sampling, and indicated that its holding was relatively narrow. Imputation was permissible ‘‘where all efforts have been made to reach every household, where the methods used consist not of statistical sampling but of inference, where that inference involves a tiny percent of the population, where the alternative is to make a far less accurate assessment of the population, and where consequently manipulation of the method is highly unlikely.’’ 348 While the Census Clause expressly provides for an enumeration of persons, Congress has expanded the scope of the census by including not only the free persons in the States, but also those in the territories, and by requiring all persons over eighteen years of age to answer an ever-lengthening list of inquiries concerning their personal and economic affairs. This extended scope of the census has received the implied approval of the Supreme Court, 349 and is one of the methods whereby the national legislature exercises its inherent power to obtain the information necessary for intelligent legislative action. Although taking an enlarged view of its census power, Congress has not always complied with its positive mandate to reapportion representatives among the States after the census is taken. 350 It failed to make such a reapportionment after the census of 1920, being unable to reach agreement for allotting representation without further increasing the size of the House. Ultimately, by the act of June 18, 1929, 351 it provided that the membership of the House of Representatives should henceforth be restricted to 435 members, to be distributed among the States by the so-called ‘‘method of major fractions,’’ which had been earlier employed in the apportionment of 1911, and which has now been replaced with 347 Utah

v. Evans, 122 S. Ct. 2191 (2002). also Wisconsin v. City of New York, 517 U.S. 1 (1996), in which the Court held that the decision of the Secretary of Commerce not to conduct a postenumeration survey and statistical adjustment for an undercount in the 1990 Census was reasonable and within the bounds of discretion conferred by the Constitution and statute; and Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U.S. 788 (1992), upholding the practice of the Secretary of Commerce in allocating overseas federal employees and military personnel to the States of last residence. The mandate of an enumeration of ‘‘their respective numbers’’ was complied with, it having been the practice since the first enumeration to allocate persons to the place of their ‘‘usual residence,’’ and to construe both this term and the word ‘‘inhabitant’’ broadly to include people temporarily absent. 349 Knox v. Lee (Legal Tender Cases). 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 457, 536 (1971) (‘‘Who questions the power to [count persons in the territories or] collect[ ] . . . statistics respecting age, sex, and production?’’). 350 For an extensive history of the subject, see L. SCHMECKEBIER, CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT (1941). 351 46 Stat. 26, 22, as amended by 55 Stat. 761 (1941), 2 U.S.C. § 2a. 348 See

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

122

Sec. 2—House of Representatives

Cl. 5—Officers and Powers of Impeachment

the ‘‘method of equal proportions.’’ Following the 1990 census, a State that had lost a House seat as a result of the use of this formula sued, alleging a violation of the ‘‘one person, one vote’’ rule derived from Article I, § 2. Exhibiting considerable deference to Congress and a stated appreciation of the difficulties in achieving interstate equalities, the Supreme Court upheld the formula and the resultant apportionment. 352 The goal of absolute population equality among districts ‘‘is realistic and appropriate’’ within a single state, but the constitutional guarantee of one Representative for each state constrains application to districts in different states, and makes the goal ‘‘illusory for the Nation as a whole.’’ 353 While requiring the election of Representatives by districts, Congress has left it to the States to draw district boundaries. This has occasioned a number of disputes. In Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant, 354 a requirement that a redistricting law be submitted to a popular referendum was challenged and sustained. After the reapportionment made pursuant to the 1930 census, deadlocks between the Governor and legislature in several States produced a series of cases in which the right of the Governor to veto a reapportionment bill was questioned. Contrasting this function with other duties committed to state legislatures by the Constitution, the Court decided that it was legislative in character and subject to gubernatorial veto to the same extent as ordinary legislation under the terms of the state constitution. 355

Clause 4. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. IN GENERAL The Supreme Court has not interpreted this clause.

Clause 5. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 352 U.S.

Department of Commerce v. Montana, 503 U.S. 442 (1992). U.S. at 463. ‘‘The need to allocate a fixed number of indivisible Representatives among 50 States of varying populations makes it virtually impossible to have the same size district in any pair of States, let alone in all 50,’’ the Court explained. Id. 354 241 U.S. 565 (1916). 355 Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355 (1932); Koenig v. Flynn, 285 U.S. 375 (1932); Carroll v. Becker, 285 U.S. 380 (1932). 353 503

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT Sec. 3—Senate

123

Cls. 3–5—Qualifications, Vice-President, Officers

IN GENERAL See analysis of Impeachment under Article II, section 4.

SECTION 3. Clause 1. [The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one vote]. 356 Clause 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year, 357 [and if Vacancies happen by Resignation or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies]. 358 IN GENERAL Clause 1 has been completely superseded by the Seventeenth Amendment, and Clause 2 has been partially superseded.

Clause 3. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. Clause 4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 356 See

Seventeenth Amendment. Seventeenth Amendment. 358 See Seventeenth Amendment. 357 See

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

124 Sec. 4—Elections

Cl. 1—Times, Places, and Manner

Clause 5. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of the President of the United States. IN GENERAL The Supreme Court has not interpreted these clauses.

Clause 6. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. Clause 7. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. IN GENERAL See analysis of impeachment under Article II, sec. 4.

SECTION 4. Clause 1. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but Congress may at any time make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of chusing Senators. LEGISLATION PROTECTING ELECTORAL PROCESS By its terms, Art. I, § 4, cl. 1 empowers both Congress and state legislatures to regulate the ‘‘times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives.’’ Not until 1842, when it passed a law requiring the election of Representa-

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT Sec. 4—Elections

125

Cl. 1—Times, Places, and Manner

tives by districts, 359 did Congress undertake to exercise this power. In subsequent years, Congress expanded on the requirements, successively adding contiguity, compactness, and substantial equality of population to the districting requirements. 360 However, no challenge to the seating of Members-elect selected in violation of these requirements was ever successful, 361 and Congress deleted the standards from the 1929 apportionment act. 362 In 1866 Congress was more successful in legislating to remedy a situation under which deadlocks in state legislatures over the election of Senators were creating vacancies in the office. The act required the two houses of each legislature to meet in joint session on a specified day and to meet every day thereafter until a Senator was selected. 363 The first comprehensive federal statute dealing with elections was adopted in 1870 as a means of enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment’s guarantee against racial discrimination in granting suffrage rights. 364 Under the Enforcement Act of 1870, and subsequent laws, false registration, bribery, voting without legal right, making false returns of votes cast, interference in any manner with officers of election, and the neglect by any such officer of any duty required 359 5 Stat. 491 (1842). The requirement was omitted in 1850, 9 Stat. 428, but was adopted again in 1862. 12 Stat. 572. 360 The 1872 Act, 17 Stat. 28, provided that districts should contain ‘‘as nearly as practicable’’ equal numbers of inhabitants, a provision thereafter retained. In 1901, 31 Stat. 733, a requirement that districts be composed of ‘‘compact territory’’ was added. These provisions were repeated in the next Act, 37 Stat. 13 (1911), there was no apportionment following the 1920 Census, and the permanent 1929 Act omitted the requirements. 46 Stat. 13. Cf. Wood v. Broom, 287 U.S. 1 (1932). 361 The first challenge was made in 1843. The committee appointed to inquire into the matter divided, the majority resolving that Congress had no power to bind the States in regard to their manner of districting, the minority contending to the contrary. H. Rep. No. 60, 28th Congress, 1st sess. (1843). The basis of the majority view was that while Article I, § 4 might give Congress the power to create the districts itself, the clause did not authorize Congress to tell the state legislatures how to do it if the legislatures were left the task of drawing the lines. L. SCHMECKEBIER, CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT 135–138 (1941). This argument would not appear to be maintainable in light of the language in Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371, 383–386 (1880). 362 46 Stat. 13 (1929). In 1967, Congress restored the single-member district requirement. 81 Stat. 581, 2 U.S.C. § 2c. 363 14 Stat. 243 (1866). Still another such regulation was the congressional specification of a common day for the election of Representatives in all the States. 17 Stat. 28 (1872), 2 U.S.C. § 7. 364 Article I, § 4, and the Fifteenth Amendment have had quite different applications. The Court insisted that under the latter, while Congress could legislate to protect the suffrage in all elections, it could do so only against state interference based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, James v. Bowman, 190 U.S. 127 (1903); United States v. Reese, 92 U.S. 214 (1876), whereas under the former it could also legislate against private interference for whatever motive, but only in federal elections. Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371 (1880); Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884).

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

126 Sec. 4—Elections

Cl. 1—Times, Places, and Manner

of him by state or federal law were made federal offenses. 365 Provision was made for the appointment by federal judges of persons to attend at places of registration and at elections with authority to challenge any person proposing to register or vote unlawfully, to witness the counting of votes, and to identify by their signatures the registration of voters and election talley sheets. 366 When the Democratic Party regained control of Congress, these pieces of Reconstruction legislation dealing specifically with elections were repealed, 367 but other statutes prohibiting interference with civil rights generally were retained and these were utilized in later years. More recently, Congress has enacted, in 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1982, legislation to protect the right to vote in all elections, federal, state, and local, through the assignment of federal registrars and poll watchers, suspension of literacy and other tests, and the broad proscription of intimidation and reprisal, whether with or without state action. 368 Another chapter was begun in 1907 when Congress passed the Tillman Act, prohibiting national banks and corporations from making contributions in federal elections. 369 The Corrupt Practices Act, first enacted in 1910 and replaced by another law in 1925, extended federal regulation of campaign contributions and expenditures in federal elections, 370 and other acts have similarly provided other regulations. 371 365 The Enforcement Act of May 31, 1870, 16 Stat. 140; The Force Act of February 28, 1871, 16 Stat. 433; The Ku Klux Klan Act of April 20, 1871, 17 Stat. 13. The text of these and other laws and the history of the enactments and subsequent developments are set out in R. CARR, FEDERAL PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS: QUEST FOR A SWORD (1947). 366 The constitutionality of sections pertaining to federal elections was sustained in Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371 (1880), and Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884). The legislation pertaining to all elections was struck down as going beyond Congress’ power to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. United States v. Reese, 92 U.S. 214 (1876). 367 28 Stat. 144 (1894). 368 P.L. 85–315, Part IV, § 131, 71 Stat. 634, 637 (1957); P.L. 86–449, Title III, § 301, Title VI, 601, 74 Stat. 86, 88, 90 (1960); P.L. 88–352, Title I, § 101, 78 Stat. 241 (1964); P.L. 89–110, 79 Stat. 437 (1965); P.L. 90–284, Title I, § 101, 82 Stat. 73 (1968); P.L. 91–285, 84 Stat. 314 (1970);P.L. 94–73, 89 Stat. 400 (1975); P.L. 97– 205, 96 Stat. 131 (1982). Most of these statutes are codified in 42 U.S.C. § 1971 et seq. The penal statutes are in 18 U.S.C. §§ 241–245. 369 Act of January 26, 1907, 34 Stat. 864, now a part of 18 U.S.C. § 610. 370 Act of February 28, 1925, 43 Stat. 1070, 2 U.S.C. §§ 241–256. Comprehensive regulation is now provided by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, 86 Stat. 3, and the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, 88 Stat. 1263, as amended, 90 Stat. 475, found in titles 2, 5, 18, and 26 of the U.S. Code. See Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976). 371 E.g., the Hatch Act, relating principally to federal employees and state and local governmental employees engaged in programs at least partially financed with federal funds, 5 U.S.C. §§ 7324–7327.

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT Sec. 4—Elections

127

Cl. 1—Times, Places, and Manner

As we have noted above, although § 2, cl. 1, of this Article vests in the States the responsibility, now limited, to establish voter qualifications for congressional elections, the Court has held that the right to vote for Members of Congress is derived from the Federal Constitution, 372 and that Congress therefore may legislate under this section of the Article to protect the integrity of this right. Congress may protect the right of suffrage against both official and private abridgment. 373 Where a primary election is an integral part of the procedure of choice, the right to vote in that primary election is subject to congressional protection. 374 The right embraces, of course, the opportunity to cast a ballot and to have it counted honestly. 375 Freedom from personal violence and intimidation may be secured. 376 The integrity of the process may be safeguarded against a failure to count ballots lawfully cast 377 or the dilution of their value by the stuffing of the ballot box with fraudulent ballots. 378 But the bribery of voters, although within reach of congressional power under other clauses of the Constitution, has been held not to be an interference with the rights guaranteed by this section to other qualified voters. 379 To accomplish the ends under this clause, Congress may adopt the statutes of the States and enforce them by its own sanctions. 380 It may punish a state election officer for violating his duty under a state law governing congressional elections. 381 It may, in short, utilize its power under this clause, combined with the necessaryand-proper clause, to regulate the times, places, and manner of electing Members of Congress so as to fully safeguard the integrity of the process; it may not, however, under this clause, provide different qualifications for electors than those provided by the States. 382 372 United

States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 314–15 (1941), and cases cited. U.S. at 315; Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 13 n.16 (1976). 374 United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 315–321 (1941). The authority of Newberry v. United States, 256 U.S. 232 (1921), to the contrary has been vitiated. Cf. United States v. Wurzbach, 280 U.S. 396 (1930). 375 United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383 (1915); United States v. Saylor, 322 U.S. 385, 387 (1944). 376 Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884). 377 United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383 (1915). 378 United States v. Saylor, 322 U.S. 385 (1944). 379 United States v. Bathgate, 246 U.S. 220 (1918); United States v. Gradwell, 243 U.S. 476 (1917). 380 Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371 (1880); Ex parte Clarke, 100 U.S. 399 (1880); 4United States v. Gale, 109 U.S. 65 (1883); In re Coy, 127 U.S. 731 (1888). 381 Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371 (1880) 382 But in Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970), Justice Black grounded his vote to uphold the age reduction in federal elections and the presidential voting residency provision sections of the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 on this clause. Id. at 119–35. Four Justices specifically rejected this construction, id. at 373 313

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128

Sec. 5—Powers and Duties of the Houses

Cls. 1–4—Judging Elections

State authority to regulate the ‘‘times, places, and manner’’ of holding congressional elections has also been tested, and has been described by the Court as ‘‘embrac[ing] authority to provide a complete code for congressional elections . . . ; in short, to enact the numerous requirements as to procedure and safeguards which experience shows are necessary in order to enforce the fundamental right involved.’’ 383 The Court has upheld a variety of state laws designed to ensure that elections – including federal elections – are fair and honest and orderly. 384 But the Court distinguished state laws that go beyond ‘‘protection of the integrity and regularity of the election process,’’ and instead operate to disadvantage a particular class of candidates. 385 Term limits, viewed as serving the dual purposes of ‘‘disadvantaging a particular class of candidates and evading the dictates of the Qualifications Clause,’’ crossed this line, 386 as did ballot labels identifying candidates who disregarded voters’ instructions on term limits or declined to pledge support for them. 387 ‘‘[T]he Framers understood the Elections Clause as a grant of authority to issue procedural regulations, and not as a source of power to dictate electoral outcomes, to favor or disfavor a class of candidates, or to evade important constitutional restraints.’’ 388

Clause 2. [The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different Day]. 389 IN GENERAL This Clause was superseded by the Twentieth Amendment.

SECTION 5. Clause 1. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; 209–12, 288–92, and the other four implicitly rejected it by relying on totally different sections of the Constitution in coming to the same conclusions as did Justice Black. 383 Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355, 366 (1932). 384 See, e.g., Storer v. Brown, 415 U.S. 724 (1974) (restrictions on independent candidacies requiring early commitment prior to party primaries); Roudebush v. Hartke, 405 U.S. 15, 25 (1972) (recount for Senatorial election); and Munro v. Socialist Workers Party, 479 U.S. 189, 194 (1986) (requirement that minor party candidate demonstrate substantial support – 1% of votes cast in the primary election – before being placed on ballot for general election). 385 U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779, 835 (1995). 386 U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995). 387 Cook v. Gralike, 531 U.S. 510 (2001). 388 Thornton, 514 U.S. at 833-34. 389 See Twentieth Amendment.

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129

Cls. 1–4—Judging Elections

but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. Clause 2. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. Clause 3. Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. Clause 4. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE HOUSES Power To Judge Elections Each House, in judging of elections under this clause, acts as a judicial tribunal, with like power to compel attendance of witnesses. In the exercise of its discretion, it may issue a warrant for the arrest of a witness to procure his testimony, without previous subpoena, if there is good reason to believe that otherwise such witness would not be forthcoming. 390 It may punish perjury committed in testifying before a notary public upon a contested election. 391 The power to judge elections extends to an investigation of expenditures made to influence nominations at a primary election. 392 Refusal to permit a person presenting credentials in due form to take the oath of office does not oust the jurisdiction of the 390 Barry

v. United States ex rel. Cunningham, 279 U.S. 597, 616 (1929). re Loney, 134 U.S. 372 (1890). 392 6 CANNON’S PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 72–74, 180 (1936). Cf. Newberry v. United States, 256 U.S. 232, 258 (1921). 391 In

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Sec. 5—Powers and Duties of the Houses

Cls. 1–4—Judging Elections

Senate to inquire into the legality of the election. 393 Nor does such refusal unlawfully deprive the State which elected such person of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 394 ‘‘A Quorum To Do Business’’ For many years the view prevailed in the House of Representatives that it was necessary for a majority of the members to vote on any proposition submitted to the House in order to satisfy the constitutional requirement for a quorum. It was a common practice for the opposition to break a quorum by refusing to vote. This was changed in 1890, by a ruling made by Speaker Reed and later embodied in Rule XV of the House, that members present in the chamber but not voting would be counted in determining the presence of a quorum. 395 The Supreme Court upheld this rule in United States v. Ballin, 396 saying that the capacity of the House to transact business is ‘‘created by the mere presence of a majority,’’ and that since the Constitution does not prescribe any method for determining the presence of such majority ‘‘it is therefore within the competency of the House to prescribe any method which shall be reasonably certain to ascertain the fact.’’ 397 The rules of the Senate provide for the ascertainment of a quorum only by a roll call, 398 but in a few cases it has held that if a quorum is present, a proposition can be determined by the vote of a lesser number of members. 399 Rules of Proceedings In the exercise of their constitutional power to determine their rules of proceedings, the Houses of Congress may not ‘‘ignore constitutional restraints or violate fundamental rights, and there should be a reasonable relation between the mode or method of proceeding established by the rule and the result which is sought to be attained. But within these limitations all matters of method are open to the determination of the House ... The power to make rules is not one which once exercised is exhausted. It is a contin393 Barry

v. United States ex rel. Cunningham, 279 U.S. 597, 614 (1929). U.S. at 615. The existence of this power in both houses of Congress does not prevent a State from conducting a recount of ballots cast in such an election any more than it prevents the initial counting by a State. Roudebush v. Hartke, 405 U.S. 15 (1972). 395 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 2895–2905 (1907). 396 144 U.S. 1 (1892). 397 144 U.S. at 5–6. 398 Rule V. 399 4 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 2910–2915 (1907); 6 CANNON’S PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 645, 646 (1936). 394 279

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uous power, always subject to be exercised by the House, and within the limitations suggested, absolute and beyond the challenge of any other body or tribunal.’’ 400 Where a rule affects private rights, the construction thereof becomes a judicial question. In United States v. Smith, 401 the Court held that the Senate’s attempt to reconsider its confirmation of a person nominated by the President as Chairman of the Federal Power Commission was not warranted by its rules and did not deprive the appointee of his title to the office. In Christoffel v. United States, 402 a sharply divided Court upset a conviction for perjury in the district courts of one who had denied under oath before a House committee any affiliation with Communism. The reversal was based on the ground that inasmuch as a quorum of the committee, while present at the outset, was not present at the time of the alleged perjury, testimony before it was not before a ‘‘competent tribunal’’ within the sense of the District of Columbia Code. 403 Four Justices, speaking by Justice Jackson, dissented, arguing that under the rules and practices of the House, ‘‘a quorum once established is presumed to continue unless and until a point of no quorum is raised’’ and that the Court was, in effect, invalidating this rule, thereby invalidating at the same time the rule of self-limitation observed by courts ‘‘where such an issue is tendered.’’ 404 Powers of the Houses Over Members Congress has authority to make it an offense against the United States for a Member, during his continuance in office, to receive compensation for services before a government department in relation to proceedings in which the United States is interested. Such a statute does not interfere with the legitimate authority of the Senate or House over its own Members. 405 In upholding the power of the Senate to investigate charges that some Senators had been speculating in sugar stocks during the consideration of a tariff bill, the Supreme Court asserted that ‘‘the right to expel extends to all cases where the offence is such as in the judgment of the Senate is inconsistent with the trust and duty of a Member.’’ 406 It cited with apparent approval the action of the Senate in expelling 400 United States v. Ballin, 144 U.S. 1, 5 (1892). The Senate is ‘‘a continuing body.’’ McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135, 181–182 (1927). Hence its rules remain in force from Congress to Congress except as they are changed from time to time, whereas those of the House are readopted at the outset of each new Congress. 401 286 U.S. 6 (1932). 402 338 U.S. 84 (1949). 403 338 U.S. at 87–90. 404 338 U.S. at 92–95. 405 Burton v. United States, 202 U.S. 344 (1906). 406 In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661 (1897).

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Sec. 5—Powers and Duties of the Houses

Cls. 1–4—Judging Elections

William Blount in 1797 for attempting to seduce from his duty an American agent among the Indians and for negotiating for services in behalf of the British Government among the Indians—conduct which was not a ‘‘statutable offense’’ and which was not committed in his official character, nor during the session of Congress nor at the seat of government. 407 In Powell v. McCormack, 408 a suit challenging the exclusion of a Member-elect from the House of Representatives, it was argued that inasmuch as the vote to exclude was actually in excess of twothirds of the Members it should be treated simply as an expulsion. The Court rejected the argument, noting that the House precedents were to the effect that it had no power to expel for misconduct occurring prior to the Congress in which the expulsion is proposed, as was the case of Mr. Powell’s alleged misconduct, but basing its rejection on its inability to conclude that if the Members of the House had been voting to expel they would still have cast an affirmative vote in excess of two-thirds. 409 Duty To Keep a Journal The object of the clause requiring the keeping of a Journal is ‘‘to insure publicity to the proceedings of the legislature, and a correspondent responsibility of the members to their respective constituents.’’ 410 When the Journal of either House is put in evidence for the purpose of determining whether the yeas and nays were ordered, and what the vote was on any particular question, the Journal must be presumed to show the truth, and a statement therein that a quorum was present, though not disclosed by the yeas and nays, is final. 411 But when an enrolled bill, which has been signed by the Speaker of the House and by the President of the Senate, in open session receives the approval of the President and is deposited in the Department of State, its authentication as a bill that has passed Congress is complete and unimpeachable, and it is not competent to show from the Journals of either House that an act so authenticated, approved, and deposited, in fact omitted one section actually passed by both Houses of Congress. 412 407 166

U.S. at 669–70. See 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION UNITED STATES § 836 (1833). 408 395 U.S. 486 (1969). 409 395 U.S. at 506–512. 410 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES § 840 (1833), quoted with approval in Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 670 (1892). 411 United States v. Ballin, 144 U.S. 1, 4 (1892). 412 Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1892); Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U.S. 107, 143 (1911). See the dispute in the Court with regard to the application of Field in an origination clause dispute. United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. 385, 391 n. 4 (1990), and id. at 408 (Justice Scalia concurring in the judgment). A parallel rule

OF THE

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ART. I—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT Sec. 6—Rights and Disabilities of Members

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SECTION 6. Clause 1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. COMPENSATION AND IMMUNITIES OF MEMBERS Congressional Pay With the surprise ratification of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment, 413 it is now the rule that congressional legislation ‘‘varying’’—note that the Amendment applies to decreases as well as increases—the level of legislators’ pay may not take effect until an intervening election has occurred. The only real controversy likely to arise in the interpretation of the new rule is whether pay increases that result from automatic alterations in pay are subject to the same requirement or whether it is only the initial enactment of the automatic device that is covered. That is, from the founding to 1967, congressional pay was determined directly by Congress in specific legislation setting specific rates of pay. In 1967, a law was passed that created a quadrennial commission with the responsibility to propose to the President salary levels for top officials of the Government, including Members of Congress. 414 In 1975, Congress legislated to bring Members of Congress within a separate commission system authorizing the President to recommend annual increases for civil servants to maintain pay comparability with private-sector employees. 415 These devices were attacked by dissenting Members of Congress as violating the mandate of clause 1 that compensation be ‘‘ascertained by Law[.]’’ However, these chalholds in the case of a duly authenticated official notice to the Secretary of State that a state legislature has ratified a proposed amendment to the Constitution. Leser v. Garnett, 258 U.S. 130, 137 (1922); see also Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939). 413 See discussion under Twenty-Seventh Amendment, infra. 414 P. L. 90–206, § 225, 81 Stat. 642 (1967), as amended, P. L. 95–19, § 401, 91 Stat. 45 (1977), as amended, P. L. 99–190, § 135(e), 99 Stat. 1322 (1985). 415 P. L. 94–82, § 204(a), 89 Stat. 421.

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lenges were rejected. 416 Thereafter, prior to ratification of the Amendment, Congress in the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, 417 altered both the pay-increase and the cost-of-living-increase provisions of law, making quadrennial pay increases effective only after an intervening congressional election and making cost-of-living increases dependent upon a specific congressional vote. Litigation of the effect of the Amendment is ongoing. 418 Privilege From Arrest This clause is practically obsolete. It applies only to arrests in civil suits, which were still common in this country at the time the Constitution was adopted. 419 It does not apply to service of process in either civil 420 or criminal cases. 421 Nor does it apply to arrest in any criminal case. The phrase ‘‘treason, felony or breach of the peace’’ is interpreted to withdraw all criminal offenses from the operation of the privilege. 422 Privilege of Speech or Debate Members.—This clause represents ‘‘the culmination of a long struggle for parliamentary supremacy. Behind these simple phrases lies a history of conflict between the Commons and the Tudor and Stuart monarchs during which successive monarchs utilized the criminal and civil law to suppress and intimidate critical legislators. Since the Glorious Revolution in Britain, and throughout United States history, the privilege has been recognized as an important protection of the independence and integrity of the legislature.’’ 423 So Justice Harlan explained the significance of the speech-and-debate clause, the ancestry of which traces back to a clause in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 424 and the history of which traces back almost to the beginning of the development of Parliament as an independent force. 425 ‘‘In the American govern416 Pressler v. Simon, 428 F. Supp. 302 (D.D.C. 1976) (three-judge court), aff’d summarily, 434 U.S. 1028 (1978); Humphrey v. Baker, 848 F.2d 211 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied 488 U.S. 966 (1988). 417 P.L. 101–194, 103 Stat. 1716, 2 U.S.C. § 31(2), 5 U.S.C. § 5318 note, and 2 U.S.C. §§ 351–363. 418 Boehner v. Anderson, 809 F. Supp. 138 (D.D.C. 1992) (holding Amendment has no effect on present statutory mechanism). 419 Long v. Ansell, 293 U.S. 76 (1934). 420 293 U.S. at 83. 421 United States v. Cooper, 4 U.S. (4 Dall.) 341 (C.C. Pa. 1800). 422 Williamson v. United States, 207 U.S. 425, 446 (1908). 423 United States v. Johnson, 383 U.S. 169, 178 (1966). 424 ‘‘That the Freedom of Speech, and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament.’’ 1 W. & M., Sess. 2, c. 2. 425 United States v. Johnson, 383 U.S. 169, 177–179, 180–183 (1966); Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 502 (1969).

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mental structure the clause serves the additional function of reinforcing the separation of powers so deliberately established by the Founders.’’ 426 ‘‘The immunities of the Speech or Debate Clause were not written into the Constitution simply for the personal or private benefit of Members of Congress, but to protect the integrity of the legislative process by insuring the independence of individual legislators.’’ 427 The protection of this clause is not limited to words spoken in debate. ‘‘Committee reports, resolutions, and the act of voting are equally covered, as are ‘things generally done in a session of the House by one of its members in relation to the business before it.’’’ 428 Thus, so long as legislators are ‘‘acting in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity,’’ they are ‘‘protected not only from the consequence of litigation’s results but also from the burden of defending themselves.’’ 429 But the scope of the meaning of ‘‘legislative activity’’ has its limits. ‘‘The heart of the clause is speech or debate in either House, and insofar as the clause is construed to reach other matters, they must be an integral part of the deliberative and communicative processes by which Members participate in committee and House proceedings with respect to the consideration and passage or rejection of proposed legislation or with respect to other matters which the Constitution places within the jurisdiction of either House.’’ 430 Immunity from civil suit, both in law and equity, and from criminal action based on the performance of legislative duties flows from a determination that a challenged act is within the definition of legislative activity, but the Court in the more recent cases appears to have narrowed the concept somewhat. In Kilbourn v. Thompson, 431 Members of the House of Representatives were held immune in a suit for false imprisonment brought about by a vote of the Members on a resolution charging 426 United

States v. Johnson, 383 U.S. 169, 178 (1966). States v. Brewster, 408 U.S. 501, 507 (1972). This rationale was approvingly quoted from Coffin v. Coffin, 4 Mass. 1, 28 (1808), in Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 203 (1881). 428 Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 502 (1969), quoting Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 204 (1881). 429 Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U.S. 367, 376–377 (1972); Dombrowski v. Eastland, 387 U.S. 82, 85 (1967); Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 505 (1969); Eastland v. United States Servicemen’s Fund, 421 U.S. 491, 503 (1975). 430 Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 625 (1972). The critical nature of the clause is shown by the holding in Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 235 n.11 (1979), that when a Member is sued under the Fifth Amendment for employment discrimination on the basis of gender, only the clause could shield such an employment decision, and not the separation of powers doctrine or emanations from it. Whether the clause would be a shield the Court had no occasion to decide and the case was settled on remand without a decision being reached. 431 103 U.S. 168 (1881). But see Gravel v. United States, 408 U. S. 606, 618– 619 (1972). 427 United

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contempt of one of its committees and under which the plaintiff was arrested and detained, even though the Court found that the contempt was wrongly voted. Kilbourn was relied on in Powell v. McCormack, 432 in which the plaintiff was not allowed to maintain an action for declaratory judgment against certain Members of the House of Representatives to challenge his exclusion by a vote of the entire House. Because the power of inquiry is so vital to performance of the legislative function, the Court held that the clause precluded suit against the Chairman and Members of a Senate subcommittee and staff personnel, to enjoin enforcement of a subpoena directed to a third party, a bank, to obtain the financial records of the suing organization. The investigation was a proper exercise of Congress’ power of inquiry, the subpoena was a legitimate part of the inquiry, and the clause therefore was an absolute bar to judicial review of the subcommittee’s actions prior to the possible institution of contempt actions in the courts. 433 And in Dombrowski v. Eastland, 434 the Court affirmed the dismissal of an action against the chairman of a Senate committee brought on allegations that he wrongfully conspired with state officials to violate the civil rights of plaintiff. Through an inquiry into the nature of the ‘‘legislative acts’’ performed by Members and staff, the Court held that the clause did not defeat a suit to enjoin the public dissemination of legislative materials outside the halls of Congress. 435 A committee had conducted an authorized investigation into conditions in the schools of the District of Columbia and had issued a report that the House of Representatives routinely ordered printed. In the report, named students were dealt with in an allegedly defamatory manner, and their parents sued various committee Members and staff and other personnel, including the Superintendent of Documents and the Public Printer, seeking to restrain further publication, dissemination, and distribution of the report until the objectionable material was deleted and also seeking damages. The Court held that the Members of Congress and the staff employees had been properly dismissed from the suit, inasmuch as their actions—conducting the hearings, preparing the report, and authorizing its publication— 432 395 U.S. 486 (1969). The Court found sufficient the presence of other defendants to enable it to review Powell’s exclusion but reserved the question whether in the absence of someone the clause would still preclude suit. Id. at 506 n.26. See also Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 204 (1881). 433 Eastland v. United States Servicemen’s Fund, 421 U.S. 491 (1975). 434 387 U.S. 82 (1967). But see the reinterpretation of this case in Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 619–620 (1972). And see McSurely v. McClellan, 553 F. 2d 1277 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), cert. dismissed as improvidently granted, sub nom. McAdams v. McSurely, 438 U.S. 189 (1978). 435 Doe v. McMillan, 412 U.S. 306 (1973).

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were protected by the clause. The Superintendent of Documents and the Public Printer were held, however, to have been properly named, because, as congressional employees, they had no broader immunity than Members of Congress would have. At this point, the Court distinguished between those legislative acts, such as voting, speaking on the floor or in committee, issuing reports, which are within the protection of the clause, and those acts which enjoy no such protection. Public dissemination of materials outside the halls of Congress is not protected, the Court held, because it is unnecessary to the performance of official legislative actions. Dissemination of the report within the body was protected, whereas dissemination in normal channels outside it was not. 436 Bifurcation of the legislative process in this way resulted in holding unprotected the republication by a Member of allegedly defamatory remarks outside the legislative body, here through newsletters and press releases. 437 The clause protects more than speech or debate in either House, the Court affirmed, but in order for the other matters to be covered ‘‘they must be an integral part of the deliberative and communicative processes by which Members participate in committee and House proceedings with respect to the consideration and passage or rejection of proposed legislation or with respect to other matters which the Constitution places within the jurisdiction of either House.’’ 438 Press releases and newsletters are ‘‘[v]aluable and desirable’’ in ‘‘inform[ing] the public and other Members,’’ but neither are essential to the deliberations of the legislative body nor part of the deliberative process. 439 Parallel developments may be discerned with respect to the application of a general criminal statute to call into question the leg436 Difficulty attends an assessment of the effect of the decision, inasmuch as the Justices in the majority adopted mutually inconsistent stands, 412 U.S. at 325 (concurring opinion), and four Justices dissented. Id. at 331, 332, 338. The case leaves unresolved as well the propriety of injunctive relief. Compare id. at 330 (Justice Douglas concurring), with id. at 343–45 (three dissenters arguing that separation of powers doctrine forbade injunctive relief). Also compare Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 245, 246 n.24 (1979), with id. at 250–51 (Chief Justice Burger dissenting). 437 Hutchinson v. Proxmire, 443 U.S. 111 (1979). 438 443 U.S. at 126, quoting Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 625 (1972). 439 Hutchinson v. Proxmire, 443 U.S. 111, 130, 132–133 (1979). The Court distinguished between the more important ‘‘informing’’ function of Congress, i.e., its efforts to inform itself in order to exercise its legislative powers, and the less important ‘‘informing’’ function of acquainting the public about its activities. The latter function the Court did not find an integral part of the legislative process. See also Doe v. McMillan, 412 U.S. 306, 314–317 (1973). But compare id. at 325 (concurring). For consideration of the ‘‘informing’’ function in its different guises in the context of legislative investigations, see Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 200 (1957); United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 43 (1953); Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 777–778 (1962) (Justice Douglas dissenting).

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islative conduct and motivation of a Member. Thus, in United States v. Johnson, 440 the Court voided the conviction of a Member for conspiracy to impair lawful governmental functions, in the course of seeking to divert a governmental inquiry into alleged wrongdoing, by accepting a bribe to make a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. The speech was charged as part of the conspiracy and extensive evidence concerning it was introduced at a trial. It was this examination into the context of the speech— its authorship, motivation, and content—which the Court found foreclosed by the speech-or-debate clause. 441 However, in United States v. Brewster, 442 while continuing to assert that the clause ‘‘must be read broadly to effectuate its purpose of protecting the independence of the Legislative branch,’’ 443 the Court substantially reduced the scope of the coverage of the clause. In upholding the validity of an indictment of a Member, which charged that he accepted a bribe to be ‘‘influenced in his performance of official acts in respect to his action, vote, and decision’’ on legislation, the Court drew a distinction between a prosecution that caused an inquiry into legislative acts or the motivation for performance of such acts and a prosecution for taking or agreeing to take money for a promise to act in a certain way. The former is proscribed, the latter is not. ‘‘Taking a bribe is, obviously, no part of the legislative process or function; it is not a legislative act. It is not, by any conceivable interpretation, an act performed as a part of or even incidental to the role of a legislator . . . Nor is inquiry into a legislative act or the motivation for a legislative act necessary to a prosecution under this statute or this indictment. When a bribe is taken, it does not matter whether the promise for which the bribe was given was for the performance of a legislative act as here or, as in Johnson, for use of a Congressman’s influence with the Executive Branch.’’ 444 In other words, it is the fact of having taken a bribe, not the act the bribe is intended to influence, which is the subject of the prosecution, and the speech-or-debate clause interposes no obstacle to this type of prosecution. 445 440 383

U.S. 169 (1966). was the question whether a prosecution that entailed inquiry into legislative acts or motivation could be founded upon ‘‘a narrowly drawn statute passed by Congress in the exercise of its legislative power to regulate the conduct of its members.’’ 383 U.S.. at 185. The question was similarly reserved in United States v. Brewster, 408 U.S. 501, 529 n.18 (1972), although Justices Brennan and Douglas would have answered negatively. Id. at 529, 540. 442 408 U.S. 501 (1972). 443 408 U.S. at 516. 444 408 U.S. at 526. 445 The holding was reaffirmed in United States v. Helstoski, 442 U.S. 477 (1979). On the other hand, the Court did hold that the protection of the clause is so fundamental that, assuming a Member may waive it, a waiver could be found 441 Reserved

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Applying in the criminal context the distinction developed in the civil cases between protected ‘‘legislative activity’’ and unprotected conduct prior to or subsequent to engaging in ‘‘legislative activity,’’ the Court in Gravel v. United States, 446 held that a grand jury could validly inquire into the processes by which the Member obtained classified government documents and into the arrangements for subsequent private republication of these documents, since neither action involved protected conduct. ‘‘While the Speech or Debate Clause recognizes speech, voting and other legislative acts as exempt from liability that might otherwise attach, it does not privilege either Senator or aide to violate an otherwise valid criminal law in preparing for or implementing legislative acts.’’ 447 Congressional Employees.—Until recently, it was seemingly the basis of the decisions that while Members of Congress may be immune from suit arising out of their legislative activities, legislative employees who participate in the same activities under the direction of the Member or otherwise are responsible for their acts if those acts be wrongful. 448 Thus, in Kilbourn v. Thompson, 449 the sergeant at arms of the House was held liable for false imprisonment because he executed the resolution ordering Kilbourn arrested and imprisoned. Dombrowski v. Eastland 450 held that a subcommittee counsel might be liable in damages for actions as to which the chairman of the committee was immune from suit. And in Powell v. McCormack, 451 the Court held that the presence of House of Representative employees as defendants in a suit for declaratory judgment gave the federal courts jurisdiction to review the propriety of the plaintiff’s exclusion from office by vote of the House. Upon full consideration of the question, however, the Court, in Gravel v. United States, 452 accepted a series of contentions urged only after explicit and unequivocal renunciation, rather than by failure to assert it at any particular point. Similarly, Helstoski v. Meanor, 442 U.S. 500 (1979), held that since the clause properly applied is intended to protect a Member from even having to defend himself, he may appeal immediately from a judicial ruling of nonapplicability rather than wait to appeal after conviction. 446 408 U.S. 606 (1972). 447 408 U.S. at 626. 448 Language in some of the Court’s earlier opinions had indicated that the privilege ‘‘is less absolute, although applicable,’’ when a legislative aide is sued, without elaboration of what was meant. Dombrowski v. Eastland, 387 U.S. 82, 85 (1967); Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U.S. 367, 378 (1951). In Wheeldin v. Wheeler, 373 U.S. 647 (1963), the Court had imposed substantial obstacles to the possibility of recovery in appropriate situations by holding that a federal cause of action was lacking and remitting litigants to state courts and state law grounds. The case is probably no longer viable, however, after Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). 449 103 U.S. 168 (1881). 450 387 U.S. 82 (1967). 451 395 U.S. 486 (1969). 452 408 U.S. 606 (1972).

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upon it not only by the individual Senator but by the Senate itself appearing by counsel as amicus: ‘‘that it is literally impossible, in view of the complexities of the modern legislative process, with Congress almost constantly in session and matters of legislative concern constantly proliferating, for Members of Congress to perform their legislative tasks without the help of aides and assistants; that the day-to-day work of such aides is so critical to the Members’ performance that they must be treated as the latters’ alter ego; and that if they are not so recognized, the central role of the Speech or Debate clause . . . will inevitably be diminished and frustrated.’’ 453 Therefore, the Court held ‘‘that the Speech or Debate Clause applies not only to a Member but also to his aides insofar as the conduct of the latter would be a protected legislative act if performed by the Member himself.’’ 454 The Gravel holding, however, does not so much extend congressional immunity to employees as it narrows the actual immunity available to both aides and Members in some important respects. Thus, the Court says, the legislators in Kilbourn were immune because adoption of the resolution was clearly a legislative act but the execution of the resolution—the arrest and detention—was not a legislative act immune from liability, so that the House officer was in fact liable as would have been any Member who had executed it. 455 Dombrowski was interpreted as having held that no evidence implicated the Senator involved, whereas the committee counsel had been accused of ‘‘conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of private parties. Unlawful conduct of this kind the Speech or Debate Clause simply did not immunize.’’ 456 And Powell was interpreted as simply holding that voting to exclude plaintiff, which was all the House defendants had done, was a legislative act immune from Member liability but not from judicial inquiry. ‘‘None of these three cases adopted the simple proposition that immunity was unavailable to House or committee employees because they were not Representatives; rather, immunity was unavailable because they engaged in illegal conduct which was not entitled to Speech or Debate Clause protection. . . . [N]o prior case has held that Members of Congress would be immune if they execute an invalid resolution by themselves carrying out an illegal arrest, or if, in order to secure information for a hearing, themselves seize the property or invade the privacy of a citizen. Neither they 453 408

U.S. U.S. 455 408 U.S. 456 408 U.S. 454 408

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nor their aides should be immune from liability or questioning in such circumstances.’’ 457

Clause 2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. DISABILITIES OF MEMBERS Appointment to Executive Office ‘‘The reasons for excluding persons from offices, who have been concerned in creating them, or increasing their emoluments, are to take away, as far as possible, any improper bias in the vote of the representative, and to secure to the constituents some solemn pledge of his disinterestedness. The actual provision, however, does not go to the extent of the principle; for his appointment is restricted only ‘during the time, for which he was elected’; thus leaving in full force every influence upon his mind, if the period of his election is short, or the duration of it is approaching its natural termination.’’ 458 As might be expected, there is no judicial interpretation of the language of the clause and indeed it has seldom surfaced as an issue. In 1909, after having increased the salary of the Secretary of State, 459 Congress reduced it to the former figure so that a Member of the Senate at the time the increase was voted would be eligible for that office. 460 The clause became a subject of discussion in 1937, when Justice Black was appointed to the Court, because Congress had recently increased the amount of pension available to Justices retiring at seventy and Mr. Black’s Senate term had still 457 408

U.S. at 620–21. J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUITON OF THE UNITED STATES § 864 (1833). 459 34 Stat. 948 (1907). 460 35 Stat. 626 (1909). Congress followed this precedent when the President wished to appoint a Senator as Attorney General and the salary had been increased pursuant to a process under which Congress did not need to vote to approve but could vote to disapprove. The salary was temporarily reduced to its previous level. 87 Stat. 697 (1975). See also 89 Stat. 1108 (1975) (reducing the salary of a member of the Federal Maritime Commission in order to qualify a Representative). 458 2

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some time to run. The appointment was defended, however, with the argument that inasmuch as Mr. Black was only fifty-one years of age at the time, he would be ineligible for the ‘‘increased emolument’’ for nineteen years and it was not as to him an increased emolument. 461 In 1969, it was briefly questioned whether a Member of the House of Representatives could be appointed Secretary of Defense because, under a salary bill enacted in the previous Congress, the President would propose a salary increase, including that of cabinet officers, early in the new Congress which would take effect if Congress did not disapprove it. The Attorney General ruled that inasmuch as the clause would not apply if the increase were proposed and approved subsequent to the appointment, it similarly would not apply in a situation in which it was uncertain whether the increase would be approved. 462 Incompatible Offices This second part of the second clause elicited little discussion at the Convention and was universally understood to be a safeguard against executive influence on Members of Congress and the prevention of the corruption of the separation of powers. 463 Congress has at various times confronted the issue in regard to seating or expelling persons who have or obtain office in another branch. Thus, it has determined that visitors to academies, regents, directors, and trustees of public institutions, and members of temporary commissions who receive no compensation as members are not officers within the constitutional inhibition. 464 Government contractors and federal officers who resign before presenting their credentials may be seated as Members of Congress. 465 One of the more recurrent problems which Congress has had with this clause is the compatibility of congressional office with service as an officer of some military organization—militia, reserves, and the like. 466 Members have been unseated for accepting appointment to military office during their terms of congressional 461 The matter gave rise to a case, Ex parte Albert Levitt, 302 U.S. 633 (1937), in which the Court declined to pass upon the validity of Justice Black’s appointment. The Court denied the complainant standing, but strangely it did not advert to the fact that it was being asked to assume original jurisdiction contrary to Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cr.) 137 (1803). 462 42 Op. Atty. Gen. No. 36 (January 3, 1969). 463 THE FEDERALIST, No. 76 (Hamilton) (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 514; 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES §§ 866–869 (1833). 464 1 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES § 493 (1907); 6 CANNON’S PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES §§ 63–64 (1936). 465 Hinds’, supra §§ 496–499. 466 Cf. Right of a Representative in Congress To Hold Commission in National Guard, H. Rep. No. 885, 64th Congress, 1st sess. (1916).

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office, 467 but there are apparently no instances in which a Memberelect has been excluded for this reason. Because of the difficulty of successfully claiming standing, the issue has never been a litigatible matter. 468

SECTION 7. Clause 1. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Clause 2. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return in which Case it shall not be a Law. Clause 3. Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may 467 Hinds’,

supra §§ 486–492, 494; Cannon’s, supra §§ 60–62. effort to sustain standing was rebuffed in Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War, 418 U.S. 208 (1974). 468 An

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be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitation prescribed in the Case of a Bill. THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS Revenue Bills Insertion of this clause was another of the devices sanctioned by the Framers to preserve and enforce the separation of powers. 469 It applies, in the context of the permissibility of Senate amendments to a House-passed bill, to all bills for collecting revenue—revenue decreasing as well as revenue increasing—rather than simply to just those bills that increase revenue. 470 Only bills to levy taxes in the strict sense of the word are comprehended by the phrase ‘‘all bills for raising revenue’’; bills for other purposes, which incidentally create revenue, are not included. 471 Thus, a Senate-initiated bill that provided for a monetary ‘‘special assessment’’ to pay into a crime victims fund did not violate the clause, because it was a statute that created and raised revenue to support a particular governmental program and was not a law raising revenue to support Government generally. 472 An act providing a national currency secured by a pledge of bonds of the United States, which, ‘‘in the furtherance of that object, and also to meet the expenses attending the execution of the act,’’ imposed a tax on the circulating notes of national banks was held not to be a revenue measure which must originate in the House of Representatives. 473 Neither was a bill that provided that the District of Columbia should raise by taxation and pay to designated rail469 THE FEDERALIST, No. 58 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 392–395 (Madison). See United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. 385, 393–395 (1990). 470 The issue of coverage is sometimes important, as in the case of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, 96 Stat. 324, in which the House passed a bill that provided for a net loss in revenue and the Senate amended the bill to provide a revenue increase of more than $98 billion over three years. Attacks on the law as a violation of the origination clause failed before assertions of political question, standing, and other doctrines. E.g., Texas Ass’n of Concerned Taxpayers v. United States, 772 F.2d 163 (5th Cir. 1985); Moore v. U.S. House of Representatives, 733 F.2d 946 (D.C. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1106 (1985). 471 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES § 880 (1833). 472 United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. 385 (1990). 473 Twin City National Bank v. Nebeker, 167 U.S. 196 (1897).

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road companies a specified sum for the elimination of grade crossings and the construction of a railway station. 474 The substitution of a corporation tax for an inheritance tax, 475 and the addition of a section imposing an excise tax upon the use of foreign-built pleasure yachts, 476 have been held to be within the Senate’s constitutional power to propose amendments. Approval by the President The President is not restricted to signing a bill on a day when Congress is in session. 477 He may sign within ten days (Sundays excepted) after the bill is presented to him, even if that period extends beyond the date of the final adjournment of Congress. 478 His duty in case of approval of a measure is merely to sign it. He need not write on the bill the word ‘‘approved’’ nor the date. If no date appears on the face of the roll, the Court may ascertain the fact by resort to any source of information capable of furnishing a satisfactory answer. 479 A bill becomes a law on the date of its approval by the President. 480 When no time is fixed by the act it is effective from the date of its approval, 481 which usually is taken to be the first moment of the day, fractions of a day being disregarded. 482 The Veto Power The veto provisions, the Supreme Court has told us, serve two functions. On the one hand, they ensure that ‘‘the President shall have suitable opportunity to consider the bills presented to him. ... It is to safeguard the President’s opportunity that Paragraph 2 of § 7 of Article I provides that bills which he does not approve shall not become law if the adjournment of the Congress prevents their return.’’ 483 At the same time, the sections ensure ‘‘that the Congress shall have suitable opportunity to consider his objections to bills and on such consideration to pass them over his veto provided there are the requisite votes.’’ 484 The Court asserted that ‘‘[w]e 474 Millard

v. Roberts, 202 U.S. 429 (1906). v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U.S. 107, 143 (1911). 476 Rainey v. United States, 232 U.S. 310 (1914). 477 La Abra Silver Mining Co. v. United States, 175 U.S. 423, 453 (1899). 478 Edwards v. United States, 286 U.S. 482 (1932). On one occasion in 1936, delay in presentation of a bill enabled the President to sign it 23 days after the adjournment of Congress. Schmeckebier, Approval of Bills After Adjournment of Congress, 33 AM. POL. SCI. REV. 52–53 (1939). 479 Gardner v. Collector, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 499 (1868). 480 73 U.S. at 504. See also Burgess v. Salmon, 97 U.S. 381, 383 (1878). 481 Matthews v. Zane, 20 U.S. (7 Wheat.) 164, 211 (1822). 482 Lapeyre v. United States, 84 U.S. (17 Wall.) 191, 198 (1873). 483 Wright v. United States, 302 U. S. 583, 596 (1938). 484 302 U.S. at 596. 475 Flint

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should not adopt a construction which would frustrate either of these purposes.’’ 485 In one major respect, however, the President’s actual desires may be frustrated by the presentation to him of omnibus bills or of bills containing extraneous riders. During the 1980s, on several occasions, Congress lumped all the appropriations for the operation of the Government into one gargantuan bill. But the President must sign or veto the entire bill; doing the former may mean he has to accept provisions he would not sign standing alone, and doing the latter may have other adverse consequences. Numerous Presidents from Grant on have unsuccessfully sought by constitutional amendment a ‘‘line-item veto’’ by which individual items in an appropriations bill or a substantive bill could be extracted and vetoed. More recently, beginning in the FDR Administration, it has been debated whether Congress could by statute authorize a form of the line-item veto, but, again, nothing passed. 486 That the interpretation of the provisions has not been entirely consistent is evident from a review of the only two Supreme Court decisions construing them. In The Pocket Veto Case, 487 the Court held that the return of a bill to the Senate, where it originated, had been prevented when the Congress adjourned its first session sine die fewer than ten days after presenting the bill to the President. The word ‘‘adjournment’’ was seen to have been used in the Constitution not in the sense of final adjournments but to any occasion on which a House of Congress is not in session. ‘‘We think that under the constitutional provision the determinative question in reference to an ‘adjournment’ is not whether it is a final adjournment of Congress or an interim adjournment, such as an adjournment of the first session, but whether it is one that ‘prevents’ the President from returning the bill to the House in which it originated within the time allowed.’’ 488 Because neither House was in session to receive the bill, the President was prevented from returning it. It had been argued to the Court that the return may be validly accomplished to a proper agent of the house of origin for consideration when that body convenes. After first noting that Con485 Id. 486 See Line Item Veto: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, 99th Cong., 1st sess. (1985), esp. 10–20 (CRS memoranda detailing the issues). Some publicists have even contended, through a strained interpretation of clause 3, actually from its intended purpose to prevent Congress from subverting the veto power by calling a bill by some other name, that the President already possesses the line-item veto, but no President could be brought to test the thesis. See Pork Barrels and Principles - The Politics of the Presidential Veto, (Natl.Legal Center for the Public Interest, 19–8) (collecting essays). 487 279 U.S. 655 (1929). 488 279 U.S. at 680.

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gress had never authorized an agent to receive bills during adjournment, the Court opined that ‘‘delivery of the bill to such officer or agent, even if authorized by Congress itself, would not comply with the constitutional mandate.’’ 489 However, in Wright v. United States, 490 the Court held that the President’s return of a bill on the tenth day after presentment, during a three-day adjournment by the originating House only, to the Secretary of the Senate was an effective return. In the first place, the Court thought, the pocket veto clause referred only to an adjournment of ‘‘the Congress,’’ and here only the Senate, the originating body, had adjourned. The President can return the bill to the originating House if that body be in an intrasession adjournment, because there is no ‘‘practical difficulty’’ in effectuating the return. ‘‘The organization of the Senate continued and was intact. The Secretary of the Senate was functioning and was able to receive, and did receive the bill.’’ 491 Such a procedure complied with the constitutional provisions. ‘‘The Constitution does not define what shall constitute a return of a bill or deny the use of appropriate agencies in effecting the return.’’ 492 The concerns activating the Court in The Pocket Veto Case were not present. There was no indefinite period in which a bill was in a state of suspended animation with public uncertainty over the outcome. ‘‘When there is nothing but such a temporary recess the organization of the House and its appropriate officers continue to function without interruption, the bill is properly safeguarded for a very limited time and is promptly reported and may be reconsidered immediately after the short recess is over.’’ 493 The tension between the two cases, even though at a certain level of generality they are consistent because of factual differences, has existed without the Supreme Court yet having occasion to review the issue again. But in Kennedy v. Sampson, 494 an 489 279

U.S. at 684. U.S. 583 (1938). 491 302 U.S. at 589–90. 492 302 U.S. at 589. 493 302 U.S. at 595. 494 511 F. 2d 430 (D.C. Cir. 1974). The Administration declined to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The adjournment here was for five days. Subsequently, the President attempted to pocket veto two other bills, one during a 32 day recess and one during the period which Congress had adjourned sine die from the first to the second session of the 93d Congress. After renewed litigation, the Administration entered its consent to a judgment that both bills had become law, Kennedy v. Jones, Civil Action No. 74–194 (D.D.C., decree entered April 13, 1976), and it was announced that President Ford ‘‘will use the return veto rather than the pocket veto during intra-session and intersession recesses and adjournments of the Congress’’, provided that the House to which the bill must be returned has authorized an officer to receive vetoes during the period it is not in session. President Reagan repudi490 302

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appellate court held that a return is not prevented by an intrasession adjournment of any length by one or both Houses of Congress, so long as the originating House arranged for receipt of veto messages. The court stressed that the absence of the evils deemed to bottom the Court’s premises in The Pocket Veto Case— long delay and public uncertainty—made possible the result. The two-thirds vote of each House required to pass a bill over a veto means two-thirds of a quorum. 495 After a bill becomes law, of course, the President has no authority to repeal it. Asserting this truism, the Court in The Confiscation Cases 496 held that the immunity proclamation issued by the President in 1868 did not require reversal of a decree condemning property seized under the Confiscation Act of 1862. 497 Presentation of Resolutions Concerned that Congress might endeavor to evade the veto clause by designating a measure having legislative import as something other than a bill, the Framers inserted cl. 3. 498 Obviously, if construed literally, the clause could have bogged down the intermediate stages of the legislative process, and Congress made practical adjustments regarding it. On the request of the Senate, the Judiciary Committee in 1897 published a comprehensive report detailing how the clause had been interpreted over the years, and in the same manner it is treated today. Briefly, it was shown that the word ‘‘necessary’’ in the clause had come to refer to the necessity required by the Constitution of law-making; that is, any ‘‘order, resolution, or vote’’ if it is to have the force of law must be submitted. But ‘‘votes’’ taken in either House preliminary to the final passage of legislation need not be submitted to the other House or to the President nor must resolutions passed by the Houses concurrently expressing merely the views of Congress. 499 Also, it was settled as early as 1789 that resolutions of Congress proposing amendments to the Constitution need not be submitted to the President, the Bill of Rights having been referred to the States without being ated this agreement and vetoed a bill during an intersession adjournment. Although the lower court applied Kennedy v. Sampson to strike down the exercise of the power, but the case was mooted prior to Supreme Court review. Barnes v. Kline, 759 F.2d 21 (D.C. Cir. 1985), vacated and remanded to dismiss sub nom. Burke v. Barnes, 479 U.S. 361 (1987). 495 Missouri Pacific Ry. v. Kansas, 248 U.S. 276 (1919). 496 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 92 (1874). 497 12 Stat. 589 (1862). 498 See 2 M. FARRAND, THE RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787 (rev. ed. 1937), 301–302, 304–305. 499 S. Rep. No. 1335, 54th Congress, 2d Sess.; 4 HINDS’ PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES § 3483 (1907).

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laid before President Washington for his approval—a procedure the Court ratified in due course. 500 The Legislative Veto.—Beginning in the 1930s, the concurrent resolution (as well as the simple resolution) was put to a new use—serving as the instrument to terminate powers delegated to the Chief Executive or to disapprove particular exercises of power by him or his agents. The ‘‘legislative veto’’ or ‘‘congressional veto’’ was first developed in context of the delegation to the Executive of power to reorganize governmental agencies, 501 and was really furthered by the necessities of providing for national security and foreign affairs immediately prior to and during World War II. 502 The proliferation of ‘‘congressional veto’’ provisions in legislation over the years raised a series of interrelated constitutional questions. 503 Congress until relatively recently had applied the veto provisions to some action taken by the President or another executive officer—such as a reorganization of an agency, the lowering or raising of tariff rates, the disposal of federal property—then began expanding the device to give itself a negative over regulations issued by executive branch agencies, and proposals were made to give Congress a negative over all regulations issued by executive branch independent agencies. 504 500 Hollingsworth

v. Virginia, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 378 (1798). of June 30, 1932, § 407, 47 Stat. 414. 502 See, e.g., Lend Lease Act of March 11, 1941, 55 Stat. 31; First War Powers Act of December 18, 1941, 55 Stat. 838; Emergency Price Control Act of January 30, 1942, 56 Stat. 23; Stabilization Act of October 2, 1942, 56 Stat. 765; War Labor Disputes Act of June 25, 1943, 57 Stat. 163, all providing that the powers granted to the President should come to an end upon adoption of concurrent resolutions to that effect. 503 From 1932 to 1983, by one count, nearly 300 separate provisions giving Congress power to halt or overturn executive action had been passed in nearly 200 acts; substantially more than half of these had been enacted since 1970. A partial listing was included in The Constitution, Jefferson’s Manual and Rules of the House of Representatives, H. Doc. No. 96–398, 96th Congress, 2d Sess. (1981), 731–922. A more up-to-date listing, in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, is contained in H. Doc. No. 101–256, 101st Cong., 2d sess. (1991), 907–1054. Justice White’s dissent in INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 968–974, 1003–1013 (1983), describes and lists many kinds of such vetoes. The types of provisions varied widely. Many required congressional approval before an executive action took effect, but more commonly they provided for a negative upon executive action, by concurrent resolution of both Houses, by resolution of only one House, or even by a committee of one House. 504 A bill providing for this failed to receive the two-thirds vote required to pass under suspension of the rules by only three votes in the 94th Congress. H.R. 12048, 94th Congress, 2d sess. See H. Rep. No. 94–1014, 94th Congress, 2d sess. (1976), and 122 CONG. REC. 31615–641, 31668. Considered extensively in the 95th and 96th Congresses, similar bills were not adopted. See Regulatory Reform and Congressional Review of Agency Rules: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Rules of the House of the House Rules Committee, 96th Congress, 1st sess. (1979); Regulatory Reform Legislation: Hearings Before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, 96th Congress, 1st sess. (1979). 501 Act

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In INS v. Chadha, 505 the Court held a one-House congressional veto to be unconstitutional as violating both the bicameralism principles reflected in Art. I, §§ 1 and 7, and the presentment provisions of § 7, cl. 2 and 3. The provision in question was § 244(c)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorized either House of Congress by resolution to veto the decision of the Attorney General to allow a particular deportable alien to remain in the country. The Court’s analysis of the presentment issue made clear, however, that two-House veto provisions, despite their compliance with bicameralism, and committee veto provisions suffer the same constitutional infirmity. 506 In the words of dissenting Justice White, the Court in Chadha ‘‘sound[ed] the death knell for nearly 200 other statutory provisions in which Congress has reserved a ‘legislative veto.’’’ 507 In determining that veto of the Attorney General’s decision on suspension of deportation was a legislative action requiring presentment to the President for approval or veto, the Court set forth the general standard. ‘‘Whether actions taken by either House are, in law and in fact, an exercise of legislative power depends not on their form but upon ‘whether they contain matter which is properly to be regarded as legislative in its character and effect.’ [T]he action taken here . . . was essentially legislative,’’ the Court concluded, because ‘‘it had the purpose and effect of altering the legal rights, duties and relations of persons, including the Attorney General, Executive Branch officials and Chadha, all outside the legislative branch.’’ 508 The other major component of the Court’s reasoning in Chadha stemmed from its reading of the Constitution as making only ‘‘explicit and unambiguous’’ exceptions to the bicameralism and presentment requirements. Thus the House alone was given power of impeachment, and the Senate alone was given power to convict upon impeachment, to advise and consent to executive ap505 462

U.S. 919 (1983). after deciding Chadha, the Court removed any doubts on this score with summary affirmance of an appeals court’s invalidation of a two-House veto in Consumers Union v. FTC, 691 F.2d 575 (D.C. Cir. 1982), aff’d sub nom. Process Gas Consumers Group v. Consumer Energy Council, 463 U.S. 1216 (1983). Prior to Chadha, an appellate court in AFGE v. Pierce, 697 F.2d 303 (D.C. Cir. 1982), had voided a form of committee veto, a provision prohibiting the availability of certain funds for a particular purpose without the prior approval of the Committees on Appropriations. 507 Chadha, 462 U.S. at 967. Justice Powell concurred separately, asserting that Congress had violated separation of powers principles by assuming a judicial function in determining that a particular individual should be deported. Justice Powell therefore found it unnecessary to express his view on ‘‘the broader question of whether legislative vetoes are invalid under the Presentment Clauses.’’ Id. at 959. 508 462 U.S. at 952 (citation omitted). 506 Shortly

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pointments, and to advise and consent to treaties; similarly, the Congress may propose a constitutional amendment without the President’s approval, and each House is given autonomy over certain ‘‘internal matters,’’ e.g., judging the qualifications of its members. By implication then, exercises of legislative power not falling within any of these ‘‘narrow, explicit, and separately justified’’ exceptions must conform to the prescribed procedures: ‘‘passage by a majority of both Houses and presentment to the President.’’ 509 The breadth of the Court’s ruling in Chadha was evidenced in its 1986 decision in Bowsher v. Synar. 510 Among the rationales for holding the Deficit Control Act unconstitutional was the Court’s assertion that Congress had, in effect, retained control over executive action in a manner resembling a congressional veto. ‘‘[A]s Chadha makes clear, once Congress makes its choice in enacting legislation, its participation ends. Congress can thereafter control the execution of its enactment only indirectly—by passing new legislation.’’ 511 Congress had offended this principle by retaining removal authority over the Comptroller General, charged with executing important aspects of the Budget Act. That Chadha does not spell the end of some forms of the legislative veto is evident from events since 1983, which have seen the enactment of various devices, such as ‘‘report and wait’’ provisions and requirements for various consultative steps before action may be undertaken. But the decision has stymied the efforts in Congress to confine the discretion it confers through delegation by giving it a method of reviewing and if necessary voiding actions and rules promulgated after delegations. The Line Item Veto.—For more than a century, United States Presidents had sought the authority to strike out of appropriations bills particular items, to veto ‘‘line items’’ of money bills and sometimes legislative measures as well. Finally, in 1996, Congress approved and the President signed the Line Item Veto Act. 512 The law empowered the President, within five days of signing a bill, to ‘‘cancel in whole’’ spending items and targeted, defined tax benefits. In acting on this authority, the President was to determine that the cancellation of each item would ‘‘(i) reduce the Federal budget deficit; (ii) not impair any essential Government functions; and (iii) not harm the national interest.’’ 513 In Clinton v. City of New 509 462

U.S. at 955–56. U.S. 714 (1986). See also Metropolitan Washington Airports Auth. v. Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise, 501 U.S. 252 (1991). 511 Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714, 733 (1986). This position was developed at greater length in the concurring opinion of Justice Stevens. Id. at 736. 512 Pub. L. 104–130, 110 Stat. 1200, codified in part at 2 U.S.C. §§691–92. 513 Id. at § 691(a)(A). 510 478

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York, 514 the Court held the Act to be unconstitutional because it did not comply with the presentment clause. Although Congress in passing the Act considered itself to have been delegating power, 515 and although the dissenting Justices would have upheld the Act as a valid delegation, 516 the Court instead analyzed the statute under the presentment clause. In the Court’s view, the two bills from which the President subsequently struck items became law the moment the President signed them. His cancellations thus amended and in part repealed the two federal laws. Under its most immediate precedent, the Court continued, statutory repeals must conform to the presentment clauses’s ‘‘single, finely wrought and exhaustively considered, procedure’’ for enacting or repealing a law. 517 In no respect did the procedures in the Act comply with that clause, and in no way could they. The President was acting in a legislative capacity, altering a law in the manner prescribed, and legislation must, in the way Congress acted, be bicameral and be presented to the President after Congress acted. Nothing in the Constitution authorized the President to amend or repeal a statute unilaterally, and the Court could construe both constitutional silence and the historical practice over 200 years as ‘‘an express prohibition’’ of the President’s action. 518

SECTION 8.. Clause 1. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. POWER TO TAX AND SPEND Kinds of Taxes Permitted By the terms of the Constitution, the power of Congress to levy taxes is subject to but one exception and two qualifications. Articles exported from any State may not be taxed at all. Direct taxes must be levied by the rule of apportionment and indirect taxes by the rule of uniformity. The Court has emphasized the sweeping char514 524

U.S. 417(1998). H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 104–491, 104th Cong., 2d Sess., 15 (1996) (stating that the proposed law ‘‘delegates limited authority to the President’’). 516 524 U.S. at 453 (Justice Scalia concurring in part and dissenting in part); id. at 469 (Justice Breyer dissenting). 517 524 U.S. at 438–39 (citing and quoting INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 951 (1983)). 518 524 U.S. at 439. 515 E.g.,

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acter of this power by saying from time to time that it ‘‘reaches every subject,’’ 519 that it is ‘‘exhaustive’’ 520 or that it ‘‘embraces every conceivable power of taxation.’’ 521 Despite these generalizations, the power has been at times substantially curtailed by judicial decision with respect to the subject matter of taxation, the manner in which taxes are imposed, and the objects for which they may be levied. Decline of the Forbidden Subject Matter Test.—The Supreme Court has restored to Congress the power to tax most of the subject matter which had previously been withdrawn from its reach by judicial decision. The holding of Evans v. Gore 522 and Miles v. Graham 523 that the inclusion of the salaries received by federal judges in measuring the liability for a nondiscriminatory income tax violated the constitutional mandate that the compensation of such judges should not be diminished during their continuance in office was repudiated in O’Malley v. Woodrough. 524 The specific ruling of Collector v. Day 525 that the salary of a state officer is immune to federal income taxation also has been overruled. 526 But the principle underlying that decision—that Congress may not lay 519 License

Tax Cases, 72 U.S. (5 Wall.) 462, 471 (1867). v. Union Pacific R.R., 240 U.S. 1 (1916). U.S. at 12. 522 253 U.S. 245 (1920). 523 268 U.S. 501 (1925). 524 307 U.S. 277 (1939). 525 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 113 (1871). 526 Graves v. New York ex rel. O’Keefe, 306 U.S. 466 (1939). Collector v. Day was decided in 1871 while the country was still in the throes of Reconstruction. As noted by Chief Justice Stone in a footnote to his opinion in Helvering v. Gerhardt, 304 U.S. 405, 414 n.4 (1938), the Court had not determined how far the Civil War Amendments had broadened the federal power at the expense of the States, but the fact that the taxing power had recently been used with destructive effect upon notes issued by the state banks, Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 533 (1869), suggested the possibility of similar attacks upon the existence of the States themselves. Two years later, the Court took the logical step of holding that the federal income tax could not be imposed on income received by a municipal corporation from its investments. United States v. Railroad Co., 84 U.S. (17 Wall.) 322 (1873). A far-reaching extension of private immunity was granted in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895), where interest received by a private investor on state or municipal bonds was held to be exempt from federal taxation. (Though relegated to virtual desuetude, Pollock was not expressly overruled until South Carolina v. Baker, 485 U.S. 505 (1988)). As the apprehension of this era subsided, the doctrine of these cases was pushed into the background. It never received the same wide application as did McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819), in curbing the power of the States to tax operations or instrumentalities of the Federal Government. Only once since the turn of the century has the national taxing power been further narrowed in the name of dual federalism. In 1931 the Court held that a federal excise tax was inapplicable to the manufacture and sale to a municipal corporation of equipment for its police force. Indian Motorcycle v. United States, 283 U.S. 570 (1931). Justices Stone and Brandeis dissented from this decision, and it is doubtful whether it would be followed today. Cf. Massachusetts v. United States, 435 U.S. 444 (1978). 520 Brushaber 521 240

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a tax which would impair the sovereignty of the States—is still recognized as retaining some vitality. 527 Federal Taxation of State Interests.—In 1903 a succession tax upon a bequest to a municipality for public purposes was upheld on the ground that the tax was payable out of the estate before distribution to the legatee. Looking to form and not to substance, in disregard of the mandate of Brown v. Maryland, 528 a closely divided Court declined to ‘‘regard it as a tax upon the municipality, though it might operate incidentally to reduce the bequest by the amount of the tax.’’ 529 When South Carolina embarked upon the business of dispensing alcoholic beverages, its agents were held to be subject to the national internal revenue tax, the ground of the holding being that in 1787 such a business was not regarded as one of the ordinary functions of government. 530 Another decision marking a clear departure from the logic of Collector v. Day was Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 531 where the Court sustained an act of Congress taxing the privilege of doing business as a corporation, the tax being measured by the income. The argument that the tax imposed an unconstitutional burden on the exercise by a State of its reserved power to create corporate franchises was rejected, partly in consideration of the principle of national supremacy, and partly on the ground that the corporate franchises were private property. This case also qualified Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. to the extent of allowing interest on state bonds to be included in measuring the tax on the corporation. Subsequent cases have sustained an estate tax on the net estate of a decedent, including state bonds, 532 excise taxes on the transportation of merchandise in performance of a contract to sell and deliver it to a county, 533 on the importation of scientific apparatus by a state university, 534 on admissions to athletic contests sponsored by a state institution, the net proceeds of which were used to further its educational program, 535 and on admissions to recreational facilities operated on a nonprofit basis by a municipal 527 At least, if the various opinions in New York v. United States, 326 U.S. 572 (1946), retain force, and they may in view of (a later) New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), a commerce clause case rather than a tax case. 528 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 444 (1827). 529 Snyder v. Bettman, 190 U.S. 249, 254 (1903). 530 South Carolina v. United States, 199 U.S. 437 (1905). See also Ohio v. Helvering, 292 U.S. 360 (1934). 531 220 U.S. 107 (1911). 532 Greiner v. Lewellyn, 258 U.S. 384 (1922). 533 Wheeler Lumber Co. v. United States, 281 U.S. 572 (1930). 534 Board of Trustees v. United States, 289 U.S. 48 (1933). 535 Allen v. Regents, 304 U.S. 439 (1938).

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corporation. 536 Income derived by independent engineering contractors from the performance of state functions, 537 the compensation of trustees appointed to manage a street railway taken over and operated by a State, 538 profits derived from the sale of state bonds, 539 or from oil produced by lessees of state lands, 540 have all been held to be subject to federal taxation despite a possible economic burden on the State. In finally overruling Pollock, the Court stated that Pollock had ‘‘merely represented one application of the more general rule that neither the federal nor the state governments could tax income an individual directly derived from any contract with another government.’’ 541 That rule, the Court observed, had already been rejected in numerous decisions involving intergovernmental immunity. ‘‘We see no constitutional reason for treating persons who receive interest on governmental bonds differently than persons who receive income from other types of contracts with the government, and no tenable rationale for distinguishing the costs imposed on States by a tax on state bond interest from the costs imposed by a tax on the income from any other state contract.’’ 542 Scope of State Immunity From Federal Taxation.—Although there have been sharp differences of opinion among members of the Supreme Court in cases dealing with the tax immunity of state functions and instrumentalities, it has been stated that ‘‘all agree that not all of the former immunity is gone.’’ 543 Twice, the Court has made an effort to express its new point of view in a statement of general principles by which the right to such immunity shall be determined. However, the failure to muster a majority in concurrence with any single opinion in the latter case leaves the question very much in doubt. In Helvering v. Gerhardt, 544 where, without overruling Collector v. Day, it narrowed the immunity of salaries of state officers from federal income taxation, the Court announced ‘‘two guiding principles of limitation for holding the tax immunity of State instrumentalities to its proper function. The one, dependent upon the nature of the function being performed by the State or in its behalf, excludes from the immunity activities 536 Wilmette

Park Dist. v. Campbell, 338 U.S. 411 (1949). & Eddy v. Mitchell, 269 U.S. 514 (1926). 538 Helvering v. Powers, 293 U.S. 214 (1934). 539 Willcuts v. Bunn, 282 U.S. 216 (1931). 540 Helvering v. Producers Corp., 303 U.S. 376 (1938), overruling Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U.S. 393 (1932). 541 South Carolina v. Baker, 485 U.S. 505, 517 (1988). 542 485 U.S. at 524. 543 New York v. United States, 326 U.S. 572, 584 (1946) (concurring opinion of Justice Rutledge). 544 304 U.S. 405 (1938). 537 Metcalf

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thought not to be essential to the preservation of State governments even though the tax be collected from the State treasury. . . . The other principle, exemplified by those cases where the tax laid upon individuals affects the State only as the burden is passed on to it by the taxpayer, forbids recognition of the immunity when the burden on the State is so speculative and uncertain that if allowed it would restrict the federal taxing power without affording any corresponding tangible protection to the State government; even though the function be thought important enough to demand immunity from a tax upon the State itself, it is not necessarily protected from a tax which well may be substantially or entirely absorbed by private persons.’’ 545 The second attempt to formulate a general doctrine was made in New York v. United States, 546 where, on review of a judgment affirming the right of the United States to tax the sale of mineral waters taken from property owned and operated by the State of New York, the Court reconsidered the right of Congress to tax business enterprises carried on by the States. Justice Frankfurter, speaking for himself and Justice Rutledge, made the question of discrimination vel non against state activities the test of the validity of such a tax. They found ‘‘no restriction upon Congress to include the States in levying a tax exacted equally from private persons upon the same subject matter.’’ 547 In a concurring opinion in which Justices Reed, Murphy, and Burton joined, Chief Justice Stone rejected the criterion of discrimination. He repeated what he had said in an earlier case to the effect that ‘‘the limitation upon the taxing power of each, so far as it affects the other, must receive a practical construction which permits both to function with the minimum of interference each with the other; and that limitation cannot be so varied or extended as seriously to impair either the taxing power of the government imposing the tax . . . or the appropriate exercise of the functions of the government affected by it.’’ 548 Justices Douglas and Black dissented in an opinion written by the former on the ground that the decision disregarded the Tenth Amendment, placed ‘‘the sovereign States on the same plane as private citizens,’’ and made them ‘‘pay the Federal Government for the privilege of exercising powers of sovereignty guaranteed them by the Constitution.’’ 549 In a later case dealing with state immunity the Court sustained the tax on the second ground mentioned in 545 304

U.S. at 419–20. U.S. 572 (1946). 547 326 U.S. at 584. 548 326 at 589–90. 549 326 U.S. at 596. 546 326

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Helvering v. Gerhardt—that the burden of the tax was borne by private persons—and did not consider whether the function was one which the Federal Government might have taxed if the municipality had borne the burden of the exaction. 550 Articulation of the current approach may be found in South Carolina v. Baker. 551 The rules are ‘‘essentially the same’’ for federal immunity from state taxation and for state immunity from federal taxation, except that some state activities may be subject to direct federal taxation, while States may ‘‘never’’ tax the United States directly. Either government may tax private parties doing business with the other government, ‘‘even though the financial burden falls on the [other government], as long as the tax does not discriminate against the [other government] or those with which it deals.’’ 552 Thus, ‘‘the issue whether a nondiscriminatory federal tax might nonetheless violate state tax immunity does not even arise unless the Federal Government seeks to collect the tax directly from a State.’’ 553 Uniformity Requirement.—Whether a tax is to be apportioned among the States according to the census taken pursuant to Article I, § 2, or imposed uniformly throughout the United States depends upon its classification as direct or indirect. 554 The rule of uniformity for indirect taxes is easy to obey. It requires only that the subject matter of a levy be taxed at the same rate wherever found in the United States; or, as it is sometimes phrased, the uniformity required is ‘‘geographical,’’ not ‘‘intrinsic.’’ 555 Even the geographical limitation is a loose one, at least if United States v. Ptasynski 556 is followed. There, the Court upheld an exemption from a crude-oil windfall-profits tax of ‘‘Alaskan oil,’’ defined geographically to include oil produced in Alaska (or elsewhere) north of the Arctic Circle. What is prohibited, the Court said, is favoritism to particular States in the absence of valid bases of classification. Because Congress could have achieved the same result, allowing for severe climactic difficulties, through a classification tailored to the ‘‘disproportionate costs and difficulties . . . associated with extracting oil from this region,’’ 557 the fact that Congress described the exemption in geographic terms did not condemn the provision. 550 Wilmette Park Dist. v. Campbell, 338 U.S. 411 (1949). Cf. Massachusetts v. United States, 435 U.S. 444 (1978). 551 485 U.S. 505 (1988). 552 485 U.S. at 523. 553 485 U.S. at 524 n.14. 554 See also Article I, § 9, cl. 4. 555 LaBelle Iron Works v. United States, 256 U.S. 377 (1921); Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1 (1916); Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580 (1884). 556 462 U.S. 74 (1983). 557 462 U.S. at 85.

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The clause accordingly places no obstacle in the way of legislative classification for the purpose of taxation, nor in the way of what is called progressive taxation. 558 A taxing statute does not fail of the prescribed uniformity because its operation and incidence may be affected by differences in state laws. 559 A federal estate tax law which permitted deduction for a like tax paid to a State was not rendered invalid by the fact that one State levied no such tax. 560 The term ‘‘United States’’ in this clause refers only to the States of the Union, the District of Columbia, and incorporated territories. Congress is not bound by the rule of uniformity in framing tax measures for unincorporated territories. 561 Indeed, in Binns v. United States, 562 the Court sustained license taxes imposed by Congress but applicable only in Alaska, where the proceeds, although paid into the general fund of the Treasury, did not in fact equal the total cost of maintaining the territorial government. PURPOSES OF TAXATION Regulation by Taxation The discretion of Congress in selecting the objectives of taxation has also been held at times to be subject to limitations implied from the nature of the Federal System. Apart from matters that Congress is authorized to regulate, the national taxing power, it has been said, ‘‘reaches only existing subjects.’’ 563 Congress may tax any activity actually carried on, such as the business of accepting wagers, 564 regardless of whether it is permitted or prohibited by the laws of the United States 565 or by those of a State. 566 But so-called federal ‘‘licenses,’’ so far as they relate to trade within state limits, merely express, ‘‘the purpose of the government not to interfere . . . with the trade nominally licensed, if the required taxes are paid.’’ Whether the ‘‘licensed’’ trade shall be permitted at all is 558 Knowlton

v. Moore, 178 U.S. 41 (1900). v. Wiener, 326 U.S. 340 (1945); Riggs v. Del Drago, 317 U.S. 95 (1942); Phillips v. Commissioner, 283 U.S. 589 (1931); Poe v. Seaborn, 282 U.S. 101, 117 (1930). 560 Florida v. Mellon, 273 U.S. 12 (1927). 561 Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901). 562 194 U.S. 486 (1904). The Court recognized that Alaska was an incorporated territory but took the position that the situation in substance was the same as if the taxes had been directly imposed by a territorial legislature for the support of the local government. 563 License Tax Cases, 72 U.S. (5 Wall.) 462, 471 (1867). 564 United States v. Kahriger, 345 U.S. 22 (1953). Dissenting, Justice Frankfurter maintained that this was not a bona fide tax, but was essentially an effort to check, if not stamp out, professional gambling, an activity left to the responsibility of the States. Justices Jackson and Douglas noted partial agreement with this conclusion. See also Lewis v. United States, 348 U.S. 419 (1955). 565 United States v. Yuginovich, 256 U.S. 450 (1921). 566 United States v. Constantine, 296 U.S. 287, 293 (1935). 559 Fernandez

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a question for decision by the State. 567 This, nevertheless, does not signify that Congress may not often regulate to some extent a business within a State in order to tax it more effectively. Under the necessary-and-proper clause, Congress may do this very thing. Not only has the Court sustained regulations concerning the packaging of taxed articles such as tobacco 568 and oleomargarine, 569 ostensibly designed to prevent fraud in the collection of the tax, it has also upheld measures taxing drugs 570 and firearms, 571 which prescribed rigorous restrictions under which such articles could be sold or transferred, and imposed heavy penalties upon persons dealing with them in any other way. These regulations were sustained as conducive to the efficient collection of the tax though they clearly transcended in some respects this ground of justification. 572 Extermination by Taxation A problem of a different order is presented where the tax itself has the effect of suppressing an activity or where it is coupled with regulations that clearly have no possible relation to the collection of the tax. Where a tax is imposed unconditionally, so that no other purpose appears on the face of the statute, the Court has refused to inquire into the motives of the lawmakers and has sustained the tax despite its prohibitive proportions. 573 ‘‘It is beyond serious question that a tax does not cease to be valid merely because it regulates, discourages, or even definitely deters the activities taxed. . . . The principle applies even though the revenue obtained is obviously negligible . . . or the revenue purpose of the tax may be secondary. . . . Nor does a tax statute necessarily fall because it touches on activities which Congress might not otherwise regulate. As was pointed out in Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U.S. 40, 47 (1934): ‘From the beginning of our government, the courts have sustained taxes although imposed with the collateral intent of effecting ulterior ends which, considered apart, were beyond the constitutional 567 License

Tax Cases, 72 U.S. (5 Wall.) 462, 471 (1867). v. United States, 186 U.S. 126 (1902). 569 In re Kollock, 165 U.S. 526 (1897). 570 United States v. Doremus, 249 U.S. 86 (1919). Cf. Nigro v. United States, 276 U.S. 332 (1928). 571 Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506 (1937). 572 Without casting doubt on the ability of Congress to regulate or punish through its taxing power, the Court has overruled Kahriger, Lewis, Doremus, Sonzinsky, and similar cases on the ground that the statutory scheme compelled self-incrimination through registration. Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. 39 (1968); Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62 (1968); Haynes v. United States, 390 U.S. 85 (1968); Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6 (1969). 573 McCray v. United States, 195 U.S. 27 (1904). 568 Felsenheld

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power of the lawmakers to realize by legislation directly addressed to their accomplishments.’’’ 574 But where the tax is conditional, and may be avoided by compliance with regulations set out in the statute, the validity of the measure is determined by the power of Congress to regulate the subject matter. If the regulations are within the competence of Congress, apart from its power to tax, the exaction is sustained as an appropriate sanction for making them effective; 575 otherwise it is invalid. 576 During the Prohibition Era, Congress levied a heavy tax upon liquor dealers who operated in violation of state law. In United States v. Constantine, 577 the Court held that this tax was unenforceable after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, since the National Government had no power to impose an additional penalty for infractions of state law. Promotion of Business: Protective Tariff The earliest examples of taxes levied with a view to promoting desired economic objectives in addition to raising revenue were, of course, import duties. The second statute adopted by the first Congress was a tariff act reciting that ‘‘it is necessary for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures, that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandise imported.’’ 578 After being debated for nearly a century and a half, the constitutionality of protective tariffs was finally settled by the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in J. W. Hampton & Co. v. United States, 579 where Chief Justice Taft wrote: ‘‘The second objection to §315 is that the declared plan of Congress, either expressly or by clear implication, formulates its rule to guide the President and his advisory Tariff Commission as one directed to a tariff system of protection that will avoid damaging competition to the country’s industries by the importation of goods from other countries at too low a rate to equalize foreign and domestic competition in the markets of the United States. It is contended that the only power of Congress in the levying of customs duties is to create revenue, and that 574 United States v. Sanchez, 340 U.S. 42, 44 (1950). See also Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506, 513–514 (1937). 575 Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381, 383 (1940). See also Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580, 596 (1884). 576 Child Labor Tax Case (Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.), 259 U.S. 20 (1922); Hill v. Wallace, 259 U.S. 44 (1922); Helwig v. United States, 188 U.S. 605 (1903). 577 296 U.S. 287 (1935). 578 1 Stat. 24 (1789). 579 276 U.S. 394 (1928).

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it is unconstitutional to frame the customs duties with any other view than that of revenue raising.’’ The Chief Justice then observed that the first Congress in 1789 had enacted a protective tariff. ‘‘In this first Congress sat many members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. This Court has repeatedly laid down the principle that a contemporaneous legislative exposition of the Constitution when the founders of our Government and framers of our Constitution were actively participating in public affairs, long acquiesced in, fixes the construction to be given its provisions. . . . The enactment and enforcement of a number of customs revenue laws drawn with a motive of maintaining a system of protection, since the revenue law of 1789, are matters of history. . . . Whatever we may think of the wisdom of a protection policy, we cannot hold it unconstitutional. So long as the motive of Congress and the effect of its legislative action are to secure revenue for the benefit of the general government, the existence of other motives in the selection of the subject of taxes cannot invalidate Congressional action.’’ 580 SPENDING FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE Scope of the Power The grant of power to ‘‘provide ... for the general welfare’’ raises a two-fold question: how may Congress provide for ‘‘the general welfare’’ and what is ‘‘the general welfare’’ that it is authorized to promote? The first half of this question was answered by Thomas Jefferson in his opinion on the Bank as follows: ‘‘[T]he laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They [Congress] are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the welfare of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose.’’ 581 The clause, in short, is not an independent grant of power, but a qualification of the taxing power. Although a broader view has been occasionally asserted, 582 Congress has not acted upon it and the Court has had no occasion to adjudicate the point. With respect to the meaning of ‘‘the general welfare’’ the pages of The Federalist itself disclose a sharp divergence of views between its two principal authors. Hamilton adopted the literal, 580 276

U.S. at 411–12. WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 147–149 (Library Edition, 1904). 582 See W. CROSSKEY, POLITICS AND THE CONSTITUTION IN THE HISTORY UNITED STATES (1953). 581 3

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broad meaning of the clause; 583 Madison contended that the powers of taxation and appropriation of the proposed government should be regarded as merely instrumental to its remaining powers, in other words, as little more than a power of self-support. 584 From an early date Congress has acted upon the interpretation espoused by Hamilton. Appropriations for subsidies 585 and for an ever increasing variety of ‘‘internal improvements’’ 586 constructed by the Federal Government, had their beginnings in the administrations of Washington and Jefferson. 587 Since 1914, federal grants-in-aid, sums of money apportioned among the States for particular uses, often conditioned upon the duplication of the sums by the recipient State, and upon observance of stipulated restrictions as to its use, have become commonplace. The scope of the national spending power was brought before the Supreme Court at least five times prior to 1936, but the Court disposed of four of the suits without construing the ‘‘general welfare’’ clause. In the Pacific Railway Cases 588 and Smith v. Kansas City Title Co., 589 it affirmed the power of Congress to construct internal improvements, and to charter and purchase the capital stock of federal land banks, by reference to its powers over commerce, post roads, and fiscal operations, and to its war powers. Decisions on the merits were withheld in two other cases, Massachusetts v. Mellon and Frothingham v. Mellon, 590 on the ground that neither a State nor an individual citizen is entitled to a remedy in the courts against an alleged unconstitutional appropriation of national funds. In United States v. Gettysburg Electric Railway, 591 however, the Court had invoked ‘‘the great power of taxation to be exercised for the common defence and general welfare’’ 592 to sustain the 583 THE

FEDERALIST, Nos. 30 and 34 (J. Cooke ed. 1961) 187–193, 209–215. at No. 41, 268–78. 585 1 Stat. 229 (1792). 586 2 Stat. 357 (1806). 587 In an advisory opinion, which it rendered for President Monroe at his request on the power of Congress to appropriate funds for public improvements, the Court answered that such appropriations might be properly made under the war and postal powers. See Albertsworth, Advisory Functions in the Supreme Court, 23 GEO. L. J. 643, 644–647 (1935). Monroe himself ultimately adopted the broadest view of the spending power, from which, however, he carefully excluded any element of regulatory or police power. See his Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements, of May 4, 1822, 2 MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS 713–752 (Richardson ed., 1906). 588 California v. Pacific R.R., 127 U.S. 1 (188). 589 255 U.S. 180 (1921). 590 262 U.S. 447 (1923). See also Alabama Power Co. v. Ickes, 302 U.S. 464 (1938). These cases were limited by Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968). 591 160 U.S. 668 (1896). 592 160 U.S. at 681. 584 Id.

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right of the Federal Government to acquire land within a State for use as a national park. Finally, in United States v. Butler, 593 the Court gave its unqualified endorsement to Hamilton’s views on the taxing power. Wrote Justice Roberts for the Court: ‘‘Since the foundation of the Nation sharp differences of opinion have persisted as to the true interpretation of the phrase. Madison asserted it amounted to no more than a reference to the other powers enumerated in the subsequent clauses of the same section; that, as the United States is a government of limited and enumerated powers, the grant of power to tax and spend for the general national welfare must be confined to the numerated legislative fields committed to the Congress. In this view the phrase is mere tautology, for taxation and appropriation are or may be necessary incidents of the exercise of any of the enumerated legislative powers. Hamilton, on the other hand, maintained the clause confers a power separate and distinct from those later enumerated, is not restricted in meaning by the grant of them, and Congress consequently has a substantive power to tax and to appropriate, limited only by the requirement that it shall be exercised to provide for the general welfare of the United States. Each contention has had the support of those whose views are entitled to weight. This court had noticed the question, but has never found it necessary to decide which is the true construction. Justice Story, in his Commentaries, espouses the Hamiltonian position. We shall not review the writings of public men and commentators or discuss the legislative practice. Study of all these leads us to conclude that the reading advocated by Justice Story is the correct one. While, therefore, the power to tax is not unlimited, its confines are set in the clause which confers it, and not in those of § 8 which bestow and define the legislative powers of the Congress. It results that the power of Congress to authorize expenditure of public moneys for public purposes is not limited by the direct grants of legislative power found in the Constitution.’’ 594 By and large, it is for Congress to determine what constitutes the ‘‘general welfare.’’ The Court accords great deference to Congress’s decision that a spending program advances the general welfare, 595 and has even questioned whether the restriction is judi593 297

U.S. 1 (1936). See also Cleveland v. United States, 323 U.S. 329 (1945). States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 65, 66 (1936). So settled had the issue become that 1970s attacks on federal grants-in-aid omitted any challenge on the broad level and relied on specific prohibitions, i.e., the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968); Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 672 (1971). 595 Id. at 207 (citing Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619, 640, 645 (1937)). 594 United

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cially enforceable. 596 Dispute, such as it is, turns on the conditioning of funds. Social Security Act Cases.—Although holding that the spending power is not limited by the specific grants of power contained in Article I, § 8, the Court found, nevertheless, that it was qualified by the Tenth Amendment, and on this ground ruled in the Butler case that Congress could not use moneys raised by taxation to ‘‘purchase compliance’’ with regulations ‘‘of matters of State concern with respect to which Congress has no authority to interfere.’’ 597 Within little more than a year this decision was reduced to narrow proportions by Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 598 which sustained the tax imposed on employers to provide unemployment benefits, and the credit allowed for similar taxes paid to a State. To the argument that the tax and credit in combination were ‘‘weapons of coercion, destroying or impairing the autonomy of the States,’’ the Court replied that relief of unemployment was a legitimate object of federal expenditure under the ‘‘general welfare’’ clause, that the Social Security Act represented a legitimate attempt to solve the problem by the cooperation of State and Federal Governments, that the credit allowed for state taxes bore a reasonable relation ‘‘to the fiscal need subserved by the tax in its normal operation,’’ 599 since state unemployment compensation payments would relieve the burden for direct relief borne by the national treasury. The Court reserved judgment as to the validity of a tax ‘‘if it is laid upon the condition that a State may escape its operation through the adoption of a statute unrelated in subject matter to activities fairly within the scope of national policy and power.’’ 600 Conditional Grants-in-Aid.—It was not until 1947 that the right of Congress to impose conditions upon grants-in-aid over the objection of a State was squarely presented. 601 The Court upheld 596 Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 90–91 (1976); South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 207 n.2 (1987). 597 Justice Stone, speaking for himself and two other Justices, dissented on the ground that Congress was entitled when spending the national revenues for the ‘‘general welfare’’ to see to it that the country got its money’s worth thereof, and that the condemned provisions were ‘‘necessary and proper’’ to that end. United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 84–86 (1936). 598 301 U.S. 548 (1937). 599 301 U.S. at 591. 600 301 U.S. at 590. See also Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 90–92 (1976); Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 473–475 (1980); Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1 (1981). 601 In the Steward Machine Company case, it was a taxpayer who complained of the invasion of state sovereignty, and the Court put great emphasis on the fact that the State was a willing partner in the plan of cooperation embodied in the Social Security Act. 301 U.S. 548, 589, 590 (1937).

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Congress’s power to do so in Oklahoma v. Civil Service Commission. 602 The State objected to the enforcement of a provision of the Hatch Act that reduced its allotment of federal highway funds because of its failure to remove from office a member of the State Highway Commission found to have taken an active part in party politics while in office. The Court denied relief on the ground that, ‘‘[w]hile the United States is not concerned with, and has no power to regulate local political activities as such of State officials, it does have power to fix the terms upon which its money allotments to states shall be disbursed. . . . The end sought by Congress through the Hatch Act is better public service by requiring those who administer funds for national needs to abstain from active political partisanship. So even though the action taken by Congress does have effect upon certain activities within the State, it has never been thought that such effect made the federal act invalid.’’ 603 The general principle is firmly established. ‘‘Congress has frequently employed the Spending Power to further broad policy objectives by conditioning receipt of federal moneys upon compliance by the recipient with federal statutory and administrative directives. This Court has repeatedly upheld against constitutional challenge the use of this technique to induce governments and private parties to cooperate voluntarily with federal policy.’’ 604 The Court has set forth several standards purporting to channel Congress’s discretion in attaching grant conditions. 605 To date no statutes have been struck down as violating these standards, although several statutes have been interpreted so as to conform to the guiding principles. First, the conditions, like the spending itself, must advance the general welfare, but the determination of what constitutes the general welfare rests largely if not wholly with Congress. 606 Second, because a grant is ‘‘much in the nature of a contract’’ offer that the States may accept or reject, 607 Congress must set out the conditions unambiguously, so that the 602 330

U.S. 127 (1947). U.S. 127, 143 (1947). 604 Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 474 (1980) (Chief Justice Burger announcing judgment of the Court). The Chief Justice cited five cases to document the assertion: California Bankers Ass’n v. Shultz, 416 U.S. 21 (1974); Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974); Oklahoma v. Civil Service Comm’n, 330 U.S. 127 (1947); Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937); and Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937). 605 See South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 207–12 (1987). 606 483 U.S. at 207 (1987). See discussion under Scope of the Power, supra. 607 Barnes v. Gorman, 122 S. Ct. 2097, 2100 (2002) (holding that neither the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 nor section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 subjected states to punitive damages in private actions). 603 330

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States may make an informed decision. 608 Third, the Court continues to state that the conditions must be related to the federal interest for which the funds are expended, 609 but it has never found a spending condition deficient under this part of the test. 610 Fourth, the power to condition funds may not be used to induce the States to engage in activities that would themselves be unconstitutional. 611 Fifth, the Court has suggested that in some circumstances the financial inducement offered by Congress might be so coercive as to pass the point at which ‘‘pressure turns into compulsion,’’ 612 but again the Court has never found a congressional condition to be coercive in this sense. 613 Certain federalism restraints on other federal powers seem not to be relevant to spending conditions. 614 If a State accepts federal funds on conditions and then fails to follow the requirements, the usual remedy is federal administrative action to terminate the funding and to recoup funds the State has already received. 615 While the Court has allowed beneficiaries of conditional grant programs to sue to compel states to comply with the federal conditions, 616 more recently the Court has required that 608 South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. at 207 (1987). The requirement appeared in Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 17 (1981). See also Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 246-47 (1985) (Rehabilitation Act does not clearly signal states that participation in programs funded by Act constitutes waiver of immunity from suit in federal court); Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 122 S. Ct. 2268 (2002) (no private right of action was created by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). 609 South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 207–208 (1987). See Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548, 590 (1937); Ivanhoe Irrigation Dist. v. McCracken, 357 U.S. 275, 295 (1958). 610 The relationship in South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 208–09 (1987), in which Congress conditioned access to certain highway funds on establishing a 21– years-of-age drinking qualification was that the purpose of both funds and condition was safe interstate travel. The federal interest in Oklahoma v. Civil Service Comm’n, 330 U.S. 127, 143 (1947), as we have noted, was assuring proper administration of federal highway funds. 611 South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 210–11 (1987). 612 Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548, 589–590 (1937); South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 211–212 (1987). 613 See North Carolina ex rel. Morrow v. Califano, 445 F. Supp. 532 (E.D.N.C. 1977) (three-judge court), aff’d 435 U.S. 962 (1978). 614 South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 210 (1987) (referring to the Tenth Amendment: ‘‘the ‘independent constitutional bar’ limitation on the spending power is not . . . a prohibition on the indirect achievement of objectives which Congress is not empowered to achieve directly’’). 615 Bell v. New Jersey, 461 U.S. 773 (1983); Bennett v. New Jersey, 470 U.S. 632 (1985); Bennett v. Kentucky Dep’t of Education, 470 U.S. 656 (1985). 616 E.g., King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309 (1968); Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397 (1970); Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974); Miller v. Youakim, 440 U.S. 125 (1979). Suits may be brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, see Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1 (1980), although in some instances the statutory conferral of rights may be too imprecise or vague for judicial enforcement. Compare Suter v. Artist M., 503 U.S. 347

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any such susceptibility to suit be clearly spelled out so that states will be informed of potential consequences of accepting aid. Finally, it should be noted that Congress has enacted a range of laws forbidding discrimination in federal assistance programs, 617 and some of these laws are enforceable against the states. 618 Earmarked Funds.—The appropriation of the proceeds of a tax to a specific use does not affect the validity of the exaction, if the general welfare is advanced and no other constitutional provision is violated. Thus a processing tax on coconut oil was sustained despite the fact that the tax collected upon oil of Philippine production was segregated and paid into the Philippine Treasury. 619 In Helvering v. Davis, 620 the excise tax on employers, the proceeds of which were not earmarked in any way, although intended to provide funds for payments to retired workers, was upheld under the ‘‘general welfare’’ clause, the Tenth Amendment being found to be inapplicable. Debts of the United States.—The power to pay the debts of the United States is broad enough to include claims of citizens arising on obligations of right and justice. 621 The Court sustained an act of Congress which set apart for the use of the Philippine Islands, the revenue from a processing tax on coconut oil of Philippine production, as being in pursuance of a moral obligation to protect and promote the welfare of the people of the Islands. 622 Curiously enough, this power was first invoked to assist the United States to collect a debt due to it. In United States v. Fisher, 623 the Supreme Court sustained a statute which gave the Federal Government priority in the distribution of the estates of its insolvent debtors. The debtor in that case was the endorser of a foreign bill of exchange that apparently had been purchased by the United States. Invoking the ‘‘necessary and proper’’ clause, Chief Justice Marshall deduced the power to collect a debt from the power to pay (1992), with Wright v. Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Auth., 479 U.S. 418 (1987). 617 E.g., Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d; Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681; Title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794. 618 Here the principal constraint is the Eleventh Amendment. See, e.g., Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (2001) (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 exceeds congressional power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, and violates the Eleventh Amendment, by subjecting states to suits brought by state employees in federal courts to collect money damages). 619 Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States, 301 U.S. 308 (1937). 620 301 U.S. 619 (1937). 621 United States v. Realty Co., 163 U.S. 427 (1896); Pope v. United States, 323 U.S. 1, 9 (1944). 622 Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States, 301 U.S. 308 (1937). 623 6 U.S. (2 Cr.) 358 (1805).

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its obligations by the following reasoning: ‘‘The government is to pay the debt of the Union, and must be authorized to use the means which appear to itself most eligible to effect that object. It has, consequently, a right to make remittances by bills or otherwise, and to take those precautions which will render the transaction safe.’’ 624

Clause 2. The Congress shall have Power *** To borrow Money on the credit of the United States. BORROWING POWER The original draft of the Constitution reported to the convention by its Committee of Detail empowered Congress ‘‘To borrow money and emit bills on the credit of the United States.’’ 625 When this section was reached in the debates, Gouverneur Morris moved to strike out the clause ‘‘and emit bills on the credit of the United States.’’ Madison suggested that it might be sufficient ‘‘to prohibit the making them a tender.’’ After a spirited exchange of views on the subject of paper money, the convention voted, nine States to two, to delete the words ‘‘and emit bills.’’ 626 Nevertheless, in 1870, the Court relied in part upon this clause in holding that Congress had authority to issue treasury notes and to make them legal tender in satisfaction of antecedent debts. 627 When it borrows money ‘‘on the credit of the United States,’’ Congress creates a binding obligation to pay the debt as stipulated and cannot thereafter vary the terms of its agreement. A law purporting to abrogate a clause in government bonds calling for payment in gold coin was held to contravene this clause, although the creditor was denied a remedy in the absence of a showing of actual damage. 628

Clause 3. The Congress shall have Power *** To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. 624 6

U.S. at 396. M. FARRAND, THE RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787 144, 308–309 (rev. ed. 1937). 626 Id. at 310. 627 Knox v. Lee (Legal Tender Cases), 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 457 (1871), overruling Hepburn v. Griswold, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 603 (1870). 628 Perry v. United States, 294 U.S. 330, 351 (1935). See also Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571 (1934). 625 2

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POWER TO REGULATE COMMERCE Purposes Served by the Grant This clause serves a two-fold purpose: it is the direct source of the most important powers that the Federal Government exercises in peacetime, and, except for the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, it is the most important limitation imposed by the Constitution on the exercise of state power. The latter, restrictive operation of the clause was long the more important one from the point of view of the constitutional lawyer. Of the approximately 1400 cases which reached the Supreme Court under the clause prior to 1900, the overwhelming proportion stemmed from state legislation. 629 The result was that, generally, the guiding lines in construction of the clause were initially laid down in the context of curbing state power rather than in that of its operation as a source of national power. The consequence of this historical progression was that the word ‘‘commerce’’ came to dominate the clause while the word ‘‘regulate’’ remained in the background. The so-called ‘‘constitutional revolution’’ of the 1930s, however, brought the latter word to its present prominence. Definition of Terms Commerce.—The etymology of the word ‘‘commerce’’ 630 carries the primary meaning of traffic, of transporting goods across state lines for sale. This possibly narrow constitutional conception was rejected by Chief Justice Marshall in Gibbons v. Ogden, 631 which remains one of the seminal cases dealing with the Constitution. The case arose because of a monopoly granted by the New York legislature on the operation of steam-propelled vessels on its waters, a monopoly challenged by Gibbons, who transported passengers from New Jersey to New York pursuant to privileges granted by an act of Congress. 632 The New York monopoly was not in conflict with the congressional regulation of commerce, argued the monopolists, because the vessels carried only passengers between the two States and were thus not engaged in traffic, in ‘‘commerce’’ in the constitutional sense. 629 E.

PRENTICE & J. EGAN, THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITU14 (1898). 630 That is, ‘‘cum merce (with merchandise).’’ 631 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824). 632 Act of February 18, 1793, 1 Stat. 305, entitled ‘‘An Act for enrolling and licensing ships or vessels to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, and for regulating the same.’’

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‘‘The subject to be regulated is commerce,’’ the Chief Justice wrote. ‘‘The counsel for the appellee would limit it to traffic, to buying and selling, or the interchange of commodities, and do not admit that it comprehends navigation. This would restrict a general term, applicable to many objects, to one of its significations. Commerce, undoubtedly, is traffic, but it is something more—it is intercourse.’’ 633 The term, therefore, included navigation, a conclusion that Marshall also supported by appeal to general understanding, to the prohibition in Article I, § 9, against any preference being given ‘‘by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another,’’ and to the admitted and demonstrated power of Congress to impose embargoes. 634 Marshall qualified the word ‘‘intercourse’’ with the word ‘‘commercial,’’ thus retaining the element of monetary transactions. 635 But, today, ‘‘commerce’’ in the constitutional sense, and hence ‘‘interstate commerce,’’ covers every species of movement of persons and things, whether for profit or not, across state lines, 636 every species of communication, every species of transmission of intelligence, whether for commercial purposes or otherwise, 637 every species of commercial negotiation which will involve sooner or later an act of transportation of persons or things, or the flow of services or power, across state lines. 638 There was a long period in the Court’s history when a majority of the Justices, seeking to curb the regulatory powers of the Federal Government by various means, held that certain things were not encompassed by the commerce clause because they were either not interstate commerce or bore no sufficient nexus to interstate commerce. Thus, at one time, the Court held that mining or manufacturing, even when the product would move in interstate commerce, was not reachable under the commerce clause; 639 it held in633 Gibbons

v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 189 (1824). U.S. at 190–94. 635 22 U.S. at 193. 636 As we will see, however, in many later formulations the crossing of state lines is no longer the sine qua non; wholly intrastate transactions with substantial effects on interstate commerce may suffice. 637 E.g., United States v. Simpson, 252 U.S. 465 (1920); Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 (1917). 638 ‘‘Not only, then, may transactions be commerce though non-commercial; they may be commerce though illegal and sporadic, and though they do not utilize common carriers or concern the flow of anything more tangible than electrons and information.’’ United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Ass’n, 322 U.S. 533, 549–550 (1944). 639 Kidd v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1 (1888); Oliver Iron Co. v. Lord, 262 U.S. 172 (1923); United States v. E. C. Knight Co., 156 U.S. 1 (1895); and see Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936). 634 22

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surance transactions carried on across state lines not commerce, 640 and that exhibitions of baseball between professional teams that travel from State to State were not in commerce, 641 and that similarly the commerce clause was not applicable to the making of contracts for the insertion of advertisements in periodicals in another State 642 or to the making of contracts for personal services to be rendered in another State. 643 Later decisions either have overturned or have undermined all of these holdings. The gathering of news by a press association and its transmission to client newspapers are interstate commerce. 644 The activities of a Group Health Association, which serves only its own members, are ‘‘trade’’ and capable of becoming interstate commerce; 645 the business of insurance when transacted between an insurer and an insured in different States is interstate commerce. 646 But most important of all there was the development of, or more accurately the return to, 647 the rationales by which manufacturing, 648 mining, 649 business transactions, 650 and the like, which are antecedent to or subse640 Paul v. Virginia, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 168 (1869); and see the cases to this effect cited in United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Ass’n, 322 U.S. 533, 543–545, 567–568, 578 (1944). 641 Federal Baseball League v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200 (1922). When called on to reconsider its decision, the Court declined, noting that Congress had not seen fit to bring the business under the antitrust laws by legislation having prospective effect and that the business had developed under the understanding that it was not subject to these laws, a reversal of which would have retroactive effect. Toolson v. New York Yankees, 346 U.S. 356 (1953). In Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972), the Court recognized these decisions as aberrations, but it thought the doctrine entitled to the benefits of stare decisis inasmuch as Congress was free to change it at any time. The same considerations not being present, the Court has held that businesses conducted on a multistate basis but built around local exhibitions, are in commerce and subject to, inter alia, the antitrust laws, in the instance of professional football, Radovich v. National Football League, 352 U.S. 445 (1957), professional boxing, United States v. International Boxing Club, 348 U.S. 236 (1955), and legitimate theatrical productions. United States v. Shubert, 348 U.S. 222 (1955). 642 Blumenstock Bros. v. Curtis Pub. Co., 252 U.S. 436 (1920). 643 Williams v. Fears, 179 U.S. 270 (1900). See also Diamond Glue Co. v. United States Glue Co., 187 U.S. 611 (1903); Browning v. City of Waycross, 233 U.S. 16 (1914); General Railway Signal Co. v. Virginia, 246 U.S. 500 (1918). But see York Manufacturing Co. v. Colley, 247 U.S. 21 (1918). 644 Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1 (1945). 645 American Medical Ass’n v. United States, 317 U.S. 519 (1943). Cf. United States v. Oregon Medical Society, 343 U.S. 326 (1952). 646 United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Ass’n, 322 U.S. 533 (1944). 647 ‘‘It has been truly said, that commerce, as the word is used in the constitution, is a unit, every part of which is indicated by the term.’’ Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 194 (1824). And see id. at 195–196. 648 NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937). 649 Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381 (1940). And see Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Ass’n, 452 U. S. 264, 275–283 (1981). See also Mulford v. Smith, 307 U.S. 38 (1939) (agricultural production). 650 Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375 (1905); Stafford v. Wallace, 258 U.S. 495 (1922); Chicago Board of Trade v. Olsen, 262 U.S. 1 (1923).

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quent to a move across state lines, are conceived to be part of an integrated commercial whole and therefore subject to the reach of the commerce power. Among the Several States.—Continuing in Gibbons v. Ogden, Chief Justice Marshall observed that the phrase ‘‘among the several States’’ was ‘‘not one which would probably have been selected to indicate the completely interior traffic of a state.’’ It must therefore have been selected to demark ‘‘the exclusively internal commerce of a state.’’ While, of course, the phrase ‘‘may very properly be restricted to that commerce which concerns more states than one,’’ it is obvious that ‘‘[c]ommerce among the states, cannot stop at the exterior boundary line of each state, but may be introduced into the interior.’’ The Chief Justice then succinctly stated the rule, which, though restricted in some periods, continues to govern the interpretation of the clause. ‘‘The genius and character of the whole government seem to be, that its action is to be applied to all the external concerns of the nation, and to those internal concerns which affect the states generally; but not to those which are completely within a particular state, which do not affect other states, and with which it is not necessary to interfere, for the purpose of executing some of the general powers of the government.’’ 651 Recognition of an ‘‘exclusively internal’’ commerce of a State, or ‘‘intrastate commerce’’ in today’s terms, was at times regarded as setting out an area of state concern that Congress was precluded from reaching. 652 While these cases seemingly visualized Congress’ power arising only when there was an actual crossing of state boundaries, this view ignored Marshall’s equation of ‘‘intrastate commerce’’ which ‘‘affect[s] other states’’ or ‘‘with which it is necessary to interfere’’ in order to effectuate congressional power with those actions which are ‘‘purely’’ interstate. This equation came back into its own, both with the Court’s stress on the ‘‘current of commerce’’ bringing each element in the current within Congress’ regulatory power, 653 with the emphasis on the interrelationships of industrial production to interstate commerce 654 but especially with the emphasis that even minor transactions have an effect on inter651 22

U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 194, 195 (1824). York v. Miln, 36 U.S. (11 Pet.) 102 (1837); License Cases, 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504 (1847); Passenger Cases, 48 U.S. (7 How.) 283 (1849); Patterson v. Kentucky, 97 U.S. 501 (1879); Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82 (1879); Kidd v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1 (1888); Illinois Central R.R. v. McKendree, 203 U.S. 514 (1906); Keller v. United States, 213 U.S. 138 (1909); Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918); Oliver Iron Co. v. Lord, 262 U.S. 172 (1923). 653 Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375 (1905); Stafford v. Wallace, 258 U.S. 495 (1922); Chicago Board of Trade v. Olsen, 262 U.S. 1 (1923). 654 NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937). 652 New

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state commerce 655 and that the cumulative effect of many minor transactions with no separate effect on interstate commerce, when they are viewed as a class, may be sufficient to merit congressional regulation. 656 ‘‘Commerce among the states must, of necessity, be commerce with[in] the states. . . . The power of congress, then, whatever it may be, must be exercised within the territorial jurisdiction of the several states.’’ 657 Regulate.—‘‘We are now arrived at the inquiry—’’ continued the Chief Justice, ‘‘What is this power? It is the power to regulate; that is, to prescribe the rule by which commerce is to be governed. This power, like all others vested in congress, is complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations, other than are prescribed in the constitution . . . If, as has always been understood, the sovereignty of congress, though limited to specified objects, is plenary as to those objects, the power over commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, is vested in congress as absolutely as it would be in a single government, having in its constitution the same restrictions on the exercise of the power as are found in the constitution of the United States.’’ 658 Of course, the power to regulate commerce is the power to prescribe conditions and rules for the carrying-on of commercial transactions, the keeping-free of channels of commerce, the regulating of prices and terms of sale. Even if the clause granted only this 655 NLRB v. Fainblatt, 306 U.S. 601 (1939); Kirschbaum v. Walling, 316 U.S. 517 (1942); United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110 (1942); Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942); NLRB v. Reliance Fuel Oil Co., 371 U.S. 224 (1963); Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964); Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183 (1968); McLain v. Real Estate Bd. of New Orleans, 444 U.S. 232, 241–243 (1980); Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Ass’n, 452 U.S. 264 (1981). 656 United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100 (1941); Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964); Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183 (1968); Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 (1971); Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858 (1985); Summit Health, Ltd. v. Pinhas, 500 U.S. 322 (1991). 657 Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 196 (1824). Commerce ‘‘among the several States’’ does not comprise commerce of the District of Columbia nor of the territories of the United States. Congress’ power over their commerce is an incident of its general power over them. Stoutenburgh v. Hennick, 129 U.S. 141 (1889); Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers v. United States, 286 U.S. 427 (1932); In re Bryant, 4 Fed. Cas. 514 (No. 2067) (D. Oreg. 1865). Transportation between two points in the same State, when a part of the route is a loop outside the State, is interstate commerce. Hanley v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co., 187 U.S. 617 (1903); Western Union Tel. Co. v. Speight, 254 U.S. 17 (1920). But such a deviation cannot be solely for the purpose of evading a tax or regulation in order to be exempt from the State’s reach. Greyhound Lines v. Mealey, 334 U.S. 653, 660 (1948); Eichholz v. Public Service Comm’n, 306 U.S. 268, 274 (1939). Red cap services performed at a transfer point within the State of departure but in conjunction with an interstate trip are reachable. New York, N.H. & H. R.R. v. Nothnagle, 346 U.S. 128 (1953). 658 Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 196–197 (1824).

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power, the scope would be wide, but it extends to include many more purposes than these. ‘‘Congress can certainly regulate interstate commerce to the extent of forbidding and punishing the use of such commerce as an agency to promote immorality, dishonesty, or the spread of any evil or harm to the people of other states from the state of origin. In doing this, it is merely exercising the police power, for the benefit of the public, within the field of interstate commerce.’’ 659 Thus, in upholding a federal statute prohibiting the shipment in interstate commerce of goods made with child labor, not because the goods were intrinsically harmful but in order to extirpate child labor, the Court said: ‘‘It is no objection to the assertion of the power to regulate commerce that its exercise is attended by the same incidents which attend the exercise of the police power of the states.’’ 660 The power has been exercised to enforce majority conceptions of morality, 661 to ban racial discrimination in public accommodations, 662 and to protect the public against evils both natural and contrived by people. 663 The power to regulate interstate commerce is, therefore, rightly regarded as the most potent grant of authority in § 8. Necessary and Proper Clause.—All grants of power to Congress in § 8, as elsewhere, must be read in conjunction with the final clause, cl. 18, of § 8, which authorizes Congress ‘‘[t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing powers.’’ It will be recalled that Chief Justice Marshall alluded to the power thus enhanced by this clause when he said that the regulatory power did not extend ‘‘to those internal concerns [of a state] . . . with which it is not necessary to interfere, for the purpose of executing some of the general powers of the government.’’ 664 There are numerous cases permitting Congress to reach ‘‘purely’’ intrastate activities on the theory, combined with the previously mentioned emphasis on the cumulative effect of minor transactions, that it is necessary to regulate them in order 659 Brooks

v. United States, 267 U.S. 432, 436–437 (1925). States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 114 (1941). 661 E.g., Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 (1917) (transportation of female across state line for noncommercial sexual purposes); Cleveland v. United States, 329 U.S. 14 (1946) (transportation of plural wives across state lines by Mormons); United States v. Simpson, 252 U.S. 465 (1920) (transportation of five quarts of whiskey across state line for personal consumption). 662 Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964); Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964); Daniel v. Paul, 395 U.S. 298 (1969). 663 E.g., Reid v. Colorado, 187 U.S. 137 (1902) (transportation of diseased livestock across state line); Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 (1971) (prohibition of all loansharking). 664 Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 195 (1824). 660 United

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that the regulation of interstate activities might be fully effectuated. 665 Federalism Limits on Exercise of Commerce Power.—As is recounted below, prior to reconsideration of the federal commerce power in the 1930s, the Court in effect followed a doctrine of ‘‘dual federalism,’’ under which Congress’ power to regulate much activity depended on whether it had a ‘‘direct’’ rather than an ‘‘indirect’’ effect on interstate commerce. 666 When the restrictive interpretation was swept away during and after the New Deal, the question of federalism limits respecting congressional regulation of private activities became moot. However, the States did in a number of instances engage in commercial activities that would be regulated by federal legislation if the enterprise were privately owned; the Court easily sustained application of federal law to these state proprietary activities. 667 However, as Congress began to extend regulation to state governmental activities, the judicial response was inconsistent and wavering. 668 While the Court may shift again to constrain federal power on federalism grounds, at the present time the rule is that Congress lacks authority under the commerce clause to regulate the States as States in some circumstances, when the federal statutory provisions reach only the States and do not bring the States under laws of general applicability. 669 Illegal Commerce That Congress’ protective power over interstate commerce reaches all kinds of obstructions and impediments was made clear in United States v. Ferger. 670 The defendants had been indicted for 665 E.g., Houston & Texas Ry. v. United States, 234 U.S. 342 (1914) (necessary for ICC to regulate rates of an intrastate train in order to effectuate its rate setting for a competing interstate train); Wisconsin R.R. Comm’n v. Chicago, B. & Q. R.R., 257 U.S. 563 (1922) (same); Southern Ry. v. United States, 222 U.S. 20 (1911) (upholding requirement of same safety equipment on intrastate as interstate trains). See also Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942); United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110 (1942). 666 E.g., United States v. E. C. Knight Co., 156 U.S. 1 (1895); Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918). Of course, there existed much of this time a parallel doctrine under which federal power was not so limited. E.g., Houston & Texas Ry. v. United States (The Shreveport Rate Case), 234 U.S. 342 (1914). 667 E.g., California v. United States, 320 U.S. 577 (1944); California v. Taylor, 353 U.S. 553 (1957). 668 For example, federal regulation of the wages and hours of certain state and local governmental employees has alternatively been upheld and invalidated. See Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183 (1968), overruled in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976), overruled in Garcia v. San Antonio Metro. Transit Auth., 469 U.S. 528 (1985). 669 New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992). See also Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997). For elaboration, see the discussions under the supremacy clause and under the Tenth Amendment. 670 250 U.S. 199 (1919).

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issuing a false bill of lading to cover a fictitious shipment in interstate commerce. Before the Court they argued that inasmuch as there could be no commerce in a fraudulent bill of lading, Congress had no power to exercise criminal jurisdiction over them. Said Chief Justice White: ‘‘But this mistakenly assumes that the power of Congress is to be necessarily tested by the intrinsic existence of commerce in the particular subject dealt with, instead of by the relation of that subject to commerce and its effect upon it. We say mistakenly assumes, because we think it clear that if the proposition were sustained it would destroy the power of Congress to regulate, as obviously that power, if it is to exist, must include the authority to deal with obstructions to interstate commerce . . . and with a host of other acts which, because of their relation to and influence upon interstate commerce, come within the power of Congress to regulate, although they are not interstate commerce in and of themselves.’’ 671 Much of Congress’ criminal legislation is based simply on the crossing of a state line as creating federal jurisdiction. 672 Interstate Versus Foreign Commerce There are certain dicta urging or suggesting that Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce restrictively is less than its analogous power over foreign commerce, the argument being that whereas the latter is a branch of the Nation’s unlimited power over foreign relations, the former was conferred upon the National Government primarily in order to protect freedom of commerce from state interference. The four dissenting Justices in the Lottery Case endorsed this view in the following words: ‘‘The power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and the power to regulate interstate commerce, are to be taken diverso intuitu, for the latter was intended to secure equality and freedom in commercial intercourse as between the States, not to permit the creation of impediments to such intercourse; while the former clothed Congress with that power over international commerce, pertaining to a sovereign nation in its intercourse with foreign nations, and subject, gen671 250

U.S. at 203. Hoke v. United States, 227 U.S. 308 (1913) (transportation of women for purposes of prostitution); Gooch v. United States, 297 U.S. 124 (1936) (kidnapping); Brooks v. United States, 267 U.S. 432 (1925) (stolen autos). For example, in Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977), the Court upheld a conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon upon a mere showing that the gun had sometime previously traveled in interstate commerce, and Barrett v. United States, 423 U.S. 212 (1976), upheld a conviction for receipt of a firearm on the same showing. The Court does require Congress in these cases to speak plainly in order to reach such activity, inasmuch as historic state police powers are involved. United States v. Bass, 404 U.S. 336 (1971). 672 E.g.,

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erally speaking, to no implied or reserved power in the States. The laws which would be necessary and proper in the one case would not be necessary or proper in the other.’’ 673 And twelve years later Chief Justice White, speaking for the Court, expressed the same view, as follows: ‘‘In the argument reference is made to decisions of this court dealing with the subject of the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, but the very postulate upon which the authority of Congress to absolutely prohibit foreign importations as expounded by the decisions of this court rests is the broad distinction which exists between the two powers and therefore the cases cited and many more which might be cited announcing the principles which they uphold have obviously no relation to the question in hand.’’ 674 But dicta to the contrary are much more numerous and span a far longer period of time. Thus Chief Justice Taney wrote in 1847: ‘‘The power to regulate commerce among the several States is granted to Congress in the same clause, and by the same words, as the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and is coextensive with it.’’ 675 And nearly fifty years later, Justice Field, speaking for the Court, said: ‘‘The power to regulate commerce among the several States was granted to Congress in terms as absolute as is the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations.’’ 676 Today it is firmly established doctrine that the power to regulate commerce, whether with foreign nations or among the several States, comprises the power to restrain or prohibit it at all times for the welfare of the public, provided only that the specific limitations imposed upon Congress’ powers, as by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, are not transgressed. 677 Instruments of Commerce The applicability of Congress’ power to the agents and instruments of commerce is implied in Marshall’s opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden, 678 where the waters of the State of New York in their quality as highways of interstate and foreign transportation were held to be governed by the overriding power of Congress. Likewise, the same opinion recognizes that in ‘‘the progress of things,’’ new and 673 Lottery

Case (Champion v. Ames), 188 U.S. 321, 373–374 (1903). v. United States, 236 U.S. 216, 222 (1915). The most recent dicta to this effect appears in Japan Line v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U.S. 434, 448–451 (1979), a ‘‘dormant’’ commerce clause case involving state taxation with an impact on foreign commerce. In context, the distinction seems unexceptionable, but the language extends beyond context. 675 License Cases, 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504, 578 (1847). 676 Pittsburgh & Southern Coal Co. v. Bates, 156 U.S. 577, 587 (1895). 677 United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144, 147–148 (1938). 678 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 217, 221 (1824). 674 Brolan

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other instruments of commerce will make their appearance. When the Licensing Act of 1793 was passed, the only craft to which it could apply were sailing vessels, but it and the power by which it was enacted were, Marshall asserted, indifferent to the ‘‘principle’’ by which vessels were moved. Its provisions therefore reached steam vessels as well. A little over half a century later the principle embodied in this holding was given its classic expression in the opinion of Chief Justice Waite in the case of the Pensacola Telegraph Co. v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 679 a case closely paralleling Gibbons v. Ogden in other respects also. ‘‘The powers thus granted are not confined to the instrumentalities of commerce, or the postal service known or in use when the Constitution was adopted, but they keep pace with the progress of the country, and adapt themselves to the new developments of times and circumstances. They extend from the horse with its rider to the stagecoach, from the sailing-vessel to the steamboat, from the coach and the steamboat to the railroad, and from the railroad to the telegraph, as these new agencies are successively brought into use to meet the demands of increasing population and wealth. They were intended for the government of the business to which they relate, at all times and under all circumstances. As they were intrusted to the general government for the good of the nation, it is not only the right, but the duty, of Congress to see to it that intercourse among the States and the transmission of intelligence are not obstructed or unnecessarily encumbered by State legislation.’’ 680 The Radio Act of 1927 681 whereby ‘‘all forms of interstate and foreign radio transmissions within the United States, its Territories and possessions’’ were brought under national control, affords another illustration. Because of the doctrine thus stated, the measure met no serious constitutional challenge either on the floors of Congress or in the Courts. 682 679 96 U.S. 1 (1878). See also Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Texas, 105 U.S. 460 (1882). 680 96 U.S. at 9. ‘‘Commerce embraces appliances necessarily employed in carrying on transportation by land and water.’’ Railroad Co. v. Fuller, 84 U.S. (17 Wall.) 560, 568 (1873). 681 Act of March 28, 1927, 45 Stat. 373, superseded by the Communications Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1064, 47 U.S.C. §151 et seq. 682 ‘‘No question is presented as to the power of the Congress, in its regulation of interstate commerce, to regulate radio communication.’’ Chief Justice Hughes speaking for the Court in Federal Radio Comm’n v. Nelson Bros. Bond & Mortgage Co., 289 U.S. 266, 279 (1933). See also Fisher’s Blend Station v. Tax Comm’n, 297 U. S. 650, 654–655 (1936).

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Congressional Regulation of Waterways Navigation.—In Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co., 683 the Court granted an injunction requiring that a bridge erected over the Ohio River under a charter from the State of Virginia either be altered so as to admit of free navigation of the river or else be entirely abated. The decision was justified on the basis both of the commerce clause and of a compact between Virginia and Kentucky, whereby both these States had agreed to keep the Ohio River ‘‘free and common to the citizens of the United States.’’ The injunction was promptly rendered inoperative by an act of Congress declaring the bridge to be ‘‘a lawful structure’’ and requiring all vessels navigating the Ohio to be so regulated as not to interfere with it. 684 This act the Court sustained as within Congress’ power under the commerce clause, saying: ‘‘So far . . . as this bridge created an obstruction to the free navigation of the river, in view of the previous acts of Congress, they are to be regarded as modified by this subsequent legislation; and, although it still may be an obstruction in fact, [it] is not so in the contemplation of law. . . . [Congress] having in the exercise of this power, regulated the navigation consistent with its preservation and continuation, the authority to maintain it would seem to be complete. That authority combines the concurrent powers of both governments, State and federal, which, if not sufficient, certainly none can be found in our system of government.’’ 685 In short, it is Congress, and not the Court, which is authorized by the Constitution to regulate commerce. 686 The law and doctrine of the earlier cases with respect to the fostering and protection of navigation are well summed up in a frequently cited passage from the Court’s opinion in Gilman v. Philadelphia. 687 ‘‘Commerce includes navigation. The power to regulate commerce comprehends the control for that purpose, and to the extent necessary, of all the navigable waters of the United States which are accessible from a State other than those in which they 683 54

U.S. (13 How.) 518 (1852). 111, §6, 10 Stat 112 (1852). 685 Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co., 59 U.S. (18 How.) 421, 430 (1856). ‘‘It is Congress, and not the Judicial Department, to which the Constitution has given the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States. The courts can never take the initiative on this subject.’’ Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg, 107 U.S. 691, 701 (1883). See also Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin, 328 U.S. 408 (1946); Robertson v. California, 328 U.S. 440 (1946). 686 But see In re Debs, 158 U.S. 564 (1895), in which the Court held that in the absence of legislative authorization the Executive had power to seek and federal courts to grant injunctive relief to remove obstructions to interstate commerce and the free flow of the mail. 687 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 713 (1866). 684 Ch.

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lie. For this purpose they are the public property of the nation, and subject to all requisite legislation by Congress. This necessarily includes the power to keep them open and free from any obstruction to their navigation, interposed by the States or otherwise; to remove such obstructions when they exist; and to provide, by such sanctions as they may deem proper, against the occurrence of the evil and for the punishment of offenders. For these purposes, Congress possesses all the powers which existed in the States before the adoption of the national Constitution, and which have always existed in the Parliament in England.’’ 688 Thus, Congress was within its powers in vesting the Secretary of War with power to determine whether a structure of any nature in or over a navigable stream is an obstruction to navigation and to order its abatement if he so finds. 689 Nor is the United States required to compensate the owners of such structures for their loss, since they were always subject to the servitude represented by Congress’ powers over commerce, and the same is true of the property of riparian owners that is damaged. 690 And while it was formerly held that lands adjoining nonnavigable streams were not subject to the above mentioned servitude, 691 this rule has been impaired by recent decisions; 692 and at any rate it would not apply as to a stream rendered navigable by improvements. 693 In exercising its power to foster and protect navigation, Congress legislates primarily on things external to the act of navigation. But that act itself and the instruments by which it is accom688 70

U.S. at 724–25. Bridge Co. v. United States, 204 U.S. 364 (1907). See also Monongahela Bridge Co. v. United States, 216 U.S. 177 (1910); Wisconsin v. Illinois, 278 U.S. 367 (1929). The United States may seek injunctive or declaratory relief requiring the removal of obstructions to commerce by those negligently responsible for them or it may itself remove the obstructions and proceed against the responsible party for costs. United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482 (1960); Wyandotte Transportation Co. v. United States, 389 U.S. 191 (1967). Congress’ power in this area is newly demonstrated by legislation aimed at pollution and environmental degradation. In confirming the title of the States to certain waters under the Submerged Lands Act, 67 Stat. 29 (1953), 43 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq., Congress was careful to retain authority over the waters for purposes of commerce, navigation, and the like. United States v. Rands, 389 U.S. 121, 127 (1967). 690 Gibson v. United States, 166 U.S. 269 (1897). See also Bridge Co. v. United States, 105 U.S. 470 (1882); United States v. Rio Grande Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690 (1899); United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Co., 229 U.S. 53 (1913); Seattle v. Oregon & W.R.R., 255 U.S. 56, 63 (1921); Economy Light Co. v. United States, 256 U.S. 113 (1921); United States v. River Rouge Co., 269 U.S. 411, 419 (1926); Ford & Son v. Little Falls Co., 280 U.S. 369 (1930); United States v. Commodore Park, 324 U.S. 386 (1945); United States v. Twin City Power Co., 350 U.S. 222 (1956); United States v. Rands, 389 U.S. 121 (1967). 691 United States v. Cress, 243 U.S. 316 (1917). 692 United States v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P.R.R., 312 U.S. 592, 597 (1941); United States v. Willow River Co., 324 U.S. 499 (1945). 693 United States v. Rio Grande Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690 (1899). 689 Union

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plished are also subject to Congress’ power if and when they enter into or form a part of ‘‘commerce among the several States.’’ When does this happen? Words quoted above from the Court’s opinion in the Gilman case answered this question to some extent; but the decisive answer to it was returned five years later in the case of The Daniel Ball. 694 Here the question at issue was whether an act of Congress, passed in 1838 and amended in 1852, which required that steam vessels engaged in transporting passengers or merchandise upon the ‘‘bays, lakes, rivers, or other navigable waters of the United States,’’ applied to the case of a vessel that navigated only the waters of the Grand River, a stream lying entirely in the State of Michigan. The Court ruled: ‘‘In this case it is admitted that the steamer was engaged in shipping and transporting down Grand River, goods destined and marked for other States than Michigan, and in receiving and transporting up the river goods brought within the State from without its limits; . . . . So far as she was employed in transporting goods destined for other States, or goods brought from without the limits of Michigan and destined to places within that State, she was engaged in commerce between the States, and however limited that commerce may have been, she was, so far as it went, subject to the legislation of Congress. She was employed as an instrument of that commerce; for whenever a commodity has begun to move as an article of trade from one State to another, commerce in that commodity between the States has commenced.’’ 695 Counsel had suggested that if the vessel was in commerce because it was part of a stream of commerce then all transportation within a State was commerce. Turning to this point, the Court added: ‘‘We answer that the present case relates to transportation on the navigable waters of the United States, and we are not called upon to express an opinion upon the power of Congress over interstate commerce when carried on by land transportation. And we answer further, that we are unable to draw any clear and distinct line between the authority of Congress to regulate an agency employed in commerce between the States, when the agency extends through two or more States, and when it is confined in its action entirely within the limits of a single State. If its authority does not extend to an agency in such commerce, when that agency is confined within the limits of a State, its entire authority over interstate commerce may be defeated. Several agencies combining, each taking up the commodity transported at the boundary line at one end of a State, and leaving it at the boundary line at the other end, 694 77 695 77

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the federal jurisdiction would be entirely ousted, and the constitutional provision would become a dead letter.’’ 696 In short, it was admitted, inferentially, that the principle of the decision would apply to land transportation, but the actual demonstration of the fact still awaited some years. 697 Hydroelectric Power; Flood Control.—As a consequence, in part, of its power to forbid or remove obstructions to navigation in the navigable waters of the United States, Congress has acquired the right to develop hydroelectric power and the ancillary right to sell it to all takers. By a long-standing doctrine of constitutional law, the States possess dominion over the beds of all navigable streams within their borders, 698 but because of the servitude that Congress’ power to regulate commerce imposes upon such streams, the States, without the assent of Congress, practically are unable to utilize their prerogative for power development purposes. Sensing no doubt that controlling power to this end must be attributed to some government in the United States and that ‘‘in such matters there can be no divided empire,’’ 699 the Court held in United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Co., 700 that in constructing works for the improvement of the navigability of a stream, Congress was entitled, as part of a general plan, to authorize the lease or sale of such excess water power as might result from the conservation of the flow of the stream. ‘‘If the primary purpose is legitimate,’’ it said, ‘‘we can see no sound objection to leasing any excess of power over the 696 77 U.S. at 566. ‘‘The regulation of commerce implies as much control, as farreaching power, over an artificial as over a natural highway.’’ Justice Brewer for the Court in Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States, 148 U.S. 312, 342 (1893). 697 Congress had the right to confer upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate interstate ferry rates, N.Y. Central R.R. v. Hudson County, 227 U.S. 248 (1913), and to authorize the Commission to govern the towing of vessels between points in the same State but partly through waters of an adjoining State. Cornell Steamboat Co. v. United States, 321 U.S. 634 (1944). Congress’ power over navigation extends to persons furnishing wharfage, dock, warehouse, and other terminal facilities to a common carrier by water. Hence an order of the United States Maritime Commission banning certain allegedly ‘‘unreasonable practices’’ by terminals in the Port of San Francisco, and prescribing schedules of maximum free time periods and of minimum charges was constitutional. California v. United States, 320 U.S. 577 (1944). The same power also comprises regulation of the registry enrollment, license, and nationality of ships and vessels, the method of recording bills of sale and mortgages thereon, the rights and duties of seamen, the limitations of the responsibility of shipowners for the negligence and misconduct of their captains and crews, and many other things of a character truly maritime. See The Lottawanna, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 558, 577 (1875); Providence & N.Y. SS. Co. v. Hill Mfg. Co., 109 U.S. 578, 589 (1883); The Hamilton, 207 U.S. 398 (1907); O’Donnell v. Great Lakes Co., 318 U.S. 36 (1943). 698 Pollard v. Hagan, 44 U.S. (3 How.) 212 (1845); Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1 (1894). 699 Green Bay & Miss. Canal Co. v. Patten Paper Co., 172 U.S. 58, 80 (1898). 700 229 U.S. 53 (1913).

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needs of the Government. The practice is not unusual in respect to similar public works constructed by State governments.’’ 701 Since the Chandler-Dunbar case, the Court has come, in effect, to hold that it will sustain any act of Congress which purports to be for the improvement of navigation whatever other purposes it may also embody, nor does the stream involved have to be one ‘‘navigable in its natural state.’’ Such, at least, seems to be the sum of its holdings in Arizona v. California, 702 and United States v. Appalachian Power Co. 703 In the former, the Court, speaking through Justice Brandeis, said that it was not free to inquire into the motives ‘‘which induced members of Congress to enact the Boulder Canyon Project Act,’’ adding: ‘‘As the river is navigable and the means which the Act provides are not unrelated to the control of navigation . . . the erection and maintenance of such dam and reservoir are clearly within the powers conferred upon Congress. Whether the particular structures proposed are reasonably necessary, is not for this Court to determine. . . . And the fact that purposes other than navigation will also be served could not invalidate the exercise of the authority conferred, even if those other purposes would not alone have justified an exercise of congressional power.’’ 704 And in the Appalachian Power case, the Court, abandoning previous holdings laying down the doctrine that to be subject to Congress’ power to regulate commerce a stream must be ‘‘navigable in fact,’’ said: ‘‘A waterway, otherwise suitable for navigation, is not barred from that classification merely because artificial aids must make the highway suitable for use before commercial navigation may be undertaken,’’ provided there must be a ‘‘balance between cost and need at a time when the improvement would be useful. . . . Nor is it necessary that the improvements should be actually completed or even authorized. The power of Congress over commerce is not to be hampered because of the necessity for reasonable improvements to make an interstate waterway available for traffic. . . . Nor is it necessary for navigability that the use should be continuous. . . . Even absence of use over long periods of years, because of changed conditions, . . . does not affect the navigability of rivers in the constitutional sense.’’ 705 701 229 U.S. at 73, citing Kaukauna Water Power Co. v. Green Bay & Miss. Canal Co., 142 U.S. 254 (1891). 702 283 U.S. 423 (1931). 703 311 U.S. 377 (1940). 704 283 U.S. at 455–456. See also United States v. Twin City Power Co., 350 U.S. 222, 224 (1956). 705 311 U.S. at 407, 409–10.

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Furthermore, the Court defined the purposes for which Congress may regulate navigation in the broadest terms. ‘‘It cannot properly be said that the constitutional power of the United States over its waters is limited to control for navigation. . . . That authority is as broad as the needs of commerce. . . . Flood protection, watershed development, recovery of the cost of improvements through utilization of power are likewise parts of commerce control.’’ 706 These views the Court has since reiterated. 707 Nor is it by virtue of Congress’ power over navigation alone that the National Government may develop water power. Its war powers and powers of expenditure in furtherance of the common defense and the general welfare supplement its powers over commerce in this respect. 708 Congressional Regulation of Land Transportation Federal Stimulation of Land Transportation.—The settlement of the interior of the country led Congress to seek to facilitate access by first encouraging the construction of highways. In successive acts, it authorized construction of the Cumberland and the National Road from the Potomac across the Alleghenies to the Ohio, reserving certain public lands and revenues from land sales for construction of public roads to new States granted statehood. 709 Acquisition and settlement of California stimulated interest in railway lines to the west, but it was not until the Civil War that Congress voted aid in the construction of a line from the Missouri River to the Pacific; four years later, it chartered the Union Pacific Company. 710 The litigation growing out of these and subsequent activities settled several propositions. First, Congress may provide highways and railways for interstate transportation; 711 second, it may charter private corporations for that purpose; third, it may vest such corporations with the power of eminent domain in the States; and fourth, it may exempt their franchises from state taxation. 712 Federal Regulation of Land Transportation.—Congressional regulation of railroads may be said to have begun in 1866. 706 311

U.S. at 426. v. Atkinson Co., 313 U.S. 508, 523–33 passim (1941). 708 Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 297 U.S. 288 (1936). 709 Cf. Indiana v. United States, 148 U.S. 148 (1893). 710 12 Stat. 489 (1862); 13 Stat. 356 (1864); 14 Stat. 79 (1866). 711 The result then as well as now might have followed from Congress’ power of spending, independently of the commerce clause, as well as from its war and postal powers, which were also invoked by the Court in this connection. 712 Thomson v. Union Pacific R.R., 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) 579 (1870); California v. Pacific R.R. Co. (Pacific Ry. Cases), 127 U.S. 1 (1888); Cherokee Nation v. Southern Kansas Ry. Co., 135 U.S. 641 (1890); Luxton v. North River Bridge Co., 153 U.S. 525 (1894). 707 Oklahoma

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By the Garfield Act, Congress authorized all railroad companies operating by steam to interconnect with each other ‘‘so as to form continuous lines for the transportation of passengers, freight, troops, governmental supplies, and mails, to their destination.’’ 713 An act of the same year provided federal chartering and protection from conflicting state regulations to companies formed to construct and operate telegraph lines. 714 Another act regulated the transportation by railroad of livestock so as to preserve the health and safety of the animals. 715 Congress’ entry into the rate regulation field was preceded by state attempts to curb the abuses of the rail lines in the Middle West, which culminated in the ‘‘Granger Movement.’’ Because the businesses were locally owned, the Court at first upheld state laws as not constituting a burden on interstate commerce; 716 but after the various business panics of the 1870s and 1880s drove numerous small companies into bankruptcy and led to consolidation, there emerged great interstate systems. Thus in 1886, the Court held that a State may not set charges for carriage even within its own boundaries of goods brought from without the State or destined to points outside it; that power was exclusively with Congress. 717 In the following year, Congress passed the original Interstate Commerce Act. 718 A Commission was authorized to pass upon the ‘‘reasonableness’’ of all rates by railroads for the transportation of goods or persons in interstate commerce and to order the discontinuance of all charges found to be ‘‘unreasonable.’’ The Commission’s basic authority was upheld in ICC v. Brimson, 719 in which the Court upheld the validity of the Act as a means ‘‘necessary and proper’’ for the enforcement of the regulatory commerce power and in which it also sustained the Commission’s power to go to court to secure compliance with its orders. Later decisions circumscribed somewhat the ICC’s power. 720 713 14

Stat. 66 (1866). Stat. 221 (1866). Stat. 353 (1873). 716 Munn v. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113 (1877); Chicago B. & Q. R. Co. v. Iowa, 94 U.S. 155 (1877); Peik v. Chicago & Nw. Ry. Co., 94 U.S. 164 (1877); Pickard v. Pullman Southern Car Co., 117 U.S. 34 (1886). 717 Wabash, St. L. & P. Ry. Co. v. Illinois, 118 U.S. 557 (1886). A variety of state regulations have been struck down on the burdening-of-commerce rationale. E.g., Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, 325 U.S. 761 (1945) (train length); Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R., 272 U.S. 605 (1926) (locomotive accessories); Pennsylvania R.R. v. Public Service Comm’n, 250 U.S. 566 (1919). But the Court has largely exempted regulations with a safety purpose, even a questionable one. Brotherhood of Firemen v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 393 U.S. 129 (1968). 718 24 Stat. 379 (1887). 719 154 U.S. 447 (1894). 720 ICC v. Alabama Midland Ry., 168 U.S. 144 (1897); Cincinnati, N.O. & Texas Pacific Ry. v. ICC, 162 U.S. 184 (1896). 714 14 715 17

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Expansion of the Commission’s authority came in the Hepburn Act of 1906 721 and the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910. 722 By the former, the Commission was explicitly empowered, after a full hearing on a complaint, ‘‘to determine and prescribe just and reasonable’’ maximum rates; by the latter, it was authorized to set rates on its own initiative and empowered to suspend any increase in rates by a carrier until it reviewed the change. At the same time, the Commission’s jurisdiction was extended to telegraphs, telephones, and cables. 723 By the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, 724 the ICC was authorized to regulate the transportation of persons and property by motor vehicle common carriers. The modern powers of the Commission were largely defined by the Transportation Acts of 1920 725 and 1940. 726 The jurisdiction of the Commission covers not only the characteristics of the rail, motor, and water carriers in commerce among the States but also the issuance of securities by them and all consolidations of existing companies or lines. 727 Further, the Commission was charged with regulating so as to foster and promote the meeting of the transportation needs of the country. Thus, from a regulatory exercise originally begun as a method of restraint there has emerged a policy of encouraging a consistent national transportation policy. 728 721 34

Stat. 584 (1906). Stat. 539 (1910). 723 These regulatory powers are now vested, of course, in the Federal Communications Commission. 724 49 Stat. 543 (1935). 725 41 Stat. 474 (1920). 726 54 Stat. 898 (1940), U.S.C. § 1 et seq. The two acts were ‘‘intended . . . to provide a completely integrated interstate regulatory system over motor, railroad, and water carriers.’’ United States v. Pennsylvania R.R., 323 U.S. 612, 618–619 (1945). The ICC’s powers include authority to determine the reasonableness of a joint through international rate covering transportation in the United States and abroad and to order the domestic carriers to pay reparations in the amount by which the rate is unreasonable. Canada Packers v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry., 385 U.S. 182 (1966), and cases cited. 727 Disputes between the ICC and other Government agencies over mergers have occupied a good deal of the Court’s time. Cf. United States v. ICC, 396 U.S. 491 (1970). See also County of Marin v. United States, 356 U.S. 412 (1958); McLean Trucking Co. v. United States, 321 U.S. 67 (1944); Penn-Central Merger & N & W Inclusion Cases, 389 U.S. 486 (1968). 728 Among the various provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act which have been upheld are: a section penalizing shippers for obtaining transportation at less than published rates, Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 209 U.S. 56 (1908); a section construed as prohibiting the hauling of commodities in which the carrier had at the time of haul a proprietary interest, United States v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U.S. 366 (1909); a section abrogating life passes, Louisville & Nashville R.R. v. Mottley, 219 U.S. 467 (1911); a section authorizing the ICC to regulate the entire bookkeeping system of interstate carriers, including intrastate accounts, ICC v. Goodrich Transit Co., 224 U.S. 194 (1912); a clause affecting the charging of rates different for long and short hauls. Intermountain Rate Cases, 234 U.S. 476 (1914). 722 36

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Federal Regulation of Intrastate Rates (The Shreveport Doctrine).—Although its statutory jurisdiction did not apply to intrastate rate systems, the Commission early asserted the right to pass on rates, which, though in effect on intrastate lines, gave these lines competitive advantages over interstate lines the rates of which the Commission had set. This power the Supreme Court upheld in a case involving a line operating wholly intrastate in Texas but which paralleled within Texas an interstate line operating between Louisiana and Texas; the Texas rate body had fixed the rates of the intrastate line substantially lower than the rate fixed by the ICC on the interstate line. ‘‘Wherever the interstate and intrastate transactions of carriers are so related that the government of the one involves the control of the other, it is Congress, and not the State, that is entitled to prescribe the final and dominant rule, for otherwise Congress would be denied the exercise of its constitutional authority and the States and not the Nation, would be supreme in the national field.’’ 729 The same holding was applied in a subsequent case in which the Court upheld the Commission’s action in annulling intrastate passenger rates it found to be unduly low in comparison with the rates the Commission had established for interstate travel, thus tending to thwart, in deference to a local interest, the general purpose of the act to maintain an efficient transportation service for the benefit of the country at large. 730 Federal Protection of Labor in Interstate Rail Transportation.—Federal entry into the field of protective labor legislation and the protection of organization efforts of workers began in connection with the railroads. The Safety Appliance Act of 1893, 731 applying only to cars and locomotives engaged in moving interstate traffic, was amended in 1903 so as to embrace much of the intrastate rail systems on which there was any connection with interstate commerce. 732 The Court sustained this extension in language much like that it would use in the Shreveport case three years 729 Houston & Texas Ry. v. United States, 234 U.S. 342, 351–352 (1914). See also, American Express Co. v. Caldwell, 244 U.S. 617 (1917); Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Tax Comm’n, 297 U.S. 403 (1936); Weiss v. United States, 308 U.S. 321 (1939); Bethlehem Steel Co. v. State Board, 330 U.S. 767 (1947); United States v. Walsh, 331 U.S. 432 (1947). 730 Wisconsin R.R. Comm’n v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 257 U.S. 563 (1922). Cf. Colorado v. United States, 271 U.S. 153 (1926), upholding an ICC order directing abandonment of an intrastate branch of an interstate railroad. But see North Carolina v. United States, 325 U.S. 507 (1945), setting aside an ICC disallowance of intrastate rates set by a state commission as unsupported by the evidence and findings. 731 27 Stat. 531, 45 U.S.C. §§ 1–7. 732 32 Stat. 943, 45 U.S.C. §§ 8–10.

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later. 733 These laws were followed by the Hours of Service Act of 1907, 734 which prescribed maximum hours of employment for rail workers in interstate or foreign commerce. The Court sustained the regulation as a reasonable means of protecting workers and the public from the hazards which could develop from long, tiring hours of labor. 735 Most far-reaching of these regulatory measures were the Federal Employers Liability Acts of 1906 736 and 1908. 737 These laws were intended to modify the common-law rules with regard to the liability of employers for injuries suffered by their employees in the course of their employment and under which employers were generally not liable. Rejecting the argument that regulation of such relationships between employers and employees was a reserved state power, the Court adopted the argument of the United States that Congress was empowered to do anything it might deem appropriate to save interstate commerce from interruption or burdening. Inasmuch as the labor of employees was necessary for the function of commerce, Congress could certainly act to ameliorate conditions that made labor less efficient, less economical, and less reliable. Assurance of compensation for injuries growing out of negligence in the course of employment was such a permissible regulation. 738 Legislation and litigation dealing with the organizational rights of rail employees are dealt with elsewhere. 739 Regulation of Other Agents of Carriage and Communications.—In 1914, the Court affirmed the power of Congress to regulate the transportation of oil and gas in pipelines from one State to another and held that this power applied to the transportation even though the oil or gas was the property of the lines. 740 Subse733 Southern Ry. v. United States, 222 U.S. 20 (1911). See also Texas & Pacific Ry. v. Rigsby, 241 U.S. 33 (1916); United States v. California, 297 U.S. 175 (1936); United States v. Seaboard Air Line R.R., 361 U.S. 78 (1959). 734 34 Stat. 1415, 45 U.S.C. §§ 61–64. 735 Baltimore & Ohio R.R. v. ICC, 221 U.S. 612 (1911). 736 34 Stat. 232, held unconstitutional in part in the Employers’ Liability Cases, 207 U.S. 463 (1908). 737 35 Stat. 65, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51–60. 738 The Second Employers’ Liability Cases, 223 U.S. 1 (1912). For a longer period, a Court majority reviewed a surprising large number of FELA cases, almost uniformly expanding the scope of recovery under the statute. Cf. Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R.R., 352 U.S. 500 (1957). This practice was criticized both within and without the Court, cf. Ferguson v. Moore-McCormack Lines, 352 U.S. 521, 524 (1957) (Justice Frankfurter dissenting); Hart, Foreword: The Time Chart of the Justices, 73 HARV. L. REV. 84, 96–98 (1959), and has been discontinued. 739 See discussion under Railroad Retirement Act and National Labor Relations Act, infra. 740 The Pipe Line Cases, 234 U.S. 548 (1914). See also State Comm’n v. Wichita Gas Co., 290 U.S. 561 (1934); Eureka Pipe Line Co. v. Hallanan, 257 U.S. 265 (1921); United Fuel Gas Co. v. Hallanan, 257 U.S. 277 (1921); Pennsylvania v. West

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quently, the Court struck down state regulation of rates of electric current generated within that State and sold to a distributor in another State as a burden on interstate commerce. 741 Proceeding on the assumption that the ruling meant the Federal Government had the power, Congress in the Federal Power Act of 1935 conferred on the Federal Power Commission authority to regulate the wholesale distribution of electricity in interstate commerce 742 and three years later vested the FPC with like authority over natural gas moving in interstate commerce. 743 Thereafter, the Court sustained the power of the Commission to set the prices at which gas originating in one State and transported into another should be sold to distributors wholesale in the latter State. 744 ‘‘The sale of natural gas originating in the State and its transportation and delivery to distributors in any other State constitutes interstate commerce, which is subject to regulation by Congress . . . . The authority of Congress to regulate the prices of commodities in interstate commerce is at least as great under the Fifth Amendment as is that of the States under the Fourteenth to regulate the prices of commodities in intrastate commerce.’’ 745 Other acts regulating commerce and communication originating in this period have evoked no basic constitutional challenge. These include the Federal Communications Act of 1934, providing for the regulation of interstate and foreign communication by wire and radio, 746 and the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, providing for the regulation of all phases of airborne commerce, foreign and interstate. 747 Virginia, 262 U.S. 553 (1923); Missouri ex rel. Barrett v. Kansas Gas Co., 265 U.S. 298 (1924). 741 Public Utilities Comm’n v. Attleboro Co., 273 U.S. 83 (1927). See also Utah Power & Light Co. v. Pfost, 286 U.S. 165 (1932); Pennsylvania Power Co. v. FPC, 343 U.S. 414 (1952). 742 49 Stat. 863, 16 U.S.C. §§ 791a–825u. 743 52 Stat. 821, 15 U.S.C. §§ 717–717w. 744 FPC v. Natural Gas Pipeline Co., 315 U.S. 575 (1942). 745 315 U.S. at 582. Sales to distributors by a wholesaler of natural gas delivered to it from out-of-state sources are subject to FPC jurisdiction. Colorado-Wyoming Co. v. FPC, 324 U.S. 626 (1945). See also Illinois Gas Co. v. Public Service Co., 314 U.S. 498 (1942); FPC v. East Ohio Gas Co., 338 U.S. 464 (1950). In Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Wisconsin, 347 U.S. 672 (1954), the Court ruled that an independent company engaged in one State in production, gathering, and processing of natural gas, which it thereafter sells in the same State to pipelines that transport and sell the gas in other States is subject to FPC jurisdiction. See also California v. Lo-Vaca Gathering Co., 379 U.S. 366 (1965). 746 48 Stat. 1064, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. Cf. United States v. Southwestern Cable Co., 392 U.S. 157 (1968), on the regulation of community antenna television systems (CATV). 747 52 Stat. 973, as amended. The CAB has now been abolished and its functions are exercised by the Federal Aviation Administration, 49 U.S.C. § 106, as part of the Department of Transportation.

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Congressional Regulation of Commerce as Traffic The Sherman Act: Sugar Trust Case.—Congress’ chief effort to regulate commerce in the primary sense of ‘‘traffic’’ is embodied in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the opening section of which declares ‘‘every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise,’’ or ‘‘conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations’’ to be ‘‘illegal,’’ while the second section makes it a misdemeanor for anybody to ‘‘monopolize or attempt to monopolize any part of such commerce.’’ 748 The act was passed to curb the growing tendency to form industrial combinations, and the first case to reach the Court under it was the famous Sugar Trust Case, United States v. E. C. Knight Co. 749 Here the Government asked for the cancellation of certain agreements, whereby the American Sugar Refining Company, had ‘‘acquired,’’ it was conceded, ‘‘nearly complete control of the manufacture of refined sugar in the United States.’’ The question of the validity of the Act was not expressly discussed by the Court but was subordinated to that of its proper construction. The Court, in pursuance of doctrines of constitutional law then dominant with it, turned the Act from its intended purpose and destroyed its effectiveness for several years, as that of the Interstate Commerce Act was being contemporaneously impaired. The following passage early in Chief Justice Fuller’s opinion for the Court sets forth the conception of the federal system that controlled the decision: ‘‘It is vital that the independence of the commercial power and of the police power, and the delimination between them, however sometimes perplexing, should always be recognized and observed, for while the one furnishes the strongest bond of union, the other is essential to the preservation of the autonomy of the States as required by our dual form of government; and acknowledged evils, however grave and urgent they may appear to be, had better be borne, than the risk be run, in the effort to suppress them, of more serious consequences by resort to expedients of even doubtful constitutionality.’’ 750 In short, what was needed, the Court felt, was a hard and fast line between the two spheres of power, and in a series of propositions it endeavored to lay down such a line: (1) production is always local, and under the exclusive domain of the States; (2) commerce among the States does not begin until goods ‘‘commence their final movement from their State of origin to that of their des748 26

Stat. 209 (1890); 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7. U.S. 1 (1895). 750 156 U.S. at 13. 749 156

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tination;’’ (3) the sale of a product is merely an incident of its production and, while capable of ‘‘bringing the operation of commerce into play,’’ affects it only incidentally; (4) such restraint as would reach commerce, as above defined, in consequence of combinations to control production ‘‘in all its forms,’’ would be ‘‘indirect, however inevitable and whatever its extent,’’ and as such beyond the purview of the Act. 751 Applying the above reasoning to the case before it, the Court proceeded: ‘‘The object [of the combination] was manifestly private gain in the manufacture of the commodity, but not through the control of interstate or foreign commerce. It is true that the bill alleged that the products of these refineries were sold and distributed among the several States, and that all the companies were engaged in trade or commerce with the several States and with foreign nations; but this was no more than to say that trade and commerce served manufacture to fulfill its function.’’ ‘‘Sugar was refined for sale, and sales were probably made at Philadelphia for consumption, and undoubtedly for resale by the first purchasers throughout Pennsylvania and other States, and refined sugar was also forwarded by the companies to other States for sale. Nevertheless it does not follow that an attempt to monopolize, or the actual monopoly of, the manufacture was an attempt, whether executory or consummated, to monopolize commerce, even though, in order to dispose of the product, the instrumentality of commerce was necessarily invoked. There was nothing in the proofs to indicate any intention to put a restraint upon trade or commerce, and the fact, as we have seen that trade or commerce might be indirectly affected was not enough to entitle complainants to a decree.’’ 752 Sherman Act Revived.—Four years later came the case of Addyston Pipe and Steel Co. v. United States, 753 in which the Antitrust Act was successfully applied as against an industrial com751 156

U.S. at 13–16. U.S. at 17. The doctrine of the case boiled down to the proposition that commerce was transportation only, a doctrine Justice Harlan undertook to refute in his notable dissenting opinion. ‘‘Interstate commerce does not, therefore, consist in transportation simply. It includes the purchase and sale of articles that are intended to be transported from one State to another—every species of commercial intercourse among the States and with foreign nations’’ Id. at 22. ‘‘Any combination, therefore, that disturbs or unreasonably obstructs freedom in buying and selling articles manufactured to be sold to persons in other States or to be carried to other States—a freedom that cannot exist if the right to buy and sell is fettered by unlawful restraints that crush out competition—affects, not incidentally, but directly, the people of all the States; and the remedy for such an evil is found only in the exercise of powers confided to a government which, this court has said, was the government of all, exercising powers delegated by all, representing all, acting for all. McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 405,’’ Id. at 33. 753 175 U.S. 211 (1899). 752 156

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bination for the first time. The agreements in the case, the parties to which were manufacturing concerns, effected a division of territory among them, and so involved, it was held, a ‘‘direct’’ restraint on the distribution and hence of the transportation of the products of the contracting firms. The holding, however, did not question the doctrine of the earlier case, which in fact continued substantially undisturbed until 1905, when Swift & Co. v. United States, 754 was decided. The ‘‘Current of Commerce’’ Concept: The Swift Case.— Defendants in Swift were some thirty firms engaged in Chicago and other cities in the business of buying livestock in their stockyards, in converting it at their packing houses into fresh meat, and in the sale and shipment of such fresh meat to purchasers in other States. The charge against them was that they had entered into a combination to refrain from bidding against each other in the local markets, to fix the prices at which they would sell, to restrict shipments of meat, and to do other forbidden acts. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court on defendants’ contention that certain of the acts complained of were not acts of interstate commerce and so did not fall within a valid reading of the Sherman Act. The Court, however, sustained the Government on the ground that the ‘‘scheme as a whole’’ came within the act, and that the local activities alleged were simply part and parcel of this general scheme. 755 Referring to the purchase of livestock at the stockyards, the Court, speaking by Justice Holmes, said: ‘‘Commerce among the States is not a technical legal conception, but a practical one, drawn from the course of business. When cattle are sent for sale from a place in one State, with the expectation that they will end their transit, after purchase, in another, and when in effect they do so, with only the interruption necessary to find a purchaser at the stockyards, and when this is a typical, constantly recurring 754 196 U.S. 375 (1905). The Sherman Act was applied to break up combinations of interstate carriers in United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Ass’n, 166 U.S. 290 (1897); United States v. Joint-Traffic Ass’n, 171 U.S. 505 (1898); and Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197 (1904). In Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U.S. 219, 229– 239 (1948), Justice Rutledge, for the Court, critically reviewed the jurisprudence of the limitations on the Act and and the deconstruction of the judicial constraints. In recent years, the Court’s decisions have permitted the reach of the Sherman Act to expand along with the expanding notions of congressional power. Gulf Oil Corp. v. Copp Paving Co., 419 U.S. 186 (1974); Hospital Building Co. v. Rex Hospital Trustees, 425 U.S. 738 (1976); McLain v. Real Estate Bd. of New Orleans, 444 U.S. 232 (1980); Summit Health, Ltd. v. Pinhas, 500 U.S. 322 (1991). The Court, however, does insist that plaintiffs alleging that an intrastate activity violates the Act prove the relationship to interstate commerce set forth in the Act. Gulf Oil Corp, 419 U.S. at 194–199. 755 Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375, 396 (1905).

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course, the current thus existing is a current of commerce among the States, and the purchase of the cattle is a part and incident of such commerce.’’ 756 Likewise the sales alleged of fresh meat at the slaughtering places fell within the general design. Even if they imported a technical passing of title at the slaughtering places, they also imported that the sales were to persons in other States, and that shipments to such States were part of the transaction. 757 Thus, sales of the type that in the Sugar Trust case were thrust to one side as immaterial from the point of view of the law, because they enabled the manufacturer ‘‘to fulfill its function,’’ were here treated as merged in an interstate commerce stream. Thus, the concept of commerce as trade, that is, as traffic, again entered the constitutional law picture, with the result that conditions directly affecting interstate trade could not be dismissed on the ground that they affected interstate commerce, in the sense of interstate transportation, only ‘‘indirectly.’’ Lastly, the Court added these significant words: ‘‘But we do not mean to imply that the rule which marks the point at which State taxation or regulation becomes permissible necessarily is beyond the scope of interference by Congress in cases where such interference is deemed necessary for the protection of commerce among the States.’’ 758 That is to say, the line that confines state power from one side does not always confine national power from the other. Even though the line accurately divides the subject matter of the complementary spheres, national power is always entitled to take on the additional extension that is requisite to guarantee its effective exercise and is furthermore supreme. The Danbury Hatters Case.—In this respect, the Swift case only states what the Shreveport case was later to declare more explicitly, and the same may be said of an ensuing series of cases in which combinations of employees engaged in such intrastate activities as manufacturing, mining, building, construction, and the distribution of poultry were subjected to the penalties of the Sherman Act because of the effect or intended effect of their activities on interstate commerce. 759 756 196

U.S. at 398–99. U.S. at 399–401. 758 196 U.S. at 400. 759 Loewe v. Lawlor (The Danbury Hatters Case), 208 U.S. 274 (1908); Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U.S. 443 (1921); Coronado Co. v. United Mine Workers, 268 U.S. 295 (1925); United States v. Bruins, 272 U.S. 549 (1926); Bedford Co. v. Stone Cutters Ass’n, 274 U.S. 37 (1927); Local 167 v. United States, 291 U.S. 293 (1934); Allen Bradley Co. v. Union, 325 U.S. 797 (1945); United States v. Employing Plasterers Ass’n, 347 U.S. 186 (1954); United States v. Green, 350 U.S. 415 (1956); Callanan v. United States, 364 U.S. 587 (1961). 757 196

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Stockyards and Grain Futures Acts.—In 1921 Congress passed the Packers and Stockyards Act 760 whereby the business of commission men and livestock dealers in the chief stockyards of the country was brought under national supervision, and in the year following it passed the Grain Futures Act 761 whereby exchanges dealing in grain futures were subjected to control. The decisions of the Court sustaining these measures both built directly upon the Swift case. In Stafford v. Wallace, 762 which involved the former act, Chief Justice Taft, speaking for the Court, said: ‘‘The object to be secured by the act is the free and unburdened flow of livestock from the ranges and farms of the West and Southwest through the great stockyards and slaughtering centers on the borders of that region, and thence in the form of meat products to the consuming cities of the country in the Middle West and East, or, still as livestock, to the feeding places and fattening farms in the Middle West or East for further preparation for the market.’’ 763 The stockyards, therefore, were ‘‘not a place of rest or final destination.’’ They were ‘‘but a throat through which the current flows,’’ and the sales there were not merely local transactions. ‘‘They do not stop the flow;—but, on the contrary’’ are ‘‘indispensable to its continuity.’’ 764 In Chicago Board of Trade v. Olsen, 765 involving the Grain Futures Act, the same course of reasoning was repeated. Speaking of the Swift case, Chief Justice Taft remarked: ‘‘That case was a milestone in the interpretation of the commerce clause of the Constitution. It recognized the great changes and development in the business of this vast country and drew again the dividing line between interstate and intrastate commerce where the Constitution intended it to be. It refused to permit local incidents of a great interstate movement, which taken alone are intrastate, to characterize the movement as such.’’ 766 Of special significance, however, is the part of the opinion devoted to showing the relation between future sales and cash sales, and hence the effect of the former upon the interstate grain trade. The test, said the Chief Justice, was furnished by the question of price. ‘‘The question of price dominates trade between the States. Sales of an article which affect the country-wide price of the article 760 42

Stat. 159, 7 U.S.C. §§ 171–183, 191–195, 201–203. Stat. 998 (1922), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1–9, 10a–17. 762 258 U.S. 495 (1922). 763 258 U.S. at 514. 764 258 U.S. at 515–16. See also Lemke v. Farmers Grain Co., 258 U.S. 50 (1922); Minnesota v. Blasius, 290 U.S. 1 (1933). 765 262 U.S. 1 (1923). 766 262 U.S. at 35. 761 42

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directly affect the country-wide commerce in it.’’ 767 Thus a practice which demonstrably affects prices would also affect interstate trade ‘‘directly,’’ and so, even though local in itself, would fall within the regulatory power of Congress. In the following passage, indeed, Chief Justice Taft whittled down, in both cases, the ‘‘direct-indirect’’ formula to the vanishing point: ‘‘Whatever amounts to more or less constant practice, and threatens to obstruct or unduly to burden the freedom of interstate commerce is within the regulatory power of Congress under the commerce clause, and it is primarily for Congress to consider and decide the fact of the danger to meet it. This court will certainly not substitute its judgment for that of Congress in such a matter unless the relation of the subject to interstate commerce and its effect upon it are clearly nonexistent.’’ 768 It was in reliance on the doctrine of these cases that Congress first set to work to combat the Depression in 1933 and the years immediately following. But in fact, much of its legislation at this time marked a wide advance upon the measures just passed in review. They did not stop with regulating traffic among the States and the instrumentalities thereof; they also essayed to govern production and industrial relations in the field of production. Confronted with this expansive exercise of Congress’ power, the Court again deemed itself called upon to define a limit to the commerce power that would save to the States their historical sphere, and especially their customary monopoly of legislative power in relation to industry and labor management. Securities and Exchange Commission.—Not all antidepression legislation, however, was of this new approach. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 769 and the Public Utility Company Act (‘‘Wheeler-Rayburn Act’’) of 1935 770 were not. The former created the Securities and Exchange Commission and authorized it to lay down regulations designed to keep dealing in securities honest and aboveboard and closed the channels of interstate commerce and the mails to dealers refusing to register under the act. The latter required the companies governed by it to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to inform it concerning their business, organization and financial structure, all on pain of being prohibited use of the facilities of interstate commerce and the mails; while by § 11, the so-called ‘‘death sentence’’ clause, the same act closed after a certain date the channels of interstate com767 262

U.S. at 40. U.S. at 37, quoting Stafford v. Wallace, 258 U.S. 495, 521 (1922). 769 48 Stat. 881, 15 U.S.C. § 77b et seq. 770 49 Stat. 803, 15 U.S.C. §§ 79–79z–6. 768 262

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munication to certain types of public utility companies whose operations, Congress found, were calculated chiefly to exploit the investing and consuming public. All these provisions have been sustained, 771 Gibbons v. Ogden furnishing the Court its principle reliance. Congressional Regulation of Production and Industrial Relations: Antidepression Legislation In the words of Chief Justice Hughes, spoken in a case decided a few days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inauguration, the problem then confronting the new Administration was clearly set forth. ‘‘When industry is grievously hurt, when producing concerns fail, when unemployment mounts and communities dependent upon profitable production are prostrated, the wells of commerce go dry.’’ 772 National Industrial Recovery Act.—The initial effort of Congress to deal with this situation was embodied in the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933. 773 The opening section of the Act asserted the existence of ‘‘a national emergency productive of widespread unemployment and disorganization of industry which’’ burdened ‘‘interstate and foreign commerce,’’ affected ‘‘the public welfare,’’ and undermined ‘‘the standards of living of the American people.’’ To affect the removal of these conditions the President was authorized, upon the application of industrial or trade groups, to approve ‘‘codes of fair competition,’’ or to prescribe the same in cases where such applications were not duly forthcoming. Among other things such codes, of which eventually more than 700 were promulgated, were required to lay down rules of fair dealing with customers and to furnish labor certain guarantees respecting hours, wages and collective bargaining. For the time being, business and industry were to be cartelized on a national scale. In A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 774 one of these codes, the Live Poultry Code, was pronounced unconstitutional. Although it was conceded that practically all poultry handled by the Schechters came from outside the State, and hence via interstate commerce, the Court held, nevertheless, that once the chickens came to rest in the Schechter’s wholesale market, interstate commerce in them ceased. The act, however, also purported 771 Electric Bond Co. v. SEC, 303 U.S. 419 (1938); North American Co. v. SEC, 327 U.S. 686 (1946); American Power & Light Co. v. SEC, 329 U.S. 90 (1946). 772 Appalachian Coals, Inc. v. United States, 288 U.S. 344, 372 (1933). 773 48 Stat. 195. 774 295 U.S. 495 (1935).

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to govern business activities which ‘‘affected’’ interstate commerce. This, Chief Justice Hughes held, must be taken to mean ‘‘directly’’ affect such commerce: ‘‘the distinction between direct and indirect effects of intrastate transactions upon interstate commerce must be recognized as a fundamental one, essential to the maintenance of our constitutional system. Otherwise, . . . there would be virtually no limit to the federal power and for all practical purposes we should have a completely centralized government.’’ 775 In short, the case was governed by the ideology of the Sugar Trust case, which was not mentioned in the Court’s opinion. 776 Agricultural Adjustment Act.—Congress’ second attempt to combat the Depression comprised the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. 777 As is pointed out elsewhere, the measure was set aside as an attempt to regulate production, a subject held to be ‘‘prohibited’’ to the United States by the Tenth Amendment. 778 Bituminous Coal Conservation Act.—The third measure to be disallowed was the Guffey-Snyder Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1935. 779 The statute created machinery for the regulation of the price of soft coal, both that sold in interstate commerce and that sold ‘‘locally,’’ and other machinery for the regulation of hours of labor and wages in the mines. The clauses of the act dealing with these two different matters were declared by the act itself to be separable so that the invalidity of the one set would not affect the validity of the other, but this strategy was ineffectual. A majority of the Court, speaking by Justice Sutherland, held that the act constituted one connected scheme of regulation, which, inasmuch as it invaded the reserved powers of the States over conditions of 775 295

U.S. at 548. See also id. at 546. United States v. Sullivan, 332 U.S. 689 (1948), the Court interpreted the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 as applying to the sale by a retailer of drugs purchased from his wholesaler within the State nine months after their interstate shipment had been completed. The Court, speaking by Justice Black, cited United States v. Walsh, 331 U.S. 432 (1947); Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942); United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110 (1942); United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100 (1941). Justice Frankfurter dissented on the basis of FTC v. Bunte Bros., 312 U.S. 349 (1941). It is apparent that the Schechter case has been thoroughly repudiated so far as the distinction between ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect’’ effects is concerned. Cf. Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 (1971). See also McDermott v. Wisconsin, 228 U.S. 115 (1913), which preceded the Schechter decision by more than two decades. The NIRA, however, was found to have several other constitutional infirmities besides its disregard, as illustrated by the Live Poultry Code, of the ‘‘fundamental’’ distinction between ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect’’ effects, namely, the delegation of standardless legislative power, the absence of any administrative procedural safeguards, the absence of judicial review, and the dominant role played by private groups in the general scheme of regulation. 777 48 Stat. 31 (1933). 778 United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 63–64, 68 (1936). 779 49 Stat. 991 (1935). 776 In

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employment in productive industry, was violative of the Constitution. 780 Justice Sutherland’s opinion set out from Chief Justice Hughes’ assertion in the Schechter case of the ‘‘fundamental’’ character of the distinction between ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect’’ effects, that is to say, from the doctrine of the Sugar Trust case. It then proceeded: ‘‘Much stress is put upon the evils which come from the struggle between employers and employees over the matter of wages, working conditions, the right of collective bargaining, etc., and the resulting strikes, curtailment and irregularity of production and effect on prices; and it is insisted that interstate commerce is greatly affected thereby. But . . . the conclusive answer is that the evils are all local evils over which the Federal Government has no legislative control. The relation of employer and employee is a local relation. At common law, it is one of the domestic relations. The wages are paid for the doing of local work. Working conditions are obviously local conditions. The employees are not engaged in or about commerce, but exclusively in producing a commodity. And the controversies and evils, which it is the object of the act to regulate and minimize, are local controversies and evils affecting local work undertaken to accomplish that local result. Such effect as they may have upon commerce, however extensive it may be, is secondary and indirect. An increase in the greatness of the effect adds to its importance. It does not alter its character.’’ 781 Railroad Retirement Act.—Still pursuing the idea of protecting commerce and the labor engaged in it concurrently, Congress, by the Railroad Retirement Act of June 27, 1934, 782 ordered the compulsory retirement of superannuated employees of interstate carriers, and provided that they be paid pensions out of a fund comprising compulsory contributions from the carriers and their present and future employees. In Railroad Retirement Board v. Alton R.R., 783 however, a closely divided Court held this legislation to be in excess of Congress’ power to regulate commerce and contrary to the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. Said Justice Roberts for the majority: ‘‘We feel bound to hold that a pension plan thus imposed is in no proper sense a regulation of the activity of interstate transportation. It is an attempt for social ends to impose by sheer fiat noncontractual incidents upon the relation of employer and employee, not as a rule or regulation of commerce and transportation between the States, but as a means of assuring a particular class of employees against old age dependency. This is 780 Carter

v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936). U.S. at 308–09. 782 48 Stat. 1283 (1934). 783 295 U.S. 330 (1935). 781 298

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neither a necessary nor an appropriate rule or regulation affecting the due fulfillment of the railroads’ duty to serve the public in interstate transportation.’’ 784 Chief Justice Hughes, speaking for the dissenters, contended, on the contrary, that ‘‘the morale of the employees [had] an important bearing upon the efficiency of the transportation service.’’ He added: ‘‘The fundamental consideration which supports this type of legislation is that industry should take care of its human wastage, whether that is due to accident or age. That view cannot be dismissed as arbitrary or capricious. It is a reasoned conviction based upon abundant experience. The expression of that conviction in law is regulation. When expressed in the government of interstate carriers, with respect to their employees likewise engaged in interstate commerce, it is a regulation of that commerce. As such, so far as the subject matter is concerned, the commerce clause should be held applicable.’’ 785 Under subsequent legislation, an excise is levied on interstate carriers and their employees, while by separate but parallel legislation a fund is created in the Treasury out of which pensions are paid along the lines of the original plan. The constitutionality of this scheme appears to be taken for granted in Railroad Retirement Board v. Duquesne Warehouse Co. 786 National Labor Relations Act.—The case in which the Court reduced the distinction between ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect’’ effects to the vanishing point and thereby placed Congress in the position to regulate productive industry and labor relations in these industries was NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. 787 Here the statute involved was the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, 788 which declared the right of workers to organize, forbade unlawful employer interference with this right, established procedures by 784 295

U.S. at 374. U.S. at 379, 384. 786 326 U.S. 446 (1946). Indeed, in a case decided in June, 1948, Justice Rutledge, speaking for a majority of the Court, listed the Alton case as one ‘‘foredoomed to reversal,’’ though the formal reversal has never taken place. See Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U.S. 219, 230 (1948). Cf. Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U.S. 1, 19 (1976). 787 301 U.S. 1 (1937). A major political event had intervened between this decision and those described in the preceding pages. President Roosevelt, angered at the Court’s invalidation of much of his depression program, proposed a ‘‘reorganization’’ of the Court by which he would have been enabled to name one new Justice for each Justice on the Court who was more than 70 years old, in the name of ‘‘judicial efficiency.’’ The plan was defeated in the Senate, in part, perhaps, because in such cases as Jones & Laughlin a Court majority began to demonstrate sufficient ‘‘judicial efficiency.’’ See Leuchtenberg, The Origins of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘CourtPacking’ Plan, 1966 SUP. CT. REV. 347 (P. Kurland ed.); Mason, Harlan Fiske Stone and FDR’s Court Plan, 61 YALE L. J. 791 (1952); 2 M. PUSEY, CHARLES EVANS HUGHES 759–765 (1951). 788 49 Stat. 449, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. 785 295

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which workers could choose exclusive bargaining representatives with which employers were required to bargain, and created a board to oversee all these processes. 789 The Court, speaking through Chief Justice Hughes, upheld the Act and found the corporation to be subject to the Act. ‘‘The close and intimate effect,’’ he said, ‘‘which brings the subject within the reach of federal power may be due to activities in relation to productive industry although the industry when separately viewed is local.’’ Nor will it do to say that such effect is ‘‘indirect.’’ Considering defendant’s ‘‘far-flung activities,’’ the effect of strife between it and its employees ‘‘would be immediate and [it] might be catastrophic. We are asked to shut our eyes to the plainest facts of our national life and to deal with the question of direct and indirect effects in an intellectual vacuum. . . . When industries organize themselves on a national scale, making their relation to interstate commerce the dominant factor in their activities, how can it be maintained that their industrial labor relations constitute a forbidden field into which Congress may not enter when it is necessary to protect interstate commerce from the paralyzing consequences of industrial war? We have often said that interstate commerce itself is a practical conception. It is equally true that interferences with 789 The NLRA was enacted not only against the backdrop of depression, although obviously it went far beyond being a mere antidepression measure, but Congress could as well look to its experience in railway labor legislation. In 1898, Congress passed the Erdman Act, 30 Stat. 424, which attempted to influence the unionization of railroad workers and facilitate negotiations with employers through mediation. The statute fell largely into disuse because the railroads refused to mediate. Additionally, in Adair v. United States, 208 U.S. 161 (1908), the Court struck down a section of the law outlawing ‘‘yellow-dog contracts,’’ by which employers exacted promises of workers to quit or not to join unions as a condition of employment. The Court held the section not to be a regulation of commerce, there being no connection between an employee’s membership in a union and the carrying on of interstate commerce. Cf. Coppage v. Kansas, 236 U.S. 1 (1915).

The Court did uphold in Wilson v. New, 243 U.S. 332 (1917), a congressional settlement of a threatened rail strike through the enactment of an eight-hour day and a time-and-a-half for overtime for all interstate railway employees. The national emergency confronting the Nation was cited by the Court but with the implication that the power existed in more normal times, suggesting that Congress’ powers were not as limited as some judicial decisions had indicated. Congress’ enactment of the Railway Labor Act in 1926, 44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., was sustained by a Court decision admitting the connection between interstate commerce and union membership as a substantial one. Texas & N.L.R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, 281 U.S. 548 (1930). A subsequent decision sustained the application of the Act to ‘‘back shop’’ employees of an interstate carrier who engaged in making heavy repairs on locomotives and cars withdrawn from service for long periods, the Court finding that the activities of these employees were related to interstate commerce. Virginian Ry. v. System Federation No. 40, 300 U.S. 515 (1937).

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that commerce must be appraised by a judgment that does not ignore actual experience.’’ 790 While the Act was thus held to be within the constitutional powers of Congress in relation to a productive concern because the interruption of its business by strike ‘‘might be catastrophic,’’ the decision was forthwith held to apply also to two minor concerns, 791 and in a later case the Court stated specifically that the smallness of the volume of commerce affected in any particular case is not a material consideration. 792 Subsequently, the act was declared to be applicable to a local retail auto dealer on the ground that he was an integral part of the manufacturer’s national distribution system, 793 to a labor dispute arising during alteration of a county courthouse because one-half of the cost—$225,000—was attributable to materials shipped from out-of-State, 794 and to a dispute involving a retail distributor of fuel oil, all of whose sales were local, but who obtained the oil from a wholesaler who imported it from another State. 795 Indeed, ‘‘[t]his Court has consistently declared that in passing the National Labor Relations Act, Congress intended to and did vest in the Board the fullest jurisdictional breadth constitutionally permissible under the Commerce Clause.’’ 796 Thus, the Board has formulated jurisdictional standards which assume the requisite effect on interstate commerce from a prescribed dollar volume of business and these standards have been implicitly approved by the Court. 797 Fair Labor Standards Act.—In 1938, Congress enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act. The measure prohibited not only the shipment in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by employees whose wages are less than the prescribed maximum but also the employment of workmen in the production of goods for such commerce at other than the prescribed wages and hours. Interstate commerce was defined by the act to mean ‘‘trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof.’’ 790 NLRB

v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 38, 41–42 (1937). v. Fruehauf Trailer Co., 301 U.S. 49 (1937); NLRB v. Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co., 301 U.S. 58 (1937). 792 NLRB v. Fainblatt, 306 U.S. 601, 606 (1939). 793 Howell Chevrolet Co. v. NLRB, 346 U.S. 482 (1953). 794 Journeymen Plumbers’ Union v. County of Door, 359 U.S. 354 (1959). 795 NLRB v. Reliance Fuel Oil Co., 371 U.S. 224 (1963). 796 371 U.S. at 226. See also Guss v. Utah Labor Board, 353 U.S. 1, 3 (1957); NLRB v. Fainblatt, 306 U.S. 601, 607 (1939). 797 NLRB v. Reliance Fuel Oil Co., 371 U.S. 224, 225 n.2 (1963); Liner v. Jafco, 375 U.S. 301, 303 n. 2 (1964). 791 NLRB

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It was further provided that ‘‘for the purposes of this act an employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods [that is, for interstate commerce] if such employee was employed . . . in any process or occupation directly essential to the production thereof in any State.’’ 798 Sustaining an indictment under the act, a unanimous Court, speaking through Chief Justice Stone, said: ‘‘The motive and purpose of the present regulation are plainly to make effective the congressional conception of public policy that interstate commerce should not be made the instrument of competition in the distribution of goods produced under substandard labor conditions, which competition is injurious to the commerce and to the States from and to which the commerce flows.’’ 799 In support of the decision the Court invoked Chief Justice Marshall’s reading of the necessary-and-proper clause in McCulloch v. Maryland and his reading of the commerce clause in Gibbons v. Ogden. 800 Objections purporting to be based on the Tenth Amendment were met from the same point of view: ‘‘Our conclusion is unaffected by the Tenth Amendment which provides: ‘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.’ The amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered. There is nothing in the history of its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the relationship between the national and State governments as it had been established by the Constitution before the amendment or that its purpose was other than to allay fears that the new National Government might seek to exercise powers not granted, and that the States might not be able to exercise fully their reserved powers.’’ 801 Subsequent decisions of the Court took a very broad view of which employees should be covered by the Act, 802 and in 1949 Con798 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, 63 Stat. 910 (1949). The 1949 amendment substituted the phrase ‘‘in any process or occupation directly essential to the production thereof in any State’’ for the original phrase ‘‘in any process or occupation necessary to the production thereof in any State.’’ In Mitchell v. H. B. Zachry Co., 362 U.S. 310, 317 (1960), the Court noted that the change ‘‘manifests the view of Congress that on occasion courts . . . had found activities to be covered, which . . . [Congress now] deemed too remote from commerce or too incidental to it.’’ The 1961 amendments to the Act, 75 Stat. 65, departed from previous practices of extending coverage to employees individually connected to interstate commerce to cover all employees of any ‘‘enterprise’’ engaged in commerce or production of commerce; thus, there was an expansion of employees covered but not, of course, of employers, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 203(r), 203(s), 206(a), 207(a). 799 United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 115 (1941). 800 312 U.S. at 113, 114, 118. 801 312 U.S. at 123–24. 802 E.g., Kirschbaum v. Walling, 316 U.S. 517 (1942) (operating and maintenance employees of building, part of which was rented to business producing goods for interstate commerce); Walton v. Southern Package Corp., 320 U.S. 540 (1944)

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gress to some degree narrowed the permissible range of coverage and disapproved some of the Court’s decisions. 803 But in 1961, 804 with extensions in 1966, 805 Congress itself expanded by several million persons the coverage of the Act, introducing the ‘‘enterprise’’ concept by which all employees in a business producing anything in commerce or affecting commerce were brought within the protection of the minimum wage-maximum hours standards. 806 The ‘‘enterprise concept’’ was sustained by the Court in Maryland v. Wirtz. 807 Justice Harlan for a unanimous Court on this issue found the extension entirely proper on the basis of two theories: one, a business’ competitive position in commerce is determined in part by all its significant labor costs, and not just those costs attributable to its employees engaged in production in interstate commerce, and, two, labor peace and thus smooth functioning of interstate commerce was facilitated by the termination of substandard labor conditions affecting all employees and not just those actually engaged in interstate commerce. 808 Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act.—After its initial frustrations, Congress returned to the task of bolstering agriculture by passing the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of June 3, 1937, 809 authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to fix the minimum prices of certain agricultural products, when the handling of such products occurs ‘‘in the current of interstate or foreign commerce or . . . directly burdens, obstructs or affects interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof.’’ In United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 810 the Court sustained an order of (night watchman in a plant the substantial portion of the production of which was shipped in interstate commerce); Armour & Co. v. Wantock, 323 U.S. 126 (1944) (employees on stand-by auxiliary fire-fighting service of an employer engaged in interstate commerce); Borden Co. v. Borella, 325 U.S. 679 (1945) (maintenance employees in building housing company’s central offices where management was located though the production of interstate commerce was elsewhere); Martino v. Michigan Window Cleaning Co., 327 U.S. 173 (1946) (employees of a window-cleaning company the principal business of which was performed on windows of industrial plants producing goods for interstate commerce); Mitchell v. Lublin, McGaughy & Associates, 358 U.S. 207 (1959) (nonprofessional employees of architectural firm working on plans for construction of air bases, bus terminals, and radio facilities). 803 Cf. Mitchell v. H. B. Zachry Co., 362 U.S. 310, 317 (1960). 804 75 Stat. 65. 805 80 Stat. 830. 806 29 U.S.C. §§ 203(r), 203(s). 807 392 U.S. 183 (1968). 808 Another aspect of this case was overruled in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976), which itself was overruled in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Auth., 469 U.S. 528 (1985). 809 50 Stat. 246, 7 U.S.C. § 601 et seq. 810 315 U.S. 110 (1942). The Court had previously upheld other legislation that regulated agricultural production through limitations on sales in or affecting interstate commerce. Currin v. Wallace, 306 U.S. 1 (1939); Mulford v. Smith, 307 U.S. 38 (1939).

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the Secretary of Agriculture fixing the minimum prices to be paid to producers of milk in the Chicago ‘‘marketing area.’’ The dairy company demurred to the regulation on the ground it applied to milk produced and sold intrastate. Sustaining the order, the Court said: ‘‘Congress plainly has power to regulate the price of milk distributed through the medium of interstate commerce . . . and it possesses every power needed to make that regulation effective. The commerce power is not confined in its exercise to the regulation of commerce among the States. It extends to those activities intrastate which so affect interstate commerce, or the exertion of the power of Congress over it, as to make regulation of them appropriate means to the attainment of a legitimate end, the effective execution of the granted power to regulate interstate commerce. The power of Congress over interstate commerce is plenary and complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations other than are prescribed in the Constitution. . . . It follows that no form of State activity can constitutionally thwart the regulatory power granted by the commerce clause to Congress. Hence the reach of that power extends to those intrastate activities which in a substantial way interfere with or obstruct the exercise of the granted power.’’ 811 In Wickard v. Filburn, 812 a still deeper penetration by Congress into the field of production was sustained. As amended by the act of 1941, the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 813 regulated production even when not intended for commerce but wholly for consumption on the producer’s farm. Sustaining this extension of the act, the Court pointed out that the effect of the statute was to support the market. ‘‘It can hardly be denied that a factor of such volume and variability as home-consumed wheat would have a substantial influence on price and market conditions. This may arise because being in marketable condition such wheat overhangs the market and, if induced by rising prices, tends to flow into the market and check price increases. But if we assume that it is never marketed, it supplies a need of the man who grew it which would otherwise be reflected by purchases in the open market. Homegrown wheat in this sense competes with wheat in commerce. The stimulation of commerce is a use of the regulatory function quite as definitely as prohibitions or restrictions thereon. This record leaves us in no doubt that Congress may properly have considered that wheat consumed on the farm grown, if wholly outside the scheme of regulation, would have a substantial effect in defeating 811 315

U.S. at 118–19. U.S. 111 (1942). 813 52 Stat. 31, 7 U.S.C. §§ 612c, 1281–1282 et seq. 812 317

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and obstructing its purpose to stimulate trade therein at increased prices.’’ 814 And it elsewhere stated: ‘‘Questions of the power of Congress are not to be decided by reference to any formula which would give controlling force to nomenclature such as ‘production’ and ‘indirect’ and foreclose consideration of the actual effects of the activity in question upon interstate commerce. ... The Court’s recognition of the relevance of the economic effects in the application of the Commerce Clause . . . has made the mechanical application of legal formulas no longer feasible.’’ 815 Acts of Congress Prohibiting Commerce Foreign Commerce: Jefferson’s Embargo.—‘‘Jefferson’s Embargo’’ of 1807–1808, which cut all trade with Europe, was attacked on the ground that the power to regulate commerce was the power to preserve it, not the power to destroy it. This argument was rejected by Judge Davis of the United States District Court for Massachusetts in the following words: ‘‘A national sovereignty is created [by the Constitution]. Not an unlimited sovereignty, but a sovereignty, as to the objects surrendered and specified, limited only by the qualification and restrictions, expressed in the Constitution. Commerce is one of those objects. The care, protection, management and control, of this great national concern, is, in my opinion, vested by the Constitution, in the Congress of the United States; and their power is sovereign, relative to commercial intercourse, qualified by the limitations and restrictions, expressed in that instrument, and by the treaty making power of the President and Senate. . . . Power to regulate, it is said, cannot be understood to give a power to annihilate. To this it may be replied, that the acts 814 317

U.S. at 128–29. U.S. at 120–24. In United States v. Rock Royal Co-operative, 307 U.S. 533 (1939), the Court sustained an order under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, 50 Stat. 246, regulating the price of milk in certain instances. Said Justice Reed for the majority of the Court: ‘‘The challenge is to the regulation ‘of the price to be paid upon the sale by a dairy farmer who delivers his milk to some country plant.’ It is urged that the sale, a local transaction, is fully completed before any interstate commerce begins and that the attempt to fix the price or other elements of that incident violates the Tenth Amendment. But where commodities are bought for use beyond State lines, the sale is a part of interstate commerce. We have likewise held that where sales for interstate transportation were commingled with intrastate transactions, the existence of the local activity did not interfere with the federal power to regulate inspection of the whole. Activities conducted within State lines do not by this fact alone escape the sweep of the Commerce Clause. Interstate commerce may be dependent upon them. Power to establish quotas for interstate marketing gives power to name quotas for that which is to be left within the State of production. Where local and foreign milk alike are drawn into a general plan for protecting the interstate commerce in the commodity from the interferences, burdens and obstructions, arising from excessive surplus and the social and sanitary evils of low values, the power of the Congress extends also to the local sales.’’ Id. at 568–69. 815 317

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under consideration, though of very ample extent, do not operate as a prohibition of all foreign commerce. It will be admitted that partial prohibitions are authorized by the expression; and how shall the degree, or extent, of the prohibition be adjusted, but by the discretion of the National Government, to whom the subject appears to be committed? . . . The term does not necessarily include shipping or navigation; much less does it include the fisheries. Yet it never has contended, that they are not the proper objects of national regulation; and several acts of Congress have been made respecting them. . . . [Furthermore] if it be admitted that national regulations relative to commerce, may apply it as an instrument, and are not necessarily confined to its direct aid and advancement, the sphere of legislative discretion is, of course, more widely extended; and, in time of war, or of great impending peril, it must take a still more expanded range.’’ ‘‘Congress has power to declare war. It, of course, has power to prepare for war; and the time, the manner, and the measure, in the application of constitutional means, seem to be left to its wisdom and discretion. . . . Under the Confederation, . . . we find an express reservation to the State legislatures of the power to pass prohibitory commercial laws, and, as respects exportations, without any limitations. Some of them exercised this power. . . . Unless Congress, by the Constitution, possess the power in question, it still exists in the State legislatures—but this has never been claimed or pretended, since the adoption of the Federal Constitution; and the exercise of such a power by the States, would be manifestly inconsistent with the power, vested by the people in Congress, ‘to regulate commerce.’ Hence I infer, that the power, reserved to the States by the articles of Confederation, is surrendered to Congress, by the Constitution; unless we suppose, that, by some strange process, it has been merged or extinguished, and now exists no where.’’ 816 Foreign Commerce: Protective Tariffs.—Tariff laws have customarily contained prohibitory provisions, and such provisions have been sustained by the Court under Congress’ revenue powers and under its power to regulate foreign commerce. For the Court in Board of Trustees v. United States, 817 in 1933, Chief Justice Hughes said: ‘‘The Congress may determine what articles may be imported into this country and the terms upon which importation is permitted. No one can be said to have a vested right to carry on 816 United States v. The William, 28 Fed. Cas. 614, 620–623 (No. 16,700) (D. Mass. 1808). See also Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 191 (1824); United States v. Marigold, 50 U.S. (9 How.) 560 (1850). 817 289 U.S. 48 (1933).

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foreign commerce with the United States. . . . It is true that the taxing power is a distinct power; that it is distinct from the power to regulate commerce. . . . It is also true that the taxing power embraces the power to lay duties. Art. I, § 8, cl. 1. But because the taxing power is a distinct power and embraces the power to lay duties, it does not follow that duties may not be imposed in the exercise of the power to regulate commerce. The contrary is well established. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 202. ‘Under the power to regulate foreign commerce Congress imposes duties on importations, give drawbacks, pass embargo and nonintercourse laws, and make all other regulations necessary to navigation, to the safety of passengers, and the protection of property.’ Groves v. Slaughter, 15 Pet. 449, 505. The laying of duties is ‘a common means of executing the power.’’ 2 Story on the Constitution, 1088.’’ 818 Foreign Commerce: Banned Articles.—The forerunners of more recent acts excluding objectionable commodities from interstate commerce are the laws forbidding the importation of like commodities from abroad. This power Congress has exercised since 1842. In that year it forbade the importation of obscene literature or pictures from abroad. 819 Six years, later it passed an act ‘‘to prevent the importation of spurious and adulterated drugs’’ and to provide a system of inspection to make the prohibition effective. 820 Such legislation guarding against the importation of noxiously adulterated foods, drugs, or liquor has been on the statute books ever since. In 1887, the importation by Chinese nationals of smoking opium was prohibited, 821 and subsequent statutes passed in 1909 and 1914 made it unlawful for anyone to import it. 822 In 1897, Congress forbade the importation of any tea ‘‘inferior in purity, quality, and fitness for consumption’’ as compared with a legal standard. 823 The Act was sustained in 1904, in the leading case of Buttfield v. Stranahan. 824 In ″The Abby Dodge″ an act excluding sponges taken by means of diving or diving apparatus from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Straits of Florida was sustained but construed as not applying to sponges taken from the territorial water of a State. 825 In Weber v. Freed, 826 an act prohibiting the importation and interstate transportation of prize-fight films or of pictorial rep818 289

U.S. at 57, 58. 270, § 28, 5 Stat. 566. Stat. 237 (1848). 821 24 Stat. 409. 822 35 Stat. 614; 38 Stat. 275. 823 29 Stat. 605. 824 192 U.S. 470 (1904). 825 223 U.S. 166 (1912); cf. United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19 (1947). 826 239 U.S. 325 (1915). 819 Ch. 820 9

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resentation of prize fights was upheld. Chief Justice White grounded his opinion for a unanimous Court on the complete and total control over foreign commerce possessed by Congress, in contrast implicitly to the lesser power over interstate commerce. 827 And in Brolan v. United States, 828 the Court rejected as wholly inappropriate citation of cases dealing with interstate commerce on the question of Congress’ power to prohibit foreign commerce. It has been earlier noted, however, that the purported distinction is one that the Court both previously to and subsequent to these opinions has rejected. Interstate Commerce: Power to Prohibit Questioned.—The question whether Congress’ power to regulate commerce ‘‘among the several States’’ embraced the power to prohibit it furnished the topic of one of the most protracted debates in the entire history of the Constitution’s interpretation, a debate the final resolution of which in favor of congressional power is an event of first importance for the future of American federalism. The issue was as early as 1841 brought forward by Henry Clay, in an argument before the Court in which he raised the specter of an act of Congress forbidding the interstate slave trade. 829 The debate was concluded ninety-nine years later by the decision in United States v. Darby, 830 in which the Fair Labor Standards Act was sustained. 831 Interstate Commerce: National Prohibitions and State Police Power.—The earliest such acts were in the nature of quarantine regulations and usually dealt solely with interstate transportation. In 1884, the exportation or shipment in interstate commerce of livestock having any infectious disease was forbidden. 832 In 1903, power was conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture to establish regulations to prevent the spread of such diseases through foreign or interstate commerce. 833 In 1905, the same official was authorized to lay an absolute embargo or quarantine upon 827 239

U.S. at 329. U.S. 216 (1915). 829 Groves v. Slaughter, 40 U.S. (15 Pet.) 449, 488–489 (1841). 830 312 U.S. 100 (1941). 831 The judicial history of the argument may be examined in the majority and dissenting opinions in Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918), a five-to-four decision, in which the majority held Congress not to be empowered to ban from the channels of interstate commerce goods made with child labor, since Congress’ power was to prescribe the rule by which commerce was to be carried on and not to prohibit it, except with regard to those things the character of which—diseased cattle, lottery tickets—was inherently evil. With the majority opinion, compare Justice Stone’s unanimous opinion in United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 112–124 (1941), overruling Hammer v. Dagenhart. See also Corwin, The Power of Congress to Prohibit Commerce, 3 SELECTED ESSAYS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 103 (1938). 832 23 Stat. 31. 833 32 Stat. 791. 828 236

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all shipments of cattle from one State to another when the public necessity might demand it. 834 A statute passed in 1905 forbade the transportation in foreign and interstate commerce and the mails of certain varieties of moths, plant lice, and other insect pests injurious to plant crops, trees, and other vegetation. 835 In 1912, a similar exclusion of diseased nursery stock was decreed, 836 while by the same act and again by an act of 1917, 837 the Secretary of Agriculture was invested with powers of quarantine on interstate commerce for the protection of plant life from disease similar to those above described for the prevention of the spread of animal disease. While the Supreme Court originally held federal quarantine regulations of this sort to be constitutionally inapplicable to intrastate shipments of livestock, on the ground that federal authority extends only to foreign and interstate commerce, 838 this view has today been abandoned. The Lottery Case.—The first case to come before the Court in which the issues discussed above were canvassed at all thoroughly was Champion v. Ames, 839 involving the act of 1895 ‘‘for the suppression of lotteries.’’ 840 An earlier act excluding lottery tickets from the mails had been upheld in the case In re Rapier, 841 on the proposition that Congress clearly had the power to see that the very facilities furnished by it were not put to bad use. But in the case of commerce, the facilities are not ordinarily furnished by the National Government, and the right to engage in foreign and interestate commerce comes from the Constitution itself or is anterior to it. How difficult the Court found the question produced by the act of 1895, forbidding any person to bring within the United States or to cause to be ‘‘carried from one State to another’’ any lottery ticket, or an equivalent thereof, ‘‘for the purpose of disposing of the same,’’ was shown by the fact that the case was argued three times before the Court and the fact that the Court’s decision finally sustaining the act was a five-to-four decision. The opinion of the Court, on the other hand, prepared by Justice Harlan, marked an almost unqualified triumph at the time for the view that Congress’ power to regulate commerce among the States included the power to prohibit it, especially to supplement and support state legislation 834 33

Stat. 1264. Stat. 1269. Stat. 315. 837 39 Stat. 1165. 838 Illinois Central R.R. v. McKendree, 203 U.S. 514 (1906). See also United States v. DeWitt, 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) 41 (1870). 839 Lottery Case (Champion v. Ames), 188 U.S. 321 (1903). 840 28 Stat. 963. 841 143 U.S. 110 (1892). 835 33 836 37

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enacted under the police power. Early in the opinion, extensive quotation is made from Chief Justice Marshall’s opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden, 842 with special stress upon the definition there given of the phrase ‘‘to regulate.’’ Justice Johnson’s assertion on the same occasion is also given: ‘‘The power of a sovereign State over commerce, . . . amounts to nothing more than a power to limit and restrain it at pleasure.’’ Further along is quoted with evident approval Justice Bradley’s statement in Brown v. Houston, 843 that ‘‘[t]he power to regulate commerce among the several States is granted to Congress in terms as absolute as is the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations.’’ Following the wake of the Lottery Case, Congress repeatedly brought its prohibitory powers over interstate commerce and communications to the support of certain local policies of the States in the exercise of their reserved powers, thereby aiding them in the repression of a variety of acts and deeds objectionable to public morality. The conception of the Federal System on which the Court based its validation of this legislation was stated by it in 1913 in sustaining the Mann ‘‘White Slave’’ Act in the following words: ‘‘Our dual form of government has its perplexities, State and Nation having different spheres of jurisdiction . . . but it must be kept in mind that we are one people; and the powers reserved to the States and those conferred on the Nation are adapted to be exercised, whether independently or concurrently, to promote the general welfare, material, and moral.’’ 844 At the same time, the Court made it plain that in prohibiting commerce among the States, Congress was equally free to support state legislative policy or to devise a policy of its own. ‘‘Congress,’’ it said, ‘‘may exercise this authority in aid of the policy of the State, if it sees fit to do so. It is equally clear that the policy of Congress acting independently of the States may induce legislation without reference to the particular policy or law of any given State. Acting within the authority conferred by the Constitution it is for Congress to determine what legislation will attain its purpose. The control of Congress over interstate commerce is not to be limited by State laws.’’ 845 In Brooks v. United States, 846 the Court sustained the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act 847 as a measure protective of owners of automobiles; that is, of interests in ‘‘the State of origin.’’ The statute was designed to repress automobile motor thefts, notwith842 22

U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 227 (1824). U.S. 622, 630 (1885). 844 Hoke v. United States, 227 U.S. 308, 322 (1913). 845 United States v. Hill, 248 U.S. 420, 425 (1919). 846 267 U.S. 432 (1925). 847 41 Stat. 324 (1919), 18 U.S.C., §§ 2311–2313. 843 114

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standing that such thefts antedate the interstate transportation of the article stolen. Speaking for the Court, Chief Justice Taft, at the outset, stated the general proposition that ‘‘Congress can certainly regulate interstate commerce to the extent of forbidding and punishing the use of such commerce as an agency to promote immorality, dishonesty, or the spread of any evil or harm to the people of other States from the State of origin.’’ Noting ‘‘the radical change in transportation’’ brought about by the automobile, and the rise of ‘‘[e]laborately organized conspiracies for the theft of automobiles . . . and their sale or other disposition’’ in another jurisdiction from the owner’s, the Court concluded that such activity ‘‘is a gross misuse of interstate commerce. Congress may properly punish such interstate transportation by anyone with knowledge of the theft, because of its harmful result and its defeat of the property rights of those whose machines against their will are taken into other jurisdictions.’’ The fact that stolen vehicles were ‘‘harmless’’ and did not spread harm to persons in other States on this occasion was not deemed to present any obstacle to the exercise of the regulatory power of Congress. 848 The Darby Case.—In sustaining the Fair Labor Standards Act 849 in 1941, 850 the Court expressly overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart. 851 ‘‘The distinction on which the [latter case] . . . was rested that Congressional power to prohibit interstate commerce is limited to articles which in themselves have some harmful or deleterious property—a distinction which was novel when made and unsupported by any provision of the Constitution—has long since been abandoned. . . . The thesis of the opinion that the motive of the prohibition or its effect to control in some measure the use or production within the States of the article thus excluded from the commerce can operate to deprive the regulation of its constitutional authority has long since ceased to have force. . . . The conclusion is inescapable that Hammer v. Dagenhart, was a departure from the principles which have prevailed in the interpretation of the Commerce Clause both before and since the decision and that such vitality, as a precedent, as it then had has long since been exhausted. It should be and now is overruled.’’ 852 848 267 U.S. at 436–39. See also Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. I.C.R. Co., 299 U.S. 334 (1937). 849 29

U.S.C. §§ 201–219.

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The Commerce Clause as a Source of National Police Power The Court has several times expressly noted that Congress’ exercise of power under the commerce clause is akin to the police power exercised by the States. 853 It should follow, therefore, that Congress may achieve results unrelated to purely commercial aspects of commerce, and this result in fact has often been accomplished. Paralleling and contributing to this movement is the virtual disappearance of the distinction between interstate and intrastate commerce. Is There an Intrastate Barrier to Congress’ Commerce Power.—Not only has there been legislative advancement and judicial acquiescence in commerce clause jurisprudence, but the melding of the Nation into one economic union has been more than a little responsible for the reach of Congress’ power. ‘‘The volume of interstate commerce and the range of commonly accepted objects of government regulation have . . . expanded considerably in the last 200 years, and the regulatory authority of Congress has expanded along with them. As interstate commerce has become ubiquitous, activities once considered purely local have come to have effects on the national economy, and have accordingly come within the scope of Congress’ commerce power.’’ 854 Reviewing the doctrinal developments laid out in the prior pages, it is evident that Congress’ commerce power is fueled by four very interrelated principles of decision, some old, some of recent vintage. First, the commerce power attaches to the crossing of state lines, and Congress has validly legislated to protect interstate travelers from harm, to prevent such travelers from being deterred in the exercise of interstate traveling, and to prevent them from being burdened. Many of the 1964 public accommodations law applications have been premised on the point that larger establishments do serve interstate travelers and that even small stores, restaurants, and the like may serve interstate travelers, and, therefore, it is permissible to regulate them to prevent or deter discrimination. 855 Second, it may not be persons who cross state lines but some object that will or has crossed state lines, and the regulation of a purely intrastate activity may be premised on the presence of the 853 E.g., Brooks v. United States, 267 U.S. 432, 436–437 (1925); United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 114 (1941). See Cushman, The National Police Power Under the Commerce Clause, 3 SELECTED ESSAYS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 62 (1938). 854 New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 158 (1992). 855 Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964); Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964); Daniel v. Paul, 395 U.S. 298 (1969).

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object. Thus, the public accommodations law reached small establishments that served food and other items that had been purchased from interstate channels. 856 Congress has validly penalized convicted felons, who had no other connection to interstate commerce, for possession or receipt of firearms, which had been previously transported in interstate commerce independently of any activity by the two felons. 857 This reach is not of newly-minted origin. In United States v. Sullivan, 858 the Court sustained a conviction of misbranding, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Sullivan, a Columbus, Georgia, druggist had bought a properly labeled 1000–tablet bottle of sulfathiazole from an Atlanta wholesaler. The bottle had been shipped to the Atlanta wholesaler by a Chicago supplier six months earlier. Three months after Sullivan received the bottle, he made two retail sales of 12 tablets each, placing the tablets in boxes not labeled in strict accordance with the law. Upholding the conviction, the Court concluded that there was no question of ‘‘the constitutional power of Congress under the commerce clause to regulate the branding of articles that have completed an interstate shipment and are being held for future sales in purely local or intrastate commerce.’’ 859 Third, Congress’ power reaches not only transactions or actions that occasion the crossing of state or national boundaries but extends as well to activities that, though local, ‘‘affect’’ commerce, a combination of the commerce power enhanced by the necessary and proper clause. The seminal case, of course, is Wickard v. Filburn, 860 sustaining federal regulation of a crop of wheat grown on a farm and intended solely for home consumption. The premise was that if it were never marketed, it supplied a need otherwise to be satisfied only in the market, and that if prices rose it might be induced onto the market. ‘‘Even activity that is purely intrastate in character may be regulated by Congress, where the activity, combined with like conduct by others similarly situated, affects 856 Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 298, 300–302 (1964); Daniel v. Paul, 395 U.S. 298, 305 (1969). 857 Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977); Barrett v. United States, 423 U.S. 212 (1976). However, because such laws reach far into the traditional police powers of the States, the Court insists Congress clearly speak to its intent to cover such local activities. United States v. Bass, 404 U.S. 336 (1971). See also Rewis v. United States, 401 U.S. 808 (1971); United States v. Enmons, 410 U.S. 396 (1973). A similar tenet of construction has appeared in the Court’s recent treatment of federal prosecutions of state officers for official corruption under criminal laws of general applicability. E.g., McCormick v. United States, 500 U.S. 257 (1991); McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350 (1987). Congress has overturned the latter case. 102 Stat. 4508, § 7603, 18 U.S.C. § 1346. 858 332 U.S. 689 (1948). 859 332 U.S. at 698–99. 860 317 U.S. 111 (1942).

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commerce among the States or with foreign nations.’’ 861 Coverage under federal labor and wage-and-hour laws after the 1930s showed the reality of this doctrine. 862 In upholding federal regulation of strip mining, the Court demonstrated the breadth of the ‘‘affects’’ standard. One case dealt with statutory provisions designed to preserve ‘‘prime farmland.’’ The trial court had determined that the amount of such land disturbed annually amounted to 0.006% of the total prime farmland acreage in the Nation and, thus, that the impact on commerce was ‘‘infinitesimal’’ or ‘‘trivial.’’ Disagreeing, the Court said: ‘‘A court may invalidate legislation enacted under the Commerce Clause only if it is clear that there is no rational basis for a congressional finding that the regulated activity affects interstate commerce, or that there is no reasonable connection between the regulatory means selected and the asserted ends.’’ 863 Moreover, ‘‘[t]he pertinent inquiry therefore is not how much commerce is involved but whether Congress could rationally conclude that the regulated activity affects interstate commerce.’’ 864 In a companion case, the Court reiterated that ‘‘[t]he denomination of an activity as a ‘local’ or ‘intrastate’ activity does not resolve the question whether Congress may regulate it under the Commerce Clause. As previously noted, the commerce power ‘extends to those activities intrastate which so affect interstate commerce, or the exertion of the power of Congress over it, as to make regulation of them appropriate means to the attainment of a legitimate end, the effective execution of the granted power to regulate interstate commerce.’’’ 865 Judicial review is narrow. Congress’ determination of an ‘‘effect’’ must be deferred to if it is rational, and Congress must have acted reasonably in choosing the means. 866 Fourth, a still more potent engine of regulation has been the expansion of the class-of-activities standard, which began in the ‘‘affecting’’ cases. In Perez v. United States, 867 the Court sustained the application of a federal ‘‘loan-sharking’’ law to a local culprit. 861 Fry

v. United States, 421 U.S. 542, 547 (1975). Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 188–193 (1968). 863 Hodel v. Indiana, 452 U.S. 314, 323–324 (1981). 864 452 U.S. at 324. 865 Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Ass’n, 452 U.S. 264, 281 (1981) (quoting United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110, 119 (1942)). 866 452 U.S. at 276, 277. The scope of review is restated in Preseault v. ICC, 494 U.S. 1, 17 (1990). Then-Justice Rehnquist, concurring in the two Hodel cases, objected that the Court was making it appear that no constitutional limits existed under the commerce clause, whereas in fact it was necessary that a regulated activity must have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, not just some effect. He thought it a close case that the statutory provisions here met those tests. 452 U.S. at 307–313. 867 402 U.S. 146 (1971). 862 See

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The Court held that, although individual loan-sharking activities might be intrastate in nature, still it was within Congress’ power to determine that the activity was within a class the activities of which did affect interstate commerce, thus affording Congress the opportunity to regulate the entire class. While the Perez Court and the congressional findings emphasized that loan-sharking was generally part of organized crime operating on a national scale and that loan-sharking was commonly used to finance organized crime’s national operations, subsequent cases do not depend upon a defensible assumption of relatedness in the class. Thus, the Court applied the federal arson statute to the attempted ‘‘torching’’ of a defendant’s two-unit apartment building. The Court merely pointed to the fact that the rental of real estate ‘‘unquestionably’’ affects interstate commerce and that ‘‘the local rental of an apartment unit is merely an element of a much broader commercial market in real estate.’’ 868 The apparent test of whether aggregation of local activity can be said to affect commerce was made clear next in an antitrust context. 869 Allowing the continuation of an antitrust suit challenging a hospital’s exclusion of a surgeon from practice in the hospital, the Court observed that in order to establish the required jurisdictional nexus with commerce, the appropriate focus is not on the actual effects of the conspiracy but instead is on the possible consequences for the affected market if the conspiracy is successful. The required nexus in this case was sufficient because competitive significance is to be measured by a general evaluation of the impact of the restraint on other participants and potential participants in the market from which the surgeon was being excluded. 870 For the first time in almost sixty years, 871 the Court invalidated a federal law as exceeding Congress’ authority under the commerce clause. 872 The statute was a provision making it a federal offense to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. 873 868 Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858, 862 (1985). In a later case the Court avoided the constitutional issue by holding the statute inapplicable to the arson of an owner-occupied private residence. 869 Summit Health, Ltd. v. Pinhas, 500 U.S. 322 (1991). See also Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848 (2000)(an owner-occupied building is not ‘‘used’’ in interstate commerce within the meaning of the federal arson statute). 870 500 U.S. at 330–32. The decision was 5–to–4, with the dissenters of the view that, although Congress could reach the activity, it had not done so. 871 Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936). 872 United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995). The Court was divided 5–to– 4, with Chief Justice Rehnquist writing the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas, with dissents by Justices Stevens, Souter, Breyer, and Ginsburg. 873 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A). Congress subsequently amended the section to make the offense jurisdictionally to turn on possession of ‘‘a firearm that has moved in

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The Court reviewed the doctrinal development of the commerce clause, especially the effects and aggregation tests, and reaffirmed that it is the Court’s responsibility to decide whether a rational basis exists for concluding that a regulated activity sufficiently affects interstate commerce when a law is challenged. 874 The Court identified three broad categories of activity that Congress may regulate under its commerce power. ‘‘First, Congress may regulate the use of the channels of interstate commerce. . . . Second, Congress is empowered to regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce, even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities. . . . 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.’’ 875 Clearly, said the Court, the criminalized activity did not implicate the first two categories. 876 As for the third, the Court found an insufficient connection. First, a wide variety of regulations of ‘‘intrastate economic activity’’ has been sustained where an activity substantially affects interstate commerce. But the statute being challenged, the Court continued, was a criminal law that had nothing to do with ‘‘commerce’’ or with ‘‘any sort of economic enterprise.’’ Therefore, it could not be sustained under precedents ‘‘upholding regulations of activities that arise out of or are connected with a commercial transaction, which viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce.’’ 877 The provision did not contain a ‘‘jurisdictional element which would ensure, through case-by-case inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate commerce.’’ 878 The existence of such a section, the Court implied, would have saved the constitutionality of the provision by requiring a showing of some connection to commerce in each particular case. Finally, the Court rejected the arguments of the Government and of the dissent that there existed a sufficient connection between the offense and interstate commerce. 879 At base, the Court’s concern was that accepting the attenuated connection arguor that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.’’ Pub. L. 104–208, 110 Stat. 3009–370. 874 514 U.S. at 556–57, 559. 875 514 U.S. at 558–59. For a recent example of regulation of persons or things in interstate commerce, see Reno v. Condon, 528 U.S. 141 (2000) (information about motor vehicles and owners, regulated pursuant to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, and sold by states and others, is an article of commerce) 876 514 U.S. at 559. 877 514 U.S. at 559–61. 878 514 U.S. at 561. 879 514 U.S. at 563–68.

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ments presented would result in the evisceration of federalism. ‘‘Under the theories that the Government presents . . . it is difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power, even in areas such as criminal law enforcement or education where States historically have been sovereign. Thus, if we were to accept the Government’s arguments, we are hard pressed to posit any activity by an individual that Congress is without power to regulate.’’ 880 Whether Lopez bespoke a Court determination to police more closely Congress’ exercise of its commerce power, so that it would be a noteworthy case, 881 or whether it was rather a ‘‘warning shot’’ across the bow of Congress, urging more restraint in the exercise of power or more care in the drafting of laws, was not immediately clear. The Court’s decision five years later in United States v. Morrison, 882 however, suggests that stricter scrutiny of Congress’s commerce power exercises is the chosen path, at least for legislation that falls outside the area of economic regulation. 883 The Court will no longer defer, via rational basis review, to every congressional finding of substantial effects on interstate commerce, but instead will examine the nature of the asserted nexus to commerce, and will also consider whether a holding of constitutionality is consistent with its view of the commerce power as being a limited power that cannot be allowed to displace all exercise of state police powers. In Morrison the Court applied Lopez principles to invalidate a provision of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that created a federal cause of action for victims of gender-motivated violence. Gender-motivated crimes of violence ‘‘are not, in any sense of the phrase, economic activity,’’ 884 the Court explained, and there was allegedly no precedent for upholding commerce-power regulation of intrastate activity that was not economic in nature. The provision, like the invalidated provision of the Gun-Free School Zones Act, contained no jurisdictional element tying the regulated violence to interstate commerce. Unlike the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the VAWA did contain ‘‘numerous’’ congressional findings about the se880 514

U.S. at 564. every epochal case has come in epochal trappings.’’ 514 U.S. at 615 (Justice Souter dissenting) (wondering whether the case is only a misapplication of established standards or is a veering in a new direction). 882 529 U.S. 598 (2000). Once again, the Justices were split 5–4, with Chief Justice Rehnquist’s opinion of the Court being joined by Justices O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas, and with Justices Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer dissenting. 883 For an expansive interpretation in the area of economic regulation, decided during the same Term as Lopez, see Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265 (1995). 884 529 U.S. at 613. 881 ‘‘Not

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rious effects of gender-motivated crimes, 885 but the Court rejected reliance on these findings. ‘‘The existence of congressional findings is not sufficient, by itself, to sustain the constitutionality of Commerce Clause legislation. . . . [The issue of constitutionality] is ultimately a judicial rather than a legislative question, and can be settled finally only by this Court.’’ 886 The problem with the VAWA findings was that they ‘‘relied heavily’’ on the reasoning rejected in Lopez – the ‘‘but-for causal chain from the initial occurrence of crime . . . to every attenuated effect upon interstate commerce.’’ As the Court had explained in Lopez, acceptance of this reasoning would eliminate the distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local, and would allow Congress to regulate virtually any activity, and basically any crime. 887 Accordingly, the Court ‘‘reject[ed] the argument that Congress may regulate noneconomic, violent criminal conduct based solely on that conduct’s aggregate effect on interstate commerce.’’ Resurrecting the dual federalism dichotomy, the Court could find ‘‘no better example of the police power, which the Founders denied the National Government and reposed in the States, than the suppression of violent crime and vindication of its victims.’’ 888 Civil Rights.—It had been generally established some time ago that Congress had power under the commerce clause to prohibit racial discrimination in the use of the channels of commerce. 889 The power under the clause to forbid discrimination within the States was firmly and unanimously sustained by the Court when Congress in 1964 enacted a comprehensive measure outlawing discrimination because of race or color in access to public accommodations with a requisite connection to interstate commerce. 890 Hotels and motels were declared covered, that is, de885 Dissenting Justice Souter pointed to a ‘‘mountain of data’’ assembled by Congress to show the effects of domestic violence on interstate commerce. 529 U.S. at 628-30. The Court has evidenced a similar willingness to look behind congressional findings purporting to justify exercise of enforcement power under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. See discussion under ‘‘enforcement,’’ infra. In Morrison itself, the Court determined that congressional findings were insufficient to justify the VAWA as an exercise of Fourteenth Amendment power. 529 U.S. at 619-20. 886 529 U.S. at 614. 887 529 U.S. at 615-16. Applying the principle of constitutional doubt, the Court in Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848 (2000), interpreted the federal arson statute as inapplicable to the arson of a private, owner-occupied residence. Were the statute interpreted to apply to such residences, the Court noted, ‘‘hardly a building in the land would fall outside [its] domain,’’ and the statute’s validity under Lopez would be squarely raised. 529 U.S. at 857. 888 529 U.S. at 618. 889 Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960); Henderson v. United States, 339 U.S. 816 (1950); Mitchell v. United States, 313 U.S. 80 (1941); Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U.S. 373 (1946). 890 Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title II, 78 Stat. 241, 243, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a et seq.

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clared to ‘‘affect commerce,’’ if they provided lodging to transient guests; restaurants, cafeterias, and the like, were covered only if they served or offered to serve interstate travelers or if a substantial portion of the food which they served had moved in commerce. 891 The Court sustained the Act as applied to a downtown Atlanta motel which did serve interstate travelers, 892 to an out-ofthe-way restaurant in Birmingham that catered to a local clientele but which had spent 46 percent of its previous year’s out-go on meat from a local supplier who had procured it from out-of-state, 893 and to a rurally-located amusement area operating a snack bar and other facilities, which advertised in a manner likely to attract an interstate clientele and that served food a substantial portion of which came from outside the State. 894 Writing for the Court in Heart of Atlanta Motel and McClung, Justice Clark denied that Congress was disabled from regulating the operations of motels or restaurants because those operations may be, or may appear to be, ‘‘local’’ in character. ‘‘[T]he power of Congress to promote interstate commerce also includes the power to regulate the local incidents thereof, including local activities in both the States of origin and destination, which might have a substantial and harmful effect upon that commerce.’’ 895 But, it was objected, Congress is regulating on the basis of moral judgments and not to facilitate commercial intercourse. ‘‘That Congress [may legislate] . . . against moral wrongs . . . rendered its enactments no less valid. In framing Title II of this Act Congress was also dealing with what it considered a moral problem. But that fact does not detract from the overwhelming evidence of the disruptive effect that racial discrimination has had on commercial intercourse. It was this burden which empowered Congress to enact appropriate legislation, and, given this basis for the exercise of its power, Congress was not restricted by the fact that the particular obstruction to interstate commerce with which it was dealing was also deemed a moral and social wrong.’’ 896 The evidence did, in fact, noted the Justice, support Congress’ conclusion that racial discrimination impeded interstate travel by more than 20 million black citizens, which was an impairment Congress could legislate to remove. 897 891 42

U.S.C. § 2000a (b). of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964). 893 Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964). 894 Daniel v. Paul, 395 U.S. 298 (1969). 895 Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 258 (1964); Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 301–304 (1964). 896 Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 257 (1964). 897 379 U.S. at 252–53; Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 299–301 (1964). 892 Heart

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The commerce clause basis for civil rights legislation in respect to private discrimination was important because of the understanding that Congress’ power to act under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments was limited to official discrimination. 898 The Court’s subsequent determination that Congress is not necessarily so limited in its power reduces greatly the importance of the commerce clause in this area. 899 Criminal Law.—Federal criminal jurisdiction based on the commerce power, and frequently combined with the postal power, has historically been an auxiliary criminal jurisdiction. That is, Congress has made federal crimes of acts that constitute state crimes on the basis of some contact, however tangential, with a matter subject to congressional regulation even though the federal interest in the acts may be minimal. 900 Examples of this type of federal criminal statute abound, including the Mann Act designed to outlaw interstate white slavery, 901 the Dyer Act punishing interstate transportation of stolen automobiles, 902 and the Lindbergh Law punishing interstate transportation of kidnapped persons. 903 But, just as in other areas, Congress has passed beyond a proscription of the use of interstate facilities in the commission of a crime, it has in the criminal law area expanded the scope of its jurisdiction. Typical of this expansion is a statute making it a federal offense to ‘‘in any way or degree obstruct . . . delay . . . or affect . . . commerce . . . by robbery or extortion . . . .’’ 904 With the expansion of the scope of the reach of ‘‘commerce’’ the statute potentially could reach crimes involving practically all business concerns, although it appears to be used principally against organized crime. To date, the most far-reaching measure to be sustained by the Court has been the ‘‘loan-sharking’’ prohibition of the Consumer 898 Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883); United States v. Reese, 92 U.S. 214 (1876); Collins v. Hardyman, 341 U.S. 651 (1951). 899 The ‘‘open housing’’ provision of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, Title VIII, 82 Stat. 73, 81, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, was based on the commerce clause, but in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968), the Court held that antidiscrimination-in-housing legislation could be based on the Thirteenth Amendment and made operative against private parties. Similarly, the Court has concluded that although § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment is judicially enforceable only against ‘‘state action,’’ Congress is not so limited under its enforcement authorization of § 5. United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 761, 774 (1966) (concurring opinions); Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88 (1971). 900 E.g., Barrett v. United States, 423 U.S. 212 (1976); Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977); Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55 (1980); McElroy v. United States, 455 U. S. 642 (1982). 901 18 U.S.C. § 2421. 902 18 U.S.C. § 2312. 903 18 U.S.C. § 1201. 904 18 U.S.C. § 1951. And see, 18 U.S.C. § 1952.

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Credit Protection Act. 905 The title affirmatively finds that extortionate credit transactions affect interstate commerce because loan sharks are in a class largely controlled by organized crime with a substantially adverse effect on interstate commerce. Upholding the statute, the Court found that though individual loan-sharking activities may be intrastate in nature, still it is within Congress’ power to determine that it was within a class the activities of which did affect interstate commerce, thus affording Congress power to regulate the entire class. 906 THE COMMERCE CLAUSE AS A RESTRAINT ON STATE POWERS Doctrinal Background The grant of power to Congress over commerce, unlike that of power to levy customs duties, the power to raise armies, and some others, is unaccompanied by correlative restrictions on state power. 907 This circumstance does not, however, of itself signify that the States were expected to participate in the power thus granted Congress, subject only to the operation of the supremacy clause. As Hamilton pointed out in The Federalist, 908 while some of the powers which are vested in the National Government admit of their ‘‘concurrent’’ exercise by the States, others are of their very nature ‘‘exclusive,’’ and hence render the notion of a like power in the States ‘‘contradictory and repugnant.’’ As an example of the latter kind of power, Hamilton mentioned the power of Congress to pass a uniform naturalization law. Was the same principle expected to apply to the power over foreign and interstate commerce? Unquestionably one of the great advantages anticipated from the grant to Congress of power over commerce was that state interferences with trade, which had become a source of sharp discontent under the Articles of Confederation, would be thereby brought to 905 Title

II, 82 Stat. 159 (1968), 18 U.S.C. § 891 et seq. v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 (1971). See also Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858 (1985). 907 Thus, by Article I, § 10, cl. 2, States are denied the power to ‘‘lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports’’ except by the consent of Congress. The clause applies only to goods imported from or exported to another country, not from or to another State, Woodruff v. Parham, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 123 (1869), which prevents its application to interstate commerce, although Chief Justice Marshall thought to the contrary, Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 449 (1827), and the contrary has been strongly argued. W. CROSSKEY, POLITICS AND THE CONSTITUTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 295–323 (1953). 908 THE FEDERALIST No. 32 (J. Cooke ed. 1961), 199–203. Note that in connection with the discussion that follows, Hamilton avowed that the taxing power of the States, save for imposts or duties on imports or exports, ‘‘remains undiminished.’’ Id. at 201. The States ‘‘retain [the taxing] authority in the most absolute and unqualified sense[.]’’ Id. at 199. 906 Perez

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an end. As Webster stated in his argument for appellant in Gibbons v. Ogden: ‘‘The prevailing motive was to regulate commerce; to rescue it from the embarrassing and destructive consequences, resulting from the legislation of so many different States, and to place it under the protection of a uniform law.’’ 909 In other words, the constitutional grant was itself a regulation of commerce in the interest of uniformity. 910 That, however, the commerce clause, unimplemented by congressional legislation, took from the States any and all power over foreign and interstate commerce was by no means conceded and was, indeed, counterintuitive, considering the extent of state regulation that previously existed before the Constitution. 911 Moreover, legislation by Congress regulative of any particular phase of commerce would raise the question whether the States were entitled to fill the remaining gaps, if not by virtue of a ‘‘concurrent’’ power over interstate and foreign commerce, then by virtue of ‘‘that immense mass of legislation’’ as Marshall termed it, ‘‘which embraces everything within the territory of a State, not surrendered to the general government,’’ 912 in a word, the ‘‘police power.’’ The text and drafting record of the commerce clause fails, therefore, without more ado, to settle the question of what power is left to the States to adopt legislation regulating foreign or interstate commerce in greater or lesser measure. To be sure, in cases 909 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 11 (1824). Justice Johnson’s assertion, concurring, was to the same effect. Id. at 226. Late in life, James Madison stated that the power had been granted Congress mainly as ‘‘a negative and preventive provision against injustice among the States.’’ 4 LETTERS AND OTHER WRITINGS OF JAMES MADISON 14–15 (1865). 910 It was evident from THE FEDERALIST that the principal aim of the commerce clause was the protection of the national market from the oppressive power of individual States acting to stifle or curb commerce. Id. at No. 7, 39–41 (Hamilton); No. 11, 65–73 (Hamilton); No. 22, 135–137 (Hamilton); No. 42, 283–284 (Madison); No. 53, 362–364 (Madison). See H. P. Hood & Sons v. Du Mond, 336 U.S. 525, 533 (1949). For a comprehensive history of the adoption of the commerce clause, which does not indicate a definitive answer to the question posed, see Abel, The Commerce Clause in the Constitutional Convention and in Contemporary Comment, 25 MINN. L. REV. 432 (1941). Professor Abel discovered only nine references in the Convention records to the commerce clause, all directed to the dangers of interstate rivalry and retaliation. Id. at 470–71 & nn. 169–75. 911 The strongest suggestion of exclusivity found in the Convention debates is a remark by Madison. ‘‘Whether the States are now restrained from laying tonnage duties depends on the extent of the power ‘to regulate commerce.’ These terms are vague but seem to exclude this power of the States.’’ 2 M. FARRAND, THE RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787 625 (rev. ed. 1937). However, the statement is recorded during debate on the clause, Art. I, § 10, cl. 3, prohibiting States from laying tonnage duties. That the Convention adopted this clause, when tonnage duties would certainly be one facet of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, casts doubt on the assumption that the commerce power itself was intended to be exclusive. 912 Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 203 (1824).

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of flat conflict between an act or acts of Congress regulative of such commerce and a state legislative act or acts, from whatever state power ensuing, the act of Congress is today recognized, and was recognized by Marshall, as enjoying an unquestionable supremacy. 913 But suppose, first, that Congress has passed no act, or second, that its legislation does not clearly cover the ground traversed by previously enacted state legislation. What rules then apply? Since Gibbons v. Ogden, both of these situations have confronted the Court, especially as regards interstate commerce, hundreds of times, and in meeting them the Court has, first, determined that it has power to decide when state power is validly exercised, and, second, it has coined or given currency to numerous formulas, some of which still guide, even when they do not govern, its judgment. 914 Thus, it has been judicially established that the commerce clause is not only a ‘positive’ grant of power to Congress, but it is also a ‘negative’ constraint upon the States; that is, the doctrine of the ‘dormant’ commerce clause, though what is dormant is the congressional exercise of the power, not the clause itself, under which the Court may police state taxation and regulation of interstate commerce, became well established. Webster, in Gibbons, argued that a state grant of a monopoly to operate steamships between New York and New Jersey not only contravened federal navigation laws but violated the commerce clause as well, because that clause conferred an exclusive power upon Congress to make the rules for national commerce, although he conceded that the grant to regulate interstate commerce was so broad as to reach much that the States had formerly had jurisdiction over, the courts must be reasonable in interpretation. 915 But because he thought the state law was in conflict with the federal legislation, Chief Justice Marshall was not compelled to pass on Webster’s arguments, although in dicta he indicated his considerable sympathy with them and suggested that the power to regulate 913 22

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914 The

writings detailing the history are voluminous. See, e.g., F. FRANKTHE COMMERCE CLAUSE UNDER MARSHALL, TANEY, AND WHITE (1937); B. GAVIT, THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION (1932) (usefully containing appendices cataloguing every commerce clause decision of the Supreme Court to that time); Sholleys, The Negative Implications of the Commerce Clause, 3 U. CHI. L. REV. 556 (1936). Among the recent writings, see Sedler, The Negative Commerce Clause as a Restriction on State Regulation and Taxation: An Analysis in Terms of Constitutional Structure, 31 WAYNE L. REV. 885 (1985) (a disputed conceptualization arguing the Court followed a consistent line over the years), and articles cited, id. at 887 n.4. FURTER,

915 22

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commerce between the States might be an exclusively federal power. 916 Chief Justice Marshall originated the concept of the ‘‘dormant commerce clause’’ in Willson v. Black Bird Creek Marsh Co., 917 although in dicta. Attacked before the Court was a state law authorizing the building of a dam across a navigable creek, and it was claimed the law was in conflict with the federal power to regulate interstate commerce. Rejecting the challenge, Marshall said that the state act could not be ‘‘considered as repugnant to the [federal] power to regulate commerce in its dormant state[.]’’ Returning to the subject in Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia, 918 the Court, upholding a state law that required ships to engage a local pilot when entering or leaving the port of Philadelphia, enunciated a doctrine of partial federal exclusivity. According to Justice Curtis’ opinion, the state act was valid on the basis of a distinction between those subjects of commerce which ‘‘imperatively demand a single uniform rule’’ operating throughout the country and those which ‘‘as imperatively’’ demand ‘‘that diversity which alone can meet the local necessities of navigation,’’ that is to say, of commerce. As to the former, the Court held Congress’ power to be ‘‘exclusive,’’ as to the latter, it held that the States enjoyed a power of ‘‘concurrent legislation.’’ 919 The Philadelphia pilotage requirement was of the latter kind. Thus, the contention that the federal power to regulate interstate commerce was exclusive of state power yielded to a rule of partial exclusivity. Among the welter of such cases, the first actually to strike down a state law solely on commerce clause grounds 916 22 U.S. at 17–18, 209. In Sturges v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 122, 193–196 (1819), Chief Justice Marshall denied that the grant of the bankruptcy power to Congress was exclusive. See also Houston v. Moore, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 1 (1820) (militia). 917 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 245, 252 (1829). 918 53 U.S. (12 How.) 299 (1851). The issue of exclusive federal power and the separate issue of the dormant commerce clause was present in the License Cases, 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504 (1847), and the Passenger Cases, 48 U.S. (7 How.) 283 (1849), but, despite the fact that much ink was shed in multiple opinions discussing the questions, nothing definitive emerged. Chief Justice Taney, in contrast to Marshall, viewed the clause only as a grant of power to Congress, containing no constraint upon the States, and the Court’s role was to void state laws in contravention of federal legislation. 46 U.S. (5 How.) at 573; 48 U.S. (7 How.) at 464. 919 48 U.S. at 317–20. Although Chief Justice Taney had formerly taken the strong position that Congress’ power over commerce was not exclusive, he acquiesced silently in the Cooley opinion. For a modern discussion of Cooley, see Goldstein v. California, 412 U.S. 546, 552–560 (1973), in which, in the context of the copyright clause, the Court, approving Cooley for commerce clause purposes, refused to find the copyright clause either fully or partially exclusive.

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was the State Freight Tax Case. 920 The question before the Court was the validity of a nondiscriminatory 921 statute that required every company transporting freight within the State, with certain exceptions, to pay a tax at specified rates on each ton of freight carried by it. Opining that a tax upon freight, or any other article of commerce, transported from State to State is a regulation of commerce among the States and, further, that the transportation of merchandise or passengers through a State or from State to State was a subject that required uniform regulation, the Court held the tax in issue to be repugnant to the commerce clause. Whether exclusive or partially exclusive, however, the commerce clause as a restraint upon state exercises of power, absent congressional action, received no sustained justification or explanation; the clause, of course, empowers Congress to regulate commerce among the States, not the courts. Often, as in Cooley, and later cases, the Court stated or implied that the rule was imposed by the commerce clause. 922 In Welton v. Missouri, 923 the Court attempted to suggest a somewhat different justification. Challenged was a state statute that required a ‘‘peddler’s’’ license for merchants selling goods that came from other states, but that required no license if the goods were produced in the State. Declaring that uniformity of commercial regulation is necessary to protect articles of commerce from hostile legislation and that the power asserted 920 Reading R.R. v. Pennsylvania, 82 U.S. (15 Wall.) 232 (1873). For cases in which the commerce clause basis was intermixed with other express or implied powers, see Crandall v. Nevada, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 35 (1868); Steamship Co. v. Portwardens, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 31 (1867); Woodruff v. Parham, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 123 (1868). Chief Justice Marshall, in Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 488– 489 (1827), indicated, in dicta, that a state tax might violate the commerce clause. 921 Just a few years earlier, the Court, in an opinion that merged commerce clause and import-export clause analyses, had seemed to suggest that it was a discriminatory tax or law that violates the commerce clause and not simply a tax on interstate commerce. Woodruff v. Parham, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 123 (1869). 922 ‘‘Where the subject matter requires a uniform system as between the States, the power controlling it is vested exclusively in Congress, and cannot be encroached upon by the State.’’ Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U.S. 100, 108–109 (1890). The commerce clause ‘‘remains in the Constitution as a grant of power to Congress . . . and as a diminution pro tanto of absolute state sovereignty over the same subject matter.’’ Carter v. Virginia, 321 U.S. 131, 137 (1944). The commerce clause, the Court has celebrated, ‘‘does not say what the states may or may not do in the absence of congressional action, nor how to draw the line between what is and what is not commerce among the states. Perhaps even more than by interpretation of its written word, this Court has advanced the solidarity and prosperity of this Nation by the meaning it has given these great silences of the Constitution.’’ H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U.S. 525, 534–535 (1949). More recently, the Court has taken to stating that ‘‘[t]he Commerce Clause ‘has long been recognized as a self-executing limitation on the power of the States to enact laws imposing substantial burdens on such commerce.’’’ Dennis v. Higgins, 498 U.S. 439, 447 (1991) (quoting SouthCentral Timber Dev., Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S. 82, 87 (1984) (emphasis supplied). 923 91 U.S. 275 (1875).

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by the State belonged exclusively to Congress, the Court observed that ‘‘[t]he fact that Congress has not seen fit to prescribe any specific rules to govern inter-State commerce does not affect the question. Its inaction on this subject . . . is equivalent to a declaration that inter-State commerce shall be free and untrammelled.’’ 924 It has been evidently of little importance to the Court to explain. ‘‘Whether or not this long recognized distribution of power between the national and state governments is predicated upon the implications of the commerce clause itself . . . or upon the presumed intention of Congress, where Congress has not spoken . . . the result is the same.’’ 925 Thus, ‘‘[f]or a hundred years it has been accepted constitutional doctrine . . . that . . . where Congress has not acted, this Court, and not the state legislature, is under the commerce clause the final arbiter of the competing demands of state and national interests.’’ 926 Two other justifications can be found throughout the Court’s decisions, but they do not explain why the Court is empowered under a grant of power to Congress to police state regulatory and taxing decisions. For example, in Welton v. Missouri, 927 the statute under review, as observed several times by the Court, was clearly discriminatory as between instate and interstate commerce, but that point was not sharply drawn as the constitutional fault of the law. That the commerce clause had been motivated by the Framers’ apprehensions about state protectionism has been frequently noted. 928 A relatively recent theme is that the Framers desired to create a national area of free trade, so that unreasonable burdens on interstate commerce violate the clause in and of themselves. 929 924 91 U.S. at 282. In Steamship Co. v. Portwardens, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 31, 33 (1867), the Court stated that congressional silence with regard to matters of ‘‘local’’ concern may signify willingness that the States regulate. Cf. Graves v. New York ex rel. O’Keefe, 306 U.S. 466, 479 n.1 (1939). The fullest development of the ‘‘silence’’ rationale was not by the Court but by a renowned academic, Professor Dowling. Interstate Commerce and State Power, 29 VA. L. REV. 1 (1940); Interstate Commerce and State Power—Revisited Version, 47 COLUM. L. REV. 546 (1947). 925 Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 768 (1945). 926 325 U.S. at 769. See also California v. Zook, 336 U.S. 725, 728 (1949). 927 91 U.S. 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282 (1876). 928 91 U.S. at 280–81; Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 446 (1827) (Chief Justice Marshall); Guy v. City of Baltimore, 100 U.S. 434, 440 (1879); Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 550, 552 (1935); Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U.S. 725, 754 (1981). 929 E.g., Gwin, White & Prince, Inc. v. Henneford, 305 U.S. 434, 440 (1939); McLeod v. J. E. Dilworth Co., 322 U.S. 327, 330–331 (1944); Freeman v. Hewit, 329 U.S. 249, 252, 256 (1946); H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U.S. 525, 538, 539 (1949); Dennis v. Higgins, 498 U.S. 439, 447–450 (1991). ‘‘[W]e have steadfastly adhered to the central tenet that the Commerce Clause ‘by its own force created an area of trade free from interference by the States.’’’ American Trucking Ass’ns v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266, 280 (1987) (quoting Boston Stock Exchange v. State Tax Comm’n, 429 U.S. 318, 328 (1977)).

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Nonetheless, the power of the Court is established and is freely exercised. No reservations can be discerned in the opinions for the Court. 930 Individual Justices, to be sure, have urged renunciation of the power and remission to Congress for relief sought by litigants. 931 That has not been the course followed. The State Proprietary Activity Exception.—In a case of first impression, the Court held unaffected by the commerce clause— ‘‘the kind of action with which the Commerce Clause is not concerned’’—a Maryland bounty scheme by which the State paid scrap processors for each ‘‘hulk’’ automobile destroyed. As first enacted, the bounty plan did not distinguish between in-state and out-of-state processors, but it was subsequently amended to operate in such a manner that out-of-state processors were substantially disadvantaged. The Court held that where a State enters into the market itself as a purchaser, in effect, of a potential article of interstate commerce, it does not, in creating a burden upon that com930 E.g., Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Michigan Natural Resources Dep’t, 504 U.S. 353, 359 (1992); Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298, 309 (1992); Wyoming v. Oklahoma, 502 U.S. 437, 455 (1992). Indeed, the Court, in Dennis v. Higgins, 498 U.S. 439, 447–450 (1991), broadened its construction of the clause, holding that it confers a ‘‘right’’ upon individuals and companies to engage in interstate trade. With respect to the exercise of the power, the Court has recognized Congress’ greater expertise to act and noted its hesitancy to impose uniformity on state taxation. Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267, 280 (1978). Cf. Quill Corp., 504 U.S. at 318. 931 In McCarroll v. Dixie Lines, 309 U.S. 176, 183 (1940), Justice Black, for himself and Justices Frankfurter and Douglas, dissented, taking precisely this view. See also Adams Mfg. Co. v. Storen, 304 U.S. 307, 316 (1938) (Justice Black dissenting in part); Gwin, White & Prince, Inc. v. Henneford, 305 U.S. 434, 442 (1939) (Justice Black dissenting); Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 784 (1945) (Justice Black dissenting); id. at 795 (Justice Douglas dissenting). Justices Douglas and Frankfurter subsequently wrote and joined opinions applying the dormant commerce clause. In Michigan-Wisconsin Pipe Line Co. v. Calvert, 347 U.S. 157, 166 (1954), the Court rejected the urging that it uphold all not-patently discriminatory taxes and let Congress deal with conflicts. More recently, Justice Scalia has taken the view that, as a matter of original intent, a ‘‘dormant’’ or ‘‘negative’’ commerce power cannot be justified in either taxation or regulation cases, but, yielding to the force of precedent, he will vote to strike down state actions that discriminate against interstate commerce or that are governed by the Court’s precedents, without extending any of those precedents. CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 481 U.S. 69, 94 (1987) (concurring); Tyler Pipe Indus. v. Washington State Dep’t of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 259 (1987) (concurring in part and dissenting in part); Bendix Autolite Corp. v. Midwesco Enterprises, 486 U.S. 888, 895 (1988) (concurring in judgment); American Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. Smith, 496 U.S. 167, 200 (1990) (concurring); Itel Containers Int’l Corp. v. Huddleston, 507 U.S. 60, 78 (1993) (Justice Scalia concurring) (reiterating view); Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175, 200–01 (1995) (Justice Scalia, with Justice Thomas joining) (same). Justice Thomas has written an extensive opinion rejecting both the historical and jurisprudential basis of the dormant commerce clause and expressing a preference for reliance on the imports-exports clause. Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 609 (1997) (dissenting; joined by Justice Scalia entirely and by Chief Justice Rehnquist as to the commerce clause but not the imports-exports clause).

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merce by restricting its trade to its own citizens or businesses within the State, violate the commerce clause. 932 Affirming and extending somewhat this precedent, the Court held that a State operating a cement plant could in times of shortage (and presumably at any time) confine the sale of cement by the plant to residents of the State. 933 ‘‘The Commerce Clause responds principally to state taxes and regulatory measures impeding free private trade in the national marketplace. ... There is no indication of a constitutional plan to limit the ability of the States themselves to operate freely in the free market.’’ 934 It is yet unclear how far this concept of the State as market participant rather than market regulator will be extended. 935 Congressional Authorization of Impermissible State Action.—The Supreme Court has heeded the lesson that was administered to it by the Act of Congress of August 31, 1852, 936 which pronounced the Wheeling Bridge ‘‘a lawful structure,’’ thereby setting aside the Court’s determination to the contrary earlier the same year. 937 The lesson, subsequently observed the Court, is that ‘‘[i]t is Congress, and not the Judicial Department, to which the Constitution has given the power to regulate commerce.’’ 938 Similarly, when in the late eighties and the early nineties statewide prohibition laws began making their appearance, Congress again approved state laws the Court had found to violate the dormant commerce clause. The Court seized upon a previously rejected dictum of Chief Justice Marshall 939 and began applying it as a brake on the oper932 Hughes

v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U.S. 794 (1976). Inc. v. Stake, 447 U.S. 429 (1980). U.S. at 436–37. 935 See also White v. Massachusetts Council of Construction Employers, 460 U.S. 204 (1983) (city may favor its own residents in construction projects paid for with city funds); South-Central Timber Dev., Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S. 82 (1984) (illustrating the deep divisions in the Court respecting the scope of the exception). 936 10 Stat. 112, § 6. 937 Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co., 54 U.S. (13 How.) 518 (1852), statute sustained in Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co., 59 U.S. (18 How.) 421 (1856). The latter decision seemed facially contrary to a dictum of Justice Curtis in Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia, 53 U.S. (12 How.) 299, 318 (1851), and cf. Tyler Pipe Indus., Inc. v. Washington State Dept. of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 263 n. 4 (1987) (Justice Scalia concurring in part and dissenting in part), but if indeed the Court is interpreting the silence of Congress as a bar to action under the dormant commerce clause, then when Congress speaks it is enacting a regulatory authorization for the States to act. 938 Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg, 107 U.S. 691, 701 (1883). 939 In Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 449 (1827), in which the ‘‘original package’’ doctrine originated in the context of state taxing powers exercised on imports from a foreign country, Marshall in dictum indicated the same rule would apply to imports from sister States. The Court refused to follow the dictum in Woodruff v. Parham, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 123 (1869). 933 Reeves, 934 447

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ation of such laws with respect to interstate commerce in intoxicants, which the Court denominated ‘‘legitimate articles of commerce.’’ While holding that a State was entitled to prohibit the manufacture and sale within its limits of intoxicants, 940 even for an outside market, manufacture being no part of commerce, 941 it contemporaneously laid down the rule, in Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co., 942 that, so long as Congress remained silent in the matter, a State lacked the power, even as part and parcel of a program of statewide prohibition of the traffic in intoxicants, to prevent the shipment into it of intoxicants from a sister State. This holding was soon followed by another to the effect that, so long as Congress remained silent, a State had no power to prevent the sale in the original package of liquors introduced from another State. 943 The effect of the latter decision was soon overcome by an act of Congress, the so-called Wilson Act, repealing its alleged silence, 944 but the Bowman decision still stood, the act in question being interpreted by the Court not to subject liquors from sister States to local authority until their arrival in the hands of the person to whom consigned. 945 Not until 1913 was the effect of the decision in the Bowman case fully nullified by the Webb-Kenyon Act, 946 which placed intoxicants entering a State from another State under the control of the former for all purposes whatsoever. 947 Less than a year after the ruling in United States v. SouthEastern Underwriters Ass’n, 948 that insurance transactions across state lines constituted interstate commerce, thereby logically establishing their immunity from discriminatory state taxation, Congress passed the McCarran Act 949 authorizing state regulation and taxation of the insurance business. In Prudential Ins. Co. v. Ben940 Mugler

v. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623 (1887). v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1 (1888). 942 125 U.S. 465 (1888). 943 Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U.S. 100 (1890). 944 26 Stat. 313 (1890), sustained in, In re Rahrer, 140 U.S. 545 (1891). 945 Rhodes v. Iowa, 170 U.S. 412 (1898). 946 37 Stat. 699 (1913), sustained in James Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Md. Ry., 242 U.S. 311 (1917). See also Department of Revenue v. Beam Distillers, 377 U.S. 341 (1964). 947 National Prohibition, under the Eighteenth Amendment, first cast these conflicts into the shadows, and § 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment significantly altered the terms of the dispute. But that section is no authorization for the States to engage in mere economic protectionism separate from concerns about the effect of the traffic in liquor. Bacchus Imports Ltd. v. Dias, 468 U.S. 263 (1984); Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Auth., 476 U.S. 573 (1986); Healy v. The Beer Institute, 491 U.S. 324 (1989). 948 322 U.S. 533 (1944). 949 59 Stat. 33, 15 U.S.C. § 1011–15. 941 Kidd

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jamin, 950 a statute of South Carolina that imposed on foreign insurance companies, as a condition of their doing business in the State, an annual tax of three percent of premiums from business done in South Carolina, while imposing no similar tax on local corporations, was sustained. ‘‘Obviously,’’ said Justice Rutledge for the Court, ‘‘Congress’ purpose was broadly to give support to the existing and future State systems for regulating and taxing the business of insurance. This was done in two ways:’’ ‘‘One was by removing obstructions which might be thought to flow from its own power, whether dormant or exercised, except as otherwise expressly provided in the Act itself or in future legislation. The other was by declaring expressly and affirmatively that continued State regulation and taxation of this business is in the public interest and that the business and all who engage in it ‘shall be subject to’ the laws of the several States in these respects. . . . The power of Congress over commerce exercised entirely without reference to coordinated action of the States is not restricted, except as the Constitution expressly provides, by any limitation which forbids it to discriminate against interstate commerce and in favor of local trade. Its plenary scope enables Congress not only to promote but also to prohibit interstate commerce, as it has done frequently and for a great variety of reasons. . . . This broad authority Congress may exercise alone, subject to those limitations, or in conjunction with coordinated action by the States, in which case limitations imposed for the preservation of their powers become inoperative and only those designed to forbid action altogether by any power or combination of powers in our governmental system remain effective.’’ 951 Thus, it is now well established that ‘‘[w]hen Congress so chooses, state actions which it plainly authorizes are invulnerable to constitutional attack under the Commerce Clause.’’ 952 But the 950 328

U.S. 408 (1946). U.S. at 429–30, 434–35. The Act restored state taxing and regulatory powers over the insurance business to their scope prior to South-Eastern Underwriters. Discriminatory state taxation otherwise cognizable under the commerce clause must, therefore, be challenged under other provisions of the Constitution. See Western & Southern Life Ins. Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 451 U.S. 648 (1981). An equal protection challenge was successful in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Ward, 470 U.S. 869 (1985), invalidating a discriminatory tax and stating that a favoring of local industries ‘‘constitutes the very sort of parochial discrimination that the Equal Protection Clause was intended to prevent.’’ Id. at 878. Controversial when rendered, Ward may be a sport in the law. See Northeast Bancorp v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 472 U.S. 159, 176–178 (1985). 952 Northeast Bancorp v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 472 U.S. 159, 174 (1985) (interpreting a provision of the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U.S.C. § 1842(d), permitting regional interstate bank acquisitions expressly approved by the State in which the acquired bank is located, as authorizing state laws 951 328

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Court requires congressional intent to permit otherwise impermissible state actions to ‘‘be unmistakably clear.’’ 953 The fact that federal statutes and regulations had restricted commerce in timber harvested from national forest lands in Alaska was, therefore, ‘‘insufficient indicium’’ that Congress intended to authorize the State to apply a similar policy for timber harvested from state lands. The rule requiring clear congressional approval for state burdens on commerce was said to be necessary in order to strengthen the likelihood that decisions favoring one section of the country over another are in fact ‘‘collective decisions’’ made by Congress rather than unilateral choices imposed on unrepresented out-of-state interests by individual States. 954 And Congress must be plain as well when the issue is not whether it has exempted a state action from the commerce clause but whether it has taken the less direct form of reduction in the level of scrutiny. 955 State Taxation and Regulation: The Old Law Although in previous editions of this volume considerable attention was paid to the development and circuitous paths of the law of the negative commerce clause, the value of this exegesis was doubtlessly quite limited. The Court itself has admitted that its ‘‘some three hundred full-dress opinions’’ as of 1959 have not resulted in ‘‘consistent or reconcilable’’ doctrine but rather in something more resembling a ‘‘quagmire.’’ 956 Although many of the printhat allow only banks within the particular region to acquire an in-state bank, on a reciprocal basis, since what the States could do entirely they can do in part). 953 South-Central Timber Dev., Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S. 82, 90 (1984). 954 467 U.S. at 92. Earlier cases had required express statutory sanction of state burdens on commerce but under circumstances arguably less suggestive of congressional approval. E.g., Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 458 U.S. 941, 958–960 (1982) (congressional deference to state water law in 37 statutes and numerous interstate compacts did not indicate congressional sanction for invalid state laws imposing a burden on commerce); New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, 455 U.S. 331, 341 (1982) (disclaimer in Federal Power Act of intent to deprive a State of ‘‘lawful authority’’ over interstate transmissions held not to evince a congressional intent ‘‘to alter the limits of state power otherwise imposed by the Commerce Clause’’). But see White v. Massachusetts Council of Construction Employers, 460 U.S. 204 (1983) (Congress held to have sanctioned municipality’s favoritism of city residents through funding statute under which construction funds were received). 955 Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 131 (1986) (holding that Lacey Act’s reinforcement of state bans on importation of fish and wildlife neither authorizes state law otherwise invalid under the Clause nor shifts analysis from the presumption of invalidity for discriminatory laws to the balancing test for state laws that burden commerce only incidentally). 956 Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, 358 U.S. 450, 457– 458 (1959) (in part quoting Miller Bros. v. Maryland, 347 U.S. 340, 344 (1954)). Justice Frankfurter was similarly skeptical of definitive statements. ‘‘To attempt to harmonize all that has been said in the past would neither clarify what has gone before nor guide the future. Suffice it to say that especially in this field opinions must be read in the setting of the particular cases and as the product pf preoccupation with

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ciples still applicable in constitutional law may be found in the older cases, in fact the Court has worked a revolution in this area, though at different times for taxation and for regulation. Thus, in this section we summarize the ‘‘old’’ law and then deal more fully with the ‘‘modern’’ law of the negative commerce clause. General Considerations.—The task of drawing the line between state power and the commercial interest has proved a comparatively simple one in the field of foreign commerce, the two things being in great part territorially distinct. 957 With ‘‘commerce among the States’’ affairs are very different. Interstate commerce is conducted in the interior of the country, by persons and corporations that are ordinarily engaged also in local business; its usual incidents are acts that, if unconnected with commerce among the States, would fall within the State’s powers of police and taxation, while the things it deals in and the instruments by which it is carried on comprise the most ordinary subject matter of state power. In this field, the Court consequently has been unable to rely upon sweeping solutions. To the contrary, its judgments have often been fluctuating and tentative, even contradictory, and this is particularly the case with respect to the infringement of interstate commerce by the state taxing power. 958 Taxation.—The leading case dealing with the relation of the States’ taxing power to interstate commerce, the case in which the Court first struck down a state tax as violative of the commerce clause, was the State Freight Tax Case. 959 Before the Court was the validity of a Pennsylvania statute that required every company transporting freight within the State, with certain exceptions, to pay a tax at specified rates on each ton of freight carried by it. The Court’s reasoning was forthright. Transportation of freight constitutes commerce. 960 A tax upon freight transported from one State to another effects a regulation of interstate commerce. 961 Under the Cooley doctrine, whenever the subject of a regulation of commerce is in its nature of national interest or admits of one uniform system or plan of regulation, that subject is within the exclutheir special facts.’’ Freeman v. Hewit, 329 U.S. 249, 251–252 (1946). The comments in all three cases dealt with taxation, but they could just as well have included regulation. 957 Infra pp. 240–42. 958 In addition to the sources previously cited, see J. HELLERSTEIN & W. HELLERSTEIN, STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION—CASES AND MATERIALS ch. 6, 241 (5th ed. 1988) passim. For a succinct description of the history, see Hellerstein, State Taxation of Interstate Business: Perspectives on Two Centuries of Constitutional Adjudication, 41 TAX LAW. 37 (1987). 959 Reading R.R. v. Pennsylvania, 82 U.S. (15 Wall.) 232 (1873). 960 82 U.S. at 275. 961 82 U.S. at 275–76, 279.

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sive regulating control of Congress. 962 Transportation of passengers or merchandise through a State, or from one State to another, is of this nature. 963 Hence, a state law imposing a tax upon freight, taken up within the State and transported out of it or taken up outside the State and transported into it, violates the commerce clause. 964 The principle thus asserted, that a State may not tax interstate commerce, confronted the principle that a State may tax all purely domestic business within its borders and all property ‘‘within its jurisdiction.’’ Inasmuch as most large concerns prosecute both an interstate and a domestic business, while the instrumentalities of interstate commerce and the pecuniary returns from such commerce are ordinarily property within the jurisdiction of some State or other, the task before the Court was to determine where to draw the line between the immunity claimed by interstate business, on the one hand, and the prerogatives claimed by local power on the other. In the State Tax on Railway Gross Receipts Case, 965 decided the same day as the State Freight Tax Case, the issue was a tax upon gross receipts of all railroads chartered by the State, part of the receipts having been derived from interstate transportation of the same freight that had been held immune from tax in the first case. If the latter tax were regarded as a tax on interstate commerce, it too would fall. But to the Court, the tax on gross receipts of an interstate transportation company was not a tax on commerce. ‘‘[I]t is not everything that affects commerce that amounts to a regulation of it, within the meaning of the Constitution.’’ 966 A gross receipts tax upon a railroad company, which concededly affected commerce, was not a regulation ‘‘directly. Very manifestly it is a tax upon the railroad company. . . . That its ultimate effect may be to increase the cost of transportation must be admitted. . . . Still it is not a tax upon transportation, or upon commerce. . . .’’ 967 Insofar as there is a distinction between these two cases, the Court drew it in part on the basis of Cooley, that some subjects embraced within the meaning of commerce demand uniform, national regulation, while other similar subjects permit of diversity of treatment, until Congress acts, and in part on the basis of a concept of a ‘‘direct’’ tax on interstate commerce, which was impermissible, 962 82

U.S. at 279–80. U.S. at 280. 964 82 U.S. at 281–82. 965 Reading R.R. v. Pennsylvania, 82 U.S. (15 Wall.) 284 (1872). 966 82 U.S. at 293. 967 82 U.S. at 294. This case was overruled 14 years later, when the Court voided substantially the same tax in Philadelphia Steamship Co. v. Pennsylvania, 122 U.S. 326 (1887). 963 82

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and an ‘‘indirect’’ tax, which was permissible until Congress acted. 968 Confusingly, the two concepts were sometimes conflated, sometimes treated separately. In any event, the Court itself was clear that interstate commerce could not be taxed at all, even if the tax was a nondiscriminatory levy applied alike to local commerce. 969 ‘‘Thus, the States cannot tax interstate commerce, either by laying the tax upon the business which constitutes such commerce or the privilege of engaging in it, or upon the receipts, as such, derived from it . . . ; or upon persons or property in transit in interstate commerce.’’ 970 However, some taxes imposed only an ‘‘indirect’’ burden and were sustained; property taxes and taxes in lieu of property taxes applied to all businesses, including instrumentalies of interstate commerce, were sustained. 971 A good rule of thumb in these cases is that taxation was sustained if the tax was imposed on some local, rather than an interstate, activity or if the tax was exacted before interstate movement had begun or after it had ended. An independent basis for invalidation was that the tax was discriminatory, that its impact was intentionally or unintentionally felt by interstate commerce and not by local, perhaps in pursuit of parochial interests. Many of the early cases actually involving discriminatory taxation were decided on the basis of the impermissibility of taxing interstate commerce at all, but the category was soon clearly delineated as a separate ground (and one of the most important today). 972 Following the Great Depression and under the leadership of Justice, and later Chief Justice, Stone, the Court attempted to move away from the principle that interstate commerce may not be taxed and reliance on the direct-indirect distinction. Instead, a state or local levy would be voided only if in the opinion of the Court it created a risk of multiple taxation for interstate commerce 968 See The Minnesota Rate Cases (Simpson v. Shepard), 230 U.S. 352, 398–412 (1913) (reviewing and summarizing at length both taxation and regulation cases). See also Missouri ex rel. Barrett v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 265 U.S. 298, 307 (1924). 969 Robbins v. Shelby County Taxing Dist., 120 U.S. 489, 497 (1887); Leloup v. Port of Mobile, 127 U.S. 640, 648 (1888). 970 The Minnesota Rate Cases (Simpson v. Shepard), 230 U.S. 352, 400–401 (1913). 971 The Delaware R.R. Tax, 85 U.S. (18 Wall.) 206, 232 (1873). See Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Backus, 154 U.S. 439 (1894); Postal Telegraph Cable Co. v. Adams, 155 U.S. 688 (1895). See cases cited in J. HELLERSTEIN & W. HELLERSTEIN, supra n. 891, at 215–219. 972 E.g., Welton v. Missouri, 91 U.S. 275 (1875); Robbins v. Shelby County Taxing District, 120 U.S. 489 (1887); Darnell & Son Co. v. City of Memphis, 208 U.S. 113 (1908); Bethlehem Motors Corp. v. Flynt, 256 U.S. 421 (1921).

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not felt by local commerce. 973 It became much more important to the validity of a tax that it be apportioned to an interstate company’s activities within the taxing State, so as to reduce the risk of multiple taxation. 974 But, just as the Court had achieved constancy in the area of regulation, it reverted to the older doctrines in the taxation area and reiterated that interstate commerce may not be taxed at all, even by a properly apportioned levy, and reasserted the direct-indirect distinction. 975 The stage was set, following a series of cases in which through formalistic reasoning the States were permitted to evade the Court’s precedents, 976 for the formulation of a more realistic doctrine. Regulation.—Much more diverse were the cases dealing with regulation by the state and local governments. Taxation was one thing, the myriad approaches and purposes of regulations another. Generally speaking, if the state action was perceived by the Court to be a regulation of interstate commerce itself, it was deemed to impose a ‘‘direct’’ burden on interstate commerce and impermissible. If the Court saw it as something other than a regulation of interstate commerce, it was considered only to ‘‘affect’’ interstate commerce or to impose only an ‘‘indirect’’ burden on it in the proper exercise of the police powers of the States. 977 But the distinction 973 Western Live Stock v. Bureau of Revenue, 303 U.S. 250 (1938); McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., 309 U.S. 33 (1940); International Harvester Co. v. Department of Treasury, 322 U.S. 340 (1944); International Harvester Co. v. Evatt, 329 U.S. 416 (1947). 974 E.g., Gwin, White & Prince, Inc. v. Henneford, 305 U.S. 434 (1939); Joseph v. Carter & Weekes Stevedoring Co., 330 U.S. 422 (1947); Central Greyhound Lines v. Mealey, 334 U.S. 653 (1948). Notice the Court’s distinguishing of Central Greyhound in Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Jefferson Lines, 514 U.S. 175, 188–91 (1995). 975 Freeman v. Hewit, 329 U.S. 249 (1946); Spector Motor Service v. O’Connor, 340 U.S. 602 (1951). 976 Thus, the States carefully phrased tax laws so as to impose on interstate companies not a license tax for doing business in the State, which was not permitted, Railway Express Agency v. Virginia, 347 U.S. 359 (1954), but as a franchise tax on intangible property or the privilege of doing business in a corporate form, which was permissible. Railway Express Agency v. Virginia, 358 U.S. 434 (1959); Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Traigle, 421 U.S. 100 (1975). Also, the Court increasingly found the tax to be imposed on a local activity in instances it would previously have seen to be an interstate activity. E.g., Memphis Natural Gas Co. v. Stone, 335 U.S. 80 (1948); General Motors Corp. v. Washington, 377 U.S. 436 (1964); Standard Pressed Steel Co. v. Department of Revenue, 419 U.S. 560 (1975). 977 Sedler, The Negative Commerce Clause as a Restriction on State Regulation and Taxation: An Analysis in Terms of Constitutional Structure, 31 WAYNE L. REV. 885, 924–925 (1985). In addition to the sources already cited, see the Court’s summaries in The Minnesota Rate Cases (Simpson v. Shepard), 230 U.S. 352, 398– 412 (1913), and Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 766–770 (1945). In the latter case, Chief Justice Stone was reconceptualizing the standards under the clause, but the summary represents a faithful recitation of the law.

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between ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect’’ burdens was often perceptible only to the Court. 978 A corporation’s status as a foreign entity did not immunize it from state requirements, conditioning its admission to do a local business, to obtain a local license, and to furnish relevant information as well as to pay a reasonable fee. 979 But no registration was permitted of an out-of-state corporation, the business of which in the host State was purely interstate in character. 980 Neither did the Court permit a State to exclude from the its courts a corporation engaging solely in interstate commerce because of a failure to register and to qualify to do business in that State. 981 Interstate transportation brought forth hundreds of cases. State regulation of trains operating across state lines resulted in divergent rulings. It was early held improper for States to prescribe charges for transportation of persons and freight on the basis that the regulation must be uniform and thus could not be left to the States. 982 The Court deemed ‘‘reasonable’’ and therefore constitutional many state regulations requiring a fair and adequate service for its inhabitants by railway companies conducting interstate service within its borders, as long as there was no unnecessary burden on commerce. 983 A marked tolerance for a class of regulations that arguably furthered public safety was long exhibited by the 978 See DiSanto v. Pennsylvania, 273 U.S. 34, 44 (1927) (Justice Stone dissenting). The dissent was the precurser to Chief Jusdtice Stone’s reformulation of the standard in 1945. DiSanto was overruled in California v. Thompson, 313 U.S. 109 (1941). 979 Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 38 U.S. (13 Pet.) 519 (1839); Hanover Fire Ins. Co. v. Harding, 272 U.S. 494 (1926); Union Brokerage Co. v. Jensen, 322 U.S. 202 (1944). 980 Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U.S. 47 (1891); International Textbook Co. v. Pigg, 217 U.S. 91 (1910). 981 Dahnke-Walker Co. v. Bondurant, 257 U.S. 282 (1921); Allenberg Cotton Co. v. Pittman, 419 U.S. 20 (1974). But see Eli Lilly & Co. v. Sav-on Drugs, 366 U.S. 276 (1961). 982 Wabash, S. L. & P. Ry. v. Illinois, 118 U.S. 557 (1886). The power of the States generally to set rates had been approved in Chicago, B. & Q. R.R. v. Iowa, 94 U.S. 155 (1877), and Peik v. Chicago & N. W. Ry., 94 U.S. 164 (1877). After the Wabash decision, States retained power to set rates for passengers and freight taken up and put down within their borders. Wisconsin R.R. Comm’n v. Chicago, B. & Q. R.R., 257 U.S. 563 (1922). 983 Generally, the Court drew the line at regulations that provided for adequate service, not any and all service. Thus, one class of cases dealt with requirements that trains stop at designated cities and towns. The regulations were upheld in such cases as Gladson v. Minnesota, 166 U.S. 142 (1897), and Lake Shore & Mich. South. Ry. v. Ohio, 173 U.S. 285 (1899), and invalidated in Illinois Central R. R. v. Illinois, 142 (1896). See Chicago, B. & Q. R.R. v. Wisconsin R.R. Comm’n, 237 U.S. 220, 226 (1915); St. Louis & S. F. Ry. v. Public Service Comm’n, 254 U.S. 535, 536–537 (1921). The cases were extremely fact particularistic.

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Court, 984 even in instances in which the safety connection was tenuous. 985 Of particular controversy were ‘‘full-crew’’ laws, represented as safety measures, that were attacked by the companies as ‘‘feather-bedding’’ rules. 986 Similarly, motor vehicle regulations have met mixed fates. Basically, it has always been recognized that States, in the interest of public safety and conservation of public highways, may enact and enforce comprehensive licensing and regulation of motor vehicles using its facilities. 987 Indeed, States were permitted to regulate many of the local activities of interstate firms and thus the interstate operations, in pursuit of these interests. 988 Here, too, safety concerns became overriding objects of deference, even in doubtful cases. 989 In regard to navigation, which had given rise to Gibbons v. Ogden and Cooley, the Court generally upheld much state regulation on the basis that the activities were local and did not demand uniform rules. 990 984 E.g., Smith v. Alabama, 124 U.S. 465 (1888) (required locomotive engineers to be examined and licensed by the State, until Congress should deem otherwise); New York, N. H. & H. R.R. v. New York, 165 U.S. 628 (1897) (fobidding heating of passenger cars by stoves); Chicago, R. I. & Pac. Ry. v. Arkansas, 219 U.S. 453 (1911) (requiring three brakemen on freight trains of more than 25 cars). 985 E.g., Terminal Ass’n v. Trainmen, 318 U.S. 1 (1943) (requiring railroad to provide caboose cars for its employees); Hennington v. Georgia, 163 U.S. 299 (1896) (forbidding freight trains to run on Sundays). But see Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. Blackwell, 244 U.S. 310 (1917) (voiding as too onerous on interstate transportation law requiring trains to come to almost a complete stop at all grade crossings, when there were 124 highway crossings at grade in 123 miles, doubling the running time). 986 Four cases over a lengthy period sustained the laws. Chicago, R. I. & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Arkansas, 219 U.S. 453 (1911); St. Louis, Iron Mt. & S. Ry. v. Arkansas, 240 U.S. 518 (1916); Missouri Pacific Co. v. Norwood, 283 U.S. 249 (1931); Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R.R., 382 U.S. 423 (1966). In the latter case, the Court noted the extensive and conflicting record with regard to safety, but it then ruled that with the issue in so much doubt it was peculiarly a legislative choice. 987 Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U.S. 610 (1915); Kane v. New Jersey, 242 U.S. 160 (1916). 988 E.g., Bradley v. Public Utility Comm’n, 289 U.S. 92 (1933) (State could deny an interstate firm a necessary certificate of convenience to operate as a common carrier on the basis that the route was overcrowded); Welch Co. v. New Hampshire, 306 U.S. 79 (1939) (maximum hours for drivers of motor vehicles); Eichholz v. Public Service Comm’n, 306 U.S. 268 (1939) (reasonable regulations of traffic). But compare Michigan Comm’n v. Duke, 266 U.S. 570 (1925) (State may not impose common-carrier responsibilities on business operating between States that did not assume them); Buck v. Kuykendall, 267 U.S. 307 (1925) (denial of certificate of convenience under circumstances was a ban on competition). 989 E.g., Mauer v. Hamilton, 309 U.S. 598 (1940) (ban on oiperation of any motor vehicle carrying any other vehicle above the head of the operator). By far, the example of the greatest deference is South Carolina Highway Dep’t v. Barnwell Bros., 303 U.S. 177 (1938), in which the Court upheld, in a surprising Stone opinion, truck weight and width restrictions prescribed by practically no other State (in terms of the width, no other). 990 E.g., Transportation Co. v. City of Chicago, 99 U.S. 635 (1879); Willamette Iron Bridge Co. v. Hatch, 125 U.S. 1 (1888). See Kelly v. Washington, 302 U.S. 1

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As a general rule, during this time, although the Court did not permit States to regulate a purely interstate activity or prescribe prices for purely interstate transactions, 991 it did sustain a great deal of price and other regulation imposed prior to or subsequent to the travel in interstate commerce of goods produced for such commerce or received from such commerce. For example, decisions late in the period upheld state price-fixing schemes applied to goods intended for interstate commerce. 992 However, the States always had an obligation to act nondiscriminatorily. Just as in the taxing area, regulation that was parochially oriented, to protect local producers or industries, for instance, was not evaluated under ordinary standards but subjected to practically per se invalidation. The mirror image of Welton v. Missouri, 993 the tax case, was Minnesota v. Barber, 994 in which the Court invalidated a facially neutral law that in its practical effect discriminated against interstate commerce and in favor of local commerce. The law required fresh meat sold in the State to have been inspected by its own inspectors with 24 hours of slaughter. Thus, meat slaughtered in other States was excluded from the Minnesota market. The principle of the case has a long pedigree of application. 995 State protectionist regulation on behalf of local milk producers has occasioned judicial censure. Thus, in Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 996 the Court had before it a complex state pricefixing scheme for milk, in which the State, in order to keep the price of milk artificially high within the State, required milk dealers buying out-of-state to pay producers, wherever they were, what (1937) (upholding state inspection and regulation of tugs operating in navigable waters, in absence of federal law). 991 E.g., Western Union Tel Co. v. Foster, 247 U.S. 105 (1918); Lemke v. Framers Grain Co., 258 U.S. 50 (1922); State Corp. Comm’n v. Wichita Gas Co., 290 U.S. 561 (1934). 992 Milk Control Board v. Eisenberg Co., 306 U.S. 346 (1939) (milk); Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341 (1943) (raisins). 993 91 U.S. 275 (1875). 994 136 U.S. 313 (1890). 995 E.g., Brimmer v. Rebman, 138 U.S. 78 (1891) (law requiring postslaughter inspection in each county of meat transported over 100 miles from the place of slaughter); Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison, 340 U.S. 349 (1951) (city ordinance preventing selling of milk as pasteurized unless it had been processed and bottled at an approved plant within a radius of five miles from the central square of Madison). As the latter case demonstrates, it is constitutionally irrelevant that other Wisconsin producers were also disadvantaged by the law. For a modern application of the principle of these cases, see Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill v. Michigan Natural Resources Dept., 504 U.S. 353 (1992) (forbidding landfills from accepting outof-county wastes). And see C & A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown, 511 U.S. 383, 391 (1994) (discrimination against interstate commerce not preserved because local businesses also suffer). 996 294 U.S. 511 (1935). See also Polar Ice Cream & Creamery Co. v. Andrews, 375 U.S. 361 (1964). With regard to products originating within the State, the Court had no difficulty with price fixing. Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502 (1934).

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the dealers had to pay within the State, and, thus, in-state producers were protected. And in H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 997 the Court struck down a state refusal to grant an out-ofstate milk distributor a license to operate a milk receiving station within the State on the basis that the additional diversion of local milk to the other State would impair the supply for the in-state market. A State may not bar an interstate market to protect local interests. 998 State Taxation and Regulation: The Modern Law General Considerations.—Transition from the old law to the modern standard occurred relatively smoothly in the field of regulation, 999 but in the area of taxation the passage was choppy and often witnessed retreats and advances. 1000 In any event, both taxation and regulation now are evaluated under a judicial balancing formula comparing the burden on interstate commerce with the importance of the state interest, save for discriminatory state action that cannot be justified at all. Taxation.—During the 1940s and 1950s, there was engaged within the Court a contest between the view that interstate commerce could not be taxed at all, at least ‘‘directly,’’ and the view that the negative commerce clause protected against the risk of double taxation. 1001 In Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, 1002 the Court reasserted the principle expressed earlier in Western Live Stock, that the Framers did not intend to immunize interstate commerce from its just share of the state tax burden even though it increased the cost of doing business. 1003 Northwestern States held that a State could constitutionally impose a 997 336 U.S. 525 (1949). For the most recent case in this saga, see West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U.S. 186 (1994). 998 And the Court does not permit a State to combat discrimination against its own products by admitting only products (here, again, milk) from States that have reciprocity agreements with it to protect its own dealers. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Cottrell, 424 U.S. 366 (1976). 999 Formulation of a balancing test was achieved in Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761 (1945),and was thereafter maintained more or less consistently. The Court’s current phrasing of the test was in Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137 (1970). 1000 Indeed, scholars dispute just when the modern standard was firmly adopted. The conventional view is that it was articulated in Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274 (1977), but there also seems little doubt that the foundation of the present law was laid in Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, 358 U.S. 450 (1959). 1001 Compare Freeman v. Hewit, 329 U.S. 249, 252–256 (1946), with Western Live Stock v. Bureau of Revenue, 303 U.S. 250, 258, 260 (1938). 1002 358 U.S. 450 (1959). 1003 358 U.S. at 461–62. See Western Live Stock v. Bureau of Revenue, 303 U.S. 250, 254 (1938). For recent reiterations of the principle, see Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298, 310 n.5 (1992) (citing cases).

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nondiscriminatory, fairly apportioned net income tax on an out-ofstate corporation engaged exclusively in interstate commerce in the taxing State. ‘‘For the first time outside the context of property taxation, the Court explicitly recognized that an exclusively interstate business could be subjected to the states’ taxing powers.’’ 1004 Thus, in Northwestern States, foreign corporations, which maintained a sales office and employed sales staff in the taxing State for solicitation of orders for their merchandise that, upon acceptance of the orders at their home office in another jurisdiction, were shipped to customers in the taxing State, were held liable to pay the latter’s income tax on that portion of the net income of their interstate business as was attributable to such solicitation. Yet, the following years saw inconsistent rulings that turned almost completely upon the use of or failure to use ‘‘magic words’’ by legislative drafters. That is, it was constitutional for the States to tax a corporation’s net income, properly apportioned to the taxing State, as in Northwestern States, but no State could levy a tax on a foreign corporation for the privilege of doing business in the State, both taxes alike in all respects. 1005 In Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 1006 the Court overruled the cases embodying the distinction and articulated a standard that has governed the cases since. The tax in Brady was imposed on the privilege of doing business as applied to a corporation engaged in interstate transportation services in the taxing State; it was measured by the corporation’s gross receipts from the service. The appropriate concern, the Court wrote, was to pay attention to ‘‘economic realities’’ and to ‘‘address the problems with which the commerce clause is concerned.’’ 1007 The standard, a set of four factors that was distilled from precedent but newly applied, was firmly set out. A tax on interstate commerce will be sustained ‘‘when the tax is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing State, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate against interstate commerce, 1004 Hellerstein, State Taxation of Interstate Business: Perspectives on Two Centuries of Constitutional Adjudication, 41 TAX LAW. 37, 54 (1987). 1005 Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. O’Connor, 340 U.S. 602 (1951). The attenuated nature of the purported distinction was evidenced in Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Traigle, 421 U.S. 100 (1975), in which the Court sustained a nondiscriminatory, fairly apportioned franchise tax that was measured by the taxpayer’s capital stock, imposed on a pipeline company doing an exclusively interstate business in the taxing State, on the basis that it was a tax imposed on the privilege of conducting business in the corporate form. 1006 430 U.S. 274 (1977). 1007 430 U.S. at 279, 288. ‘‘In reviewing Commerce Clause challenges to state taxes, our goal has instead been to ‘establish a consistent and rational method of inquiry’ focusing on ‘the practical effect of a challenged tax.’’’ Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609, 615 (1981) (quoting Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 445 U.S. 425, 443 (1980)).

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and is fairly related to the services provided by the State.’’ 1008 All subsequent cases have been decided in this framework. Nexus.—Nexus is a requirement that flows from both the commerce clause and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 1009 What is required is ‘‘some definite link, some minimum connection, between a state and the person, property or transaction it seeks to tax.’’ 1010 In its commerce-clause setting, the nexus requirement serves to effectuate the ‘‘structural concerns about the effects of state regulation on the national economy.’’ 1011 That is, ‘‘the ‘substantial-nexus’ requirement . . . limit[s] the reach of State taxing authority so as to ensure that State taxation does not unduly burden interstate commerce.’’ 1012 Often surfacing in cases having to do with the imposition of an obligation by a State on an out-of-state vendor to collect use taxes on goods sold to purchasers in the taxing State, the test is a ‘‘physical presence’’ standard. The Court has sustained the imposition on mail order sellers with retail outlets, solicitors, or property within the taxing State, 1013 but it has denied the power to a State when the only connection is that the company communicates with customers in the State by mail or common carrier as part of a general interstate business. 1014 The validity of general business taxes on interstate enterprises may also be determined by the nexus stand1008 430 U.S. at 279. The rationale of these four parts of the test is set out in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298, 312-13 (1992). A recent application of the four-part Complete Auto Transit test is Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175 (1995). 1009 It had been thought that the tests of nexus under the commerce clause and the due process clause were identical, but, controversially, in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298, 306-08 (1992), but compare id. at 319 (Justice White concurring in part and dissenting in part), the Court, stating that the two ‘‘are closely related,’’ (citing National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753, 756 (1967)), held that the two constitutional requirements ‘‘differ fundamentally’’ and it found a state tax met the due process test while violating the commerce clause. 1010 National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Dept. of Revenue of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753, 756 (1967). The phraseology is quoted from a due process case, Miller Bros. v. Maryland, 347 U.S. 340, 344–345 (1954), but as a statement it probably survives the bifurcation of the tests in Quill. 1011 Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298, 312 (1992). 1012 504 U.S. at 313. 1013 Scripto v. Carson, 362 U.S. 207 (1960); National Geographic Society v. California Bd. of Equalization,, 430 U.S. 551 (1977). The agents in the State in Scripto were independent contractors, rather than employees, but this distinction was irrelevant. See also Tyler Pipe Indus. v. Washington State Dept. of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 249–250 (1987) (reaffirming Scripto on this point). See also D. H. Holmes Co. v. McNamara, 486 U.S. 24 (1988) (imposition of use tax on catalogs, printed outside State at direction of an in-state corporation and shipped to prospective customers within the State, upheld). 1014 National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753 (1967), reaffirmed with respect to the commerce clause in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ex rel. Heitkamp, 504 U.S. 298 (1992).

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ard. However, again, only a minimal contact is necessary. 1015 Thus, maintenance of one full-time employee within the State (plus occasional visits by non-resident engineers) to make possible the realization and continuance of contractual relations seemed to the Court to make almost frivolous a claim of lack of sufficient nexus. 1016 The application of a state business-and-occupation tax on the gross receipts from a large wholesale volume of pipe and drainage products in the State was sustained, even though the company maintained no office, owned no property, and had no employees in the State, its marketing activities being carried out by an in-state independent contractor. 1017 Also, the Court upheld a State’s application of a use tax to aviation fuel stored temporarily in the State prior to loading on aircraft for consumption in interstate flights. 1018 Given the complexity of modern corporations and their frequent diversification and control of subsidiaries, state treatment of businesses operating within and without their borders requires an appropriate definition of the scope of business operations. Thus, States may impose a tax in accordance with a ‘‘unitary business’’ apportionment formula on concerns carrying on part of their business within the taxing State based upon the company’s entire proceeds. But there must be a nexus, or minimal connection, between the interstate activities and the taxing State and a rational relationship between the income attributed to the State and the intrastate values of the enterprise. 1019 Apportionment.—This requirement is of long standing, 1020 but its importance has broadened as the scope of the States’ taxing powers has enlarged. It is concerned with what formulas the States must use to claim a share of a multistate business’ tax base for the 1015 Some in-state contact is necessary in many instances by statutory compulson, Reacting to Northwestern States, Congress enacted P.L. 86–272, 15 U.S.C. § 381, providing that mere solicitation by a company acting outside the State did not support imposition of a state income tax on a company’s proceeds. See Heublein, Inc. v. South Carolina Tax Comm’n, 409 U.S. 275 (1972). 1016 Standard Pressed Steel Co. v. Department of Revenue, 419 U.S. 560 (1975). See also General Motors Corp. v. Washington, 377 U.S. 436 (1964). 1017 Tyler Pipe Industries v. Dept. of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 249–251 (1987). The Court noted its agreement with the state court holding that ‘‘‘the crucial factor governing nexus is whether the activities performed in this state on behalf of the taxpayer are significantly associated with the taxpayer’s ability to establish and maintain a market in this state for the sales.’’’ Id. at 250. 1018 United Air Lines v. Mahin, 410 U.S. 623 (1973). 1019 Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. 159, 165–169 (1983); ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm’n, 458 U.S. 307, 316–17 (1982). Hunt-Wesson, Inc. v. Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal., 528 U.S. 58 (2000) (interest deduction not properly apportioned between unitary and non-unitary business). 1020 E.g., Pullman’s Palace Car Co. v. Pennsylvania, 141 U.S. 18, 26 (1891); Maine v. Grand Trunk Ry., 142 U.S. 217, 278 (1891).

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taxing State, when the business carries on a single integrated enterprise both within and without the State. A State may not exact from interstate commerce more than the State’s fair share. Avoidance of multiple taxation, or the risk of multiple taxation, is the test of an apportionment formula. Generally speaking, this factor is both a commerce clause and a due process requisite, and it necessitates a rational relationship between the income attributed to the State and the intrastate values of the enterprise. 1021 The Court has declined to impose any particular formula on the States, reasoning that to do so would be to require the Court to engage in ‘‘extensive judicial lawmaking,’’ for which it was ill-suited and for which Congress had ample power and ability to legislate. 1022 Rather, ‘‘we determine whether a tax is fairly apportioned by examining whether it is internally and externally consistent.’’ 1023 ‘‘To be internally consistent, a tax must be structured so that if every State were to impose an identical tax, no multiple taxation would result. Thus, the internal consistency test focuses on the text of the challenged statute and hypothesizes a situation where other States have passed an identical statute. . . .’’ ‘‘The external consistency test asks whether the State has taxed only that portion of the revenues from the interstate activity which reasonably reflects the in-state component of the activity being taxed. We thus examine the in-state business activity which triggers the taxable event and the practical or economic effect of the tax on that interstate activity.’’ 1024 In the latter case, the Court upheld as properly apportioned a state tax on the gross charge of any telephone call originated or terminated in the State and charged to an in-state service address, regardless of where the telephone call was billed or paid. 1025 A complex state tax imposed on trucks displays the operation of the test. Thus, a state registration tax met the internal consistency test because every State honored every other States’, and a motor fuel tax similarly was sustained 1021 The recent cases are, Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267 (1978); Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 445 U.S. 425 (1980); Exxon Corp. v. Wisconsin Dep’t of Revenue, 447 U.S. 207 (1980); ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm’n, 458 U.S. 307 (1982); F. W. Woolworth Co. v. New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Dep’t, 458 U.S. 354 (1982); Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Board, 463 U.S. 159 (1983); Tyler Pipe Industries v. Dept. of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 251 (1987) Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768 (1992). Cf. American Trucking Ass’ns Inc. v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266 (1987). 1022 Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267, 278–280 (1978). 1023 Goldberg v. Sweet, 488 U.S. 252, 261 (1989). 1024 488 U.S. at 261, 262 (internal citations omitted). 1025 Id. The tax law provided a credit for any taxpayer who was taxed by another State on the same call. Actual multiple taxation could thus be avoided, the risks of other multiple taxation was small, and it was impracticable to keep track of the taxable transactions.

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because it was apportioned to mileage traveled in the State, whereas lump-sum annual taxes, an axle tax and an identification marker fee, being unapportioned flat taxes imposed for the use of the State’s roads, were voided, under the internal consistency test, because if every State imposed them the burden on interstate commerce would be great. 1026 A deference to state taxing authority was evident in a case in which the Court sustained a state sales tax on the price of a bus ticket for travel that originated in the State but terminated in another State. The tax was unapportioned to reflect the intrastate travel and the interstate travel. 1027 The tax in this case was different from the tax upheld in Central Greyhound, the Court held. The previous tax constituted a levy on gross receipts, payable by the seller, whereas the present tax was a sales tax, also assessed on gross receipts, but payable by the buyer. The Oklahoma tax, the Court continued, was internally consistent, since if every State imposed a tax on ticket sales within the State for travel originating there, no sale would be subject to more than one tax. The tax was also externally consistent, the Court held, because it was a tax on the sale of a service that took place in the State, not a tax on the travel. 1028 However, the Court found discriminatory and thus invalid a state intangibles tax on a fraction of the value of corporate stock owned by state residents inversely proportional to the State’s exposure to the state income tax. 1029 Discrimination.—The ‘‘fundamental principle’’ governing this factor is simple. ‘‘‘No State may, consistent with the Commerce Clause, impose a tax which discriminates against interstate commerce . . . by providing a direct commercial advantage to local business.’’’ 1030 That is, a tax which by its terms or operation imposes 1026 American

Trucking Ass’ns v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266 (1987). there seemed to be a precedent squarely on point, Central Greyhound Lines v. Mealey, 334 U.S. 653 (1948). Struck down in that case was a state statute that failed to apportion its taxation of interstate bus ticket sales to reflect the distance traveled within the State. 1028 Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175 (1995). Indeed, the Court analogized the tax to that in Goldberg v. Sweet, 488 U.S. 252 (1989), a tax on interstate telephone services that originated in or terminated in the State and that were bill to an in-state address. 1029 Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, 516 U.S. 325 (1996). The State had defended on the basis that the tax was a ‘‘compensatory’’ one designed to make interstate commerce bear a burden already borne by intrastate commerce. The Court recognized the legitimacy of the defense, but it found the tax to meet none of the three criteria for classification as a valid compensatory tax. Id. at 333–44. See also South Central Bell Tel. Co. v. Alabama, 526 U.S. 160 (1999) (tax not justified as compensatory). 1030 Boston Stock Exchange v. State Tax Comm’n, 429 U.S. 318, 329 (1977) (quoting, Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, 358 U.S. 450, 457 1027 Indeed,

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greater burdens on out-of-state goods or activities than on competing in-state goods or activities will be struck down as discriminatory under the commerce clause. 1031 In Armco Inc. v. Hardesty, 1032 the Court voided as discriminatory the imposition on an out-of-state wholesaler of a state tax that was levied on manufacturing and wholesaling but that relieved manufacturers subject to the manufacturing tax of liability for paying the wholesaling tax. Even though the former tax was higher than the latter, the Court found the imposition discriminated against the interstate wholesaler. 1033 A state excise tax on wholesale liquor sales, which exempted sales of specified local products, was held to violate the commerce clause. 1034 A state statute that granted a tax credit for ethanol fuel if the ethanol was produced in the State, or if produced in another State that granted a similar credit to the State’s ethanol fuel, was found discriminatory in violation of the clause. 1035 Expanding, although neither unexpectedly nor exceptionally, its dormant commerce jurisprudence, the Court in Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison 1036 applied its nondiscrimination element of the doctrine to invalidate the State’s charitable property tax exemption statute, which applied to nonprofit firms performing benevolent and charitable functions, but which excluded entities serving primarily non-state residents. The (1959)). The principle, as we have observed above, is a long-standing one under the commerce clause. E.g., Welton v. Missouri, 91 U.S. 275 (1876). 1031 Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U.S. 725, 753–760 (1981). But see Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609, 617–619 (1981). And see Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality, 511 U.S. 93 (1994) (surcharge on in-state disposal of solid wastes that discriminates against companies disposing of waste generated in other States invalid). 1032 467 U.S. 638 (1984). 1033 The Court applied the ‘‘internal consistency’’ test here too, in order to determine the existence of discrimination. 467 U.S. at 644–45. Thus, the wholesaler did not have to demonstrate it had paid a like tax to another State, only that if other States imposed like taxes it would be subject to discriminatory taxation. See also Tyler Pipe Industries v. Dept. of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232 (1987); American Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266 (1987); Amerada Hess Corp. v. Director, New Jersey Taxation Div., 490 U.S. 66 (1989); Kraft General Foods v. Iowa Dep’t of Revenue, 505 U.S. 71 (1992) 1034 Bacchus Imports, Ltd. v. Dias, 468 U.S. 263 (1984). 1035 New Energy Co. of Indiana v. Limbach, 486 U.S. 269 (1988). Compare Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, 516 U.S. 325 (1996) (state intangibles tax on a fraction of the value of corporate stock owned by in-state residents inversely proportional to the corporation’s exposure to the state income tax violated dormant commerce clause), with General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 U.S. 278 (1997) (state imposition of sales and use tax on all sales of natural gas except sales by regulated public utilities, all of which were in-state companies, but covering all other sellers that were out-ofstate companies did not violate dormant commerce clause because regulated and unregulated companies were not similarly situated). 1036 520 U.S. 564 (1997). The decision was a 5–to–4 one with a strong dissent by Justice Scalia, id. at 595, and a philosophical departure by Justice Thomas. Id. at 609.

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claimant here operated a church camp for children, most of whom resided out-of-state. The discriminatory tax would easily have fallen had it been applied to profit-making firms, and the Court saw no reason to make an exception for nonprofits. The tax scheme was designed to encourage entities to care for local populations and to discourage attention to out-of-state individuals and groups. ‘‘For purposes of Commerce Clause analysis, any categorical distinction between the activities of profit-making enterprises and not-for-profit entities is therefore wholly illusory. Entities in both categories are major participants in interstate markets. And, although the summer camp involved in this case may have a relatively insignificant impact on the commerce of the entire Nation, the interstate commercial activities of nonprofit entities as a class are unquestionably significant.’’ 1037 Benefit Relationship.—Although, in all the modern cases, the Court has stated that a necessary factor to sustain state taxes having an interstate impact is that the levy be fairly related to benefits provided by the taxing State, it has declined to be drawn into any consideration of the amount of the tax or the value of the benefits bestowed. The test rather is whether, as a matter of the first factor, the business has the requisite nexus with the State; if it does, the tax meets the fourth factor simply because the business has enjoyed the opportunities and protections which the State has afforded it. 1038 Regulation.—Adoption of the modern standard of commerceclause review of state regulation of or having an impact on interstate commerce was achieved in Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 1039 although it was presaged in a series of opinions, mostly dissents, by Chief Justice Stone. 1040 The Southern Pacific case tested the validity of a state train-length law, justified as a safety measure. Revising a hundred years of doctrine, the Chief Justice wrote that whether a state or local regulation was valid depended upon a ‘‘reconciliation of the conflicting claims of state and national power [that] is to be attained only by some appraisal and accommo1037 520

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1038 Commonwealth

Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609, 620–29 (1981). Two state taxes imposing flat rates on truckers, because they did not vary directly with miles traveled or with some other proxy for value obtained from the State, were found to violate this standard in American Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266, 291 (1987), but this oblique holding was tagged onto an elaborate opinion holding the taxes invalid under two other Brady tests, and, thus, the precedential value is questionable. 1039 325 U.S. 761 (1945). 1040 E.g., DiSanto v. Pennsylvania, 273 U.S. 34, 43 (1927) (dissenting); California v. Thompson, 313 U.S. 109 (1941); Duckworth v. Arkansas, 314 U.S. 390 (1941); Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341, 362–368 (1943) (alternative holding).

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dation of the competing demands of the state and national interests involved.’’ 1041 Save in those few cases in which Congress has acted, ‘‘this Court, and not the state legislature, is under the commerce clause the final arbiter of the competing demands of state and national interests.’’ 1042 That the test to be applied was a balancing one, the Chief Justice made clear at length, stating that in order to determine whether the challenged regulation was permissible, ‘‘matters for ultimate determination are the nature and extent of the burden which the state regulation of interstate trains, adopted as a safety measure, imposes on interstate commerce, and whether the relative weights of the state and national interests involved are such as to make inapplicable the rule, generally observed, that the free flow of interstate commerce and its freedom from local restraints in matters requiring uniformity of regulation are interests safeguarded by the commerce clause from state interference.’’ 1043 The test today continues to be the Stone articulation, although the more frequently quoted encapsulation of it is from Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. 1044 ‘‘Where the statute regulates even-handedly to effectuate a legitimate local public interest, and its effects on interstate commerce are only incidental, it will be upheld unless the burden imposed on such commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. . . . If a legitimate local purpose is found, then the question becomes one of degree. And the extent of the burden that will be tolerated will of course depend on the nature of the local interest involved, and on whether it could be promoted as well with a lesser impact on interstate activities.’’ Obviously, the test requires ‘‘even-handedness.’’ Discrimination in regulation is another matter altogether. When on its face or in its effect a regulation betrays ‘‘economic protectionism,’’ an intent to benefit in-state economic interests at the expense of out-ofstate interests, no balancing is required. ‘‘When a state statute clearly discriminates against interstate commerce, it will be struck down . . . unless the discrimination is demonstrably justified by a valid factor unrelated to economic protectionism, . . . . Indeed, when the state statute amounts to simple economic protectionism, a ‘virtually per se rule of invalidity’ has applied.’’ 1045 Thus, an Oklahoma 1041 Southern

Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 768–769 (1941). U.S. at 769. 1043 325 U.S. at 770–71. 1044 397 U.S. 137, 142 (1970). 1045 Wyoming v. Oklahoma, 502 U.S. 437, 454 (1992) (quoting City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617, 624 (1978)). See also Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Auth., 476 U.S. 573, 579 (1986). In Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 131 (1986), the Court did uphold a protectionist law, finding a valid jus1042 325

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law that required coal-fired electric utilities in the State, producing power for sale in the State, to burn a mixture of coal containing at least 10% Oklahoma-mined coal was invalidated at the behest of a State that had previously provided virtually 100% of the coal used by the Oklahoma utilities. 1046 Similarly, the Court invalidated a state law that permitted interdiction of export of hydroelectric power from the State to neighboring States, when in the opinion of regulatory authorities the energy was required for use in the State; a State may not prefer its own citizens over out-of-state residents in access to resources within the State. 1047 States may certainly promote local economic interests and favor local consumers, but they may not do so by adversely regulating out-of-state producers or consumers. In Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm’n, 1048 the Court confronted a state requirement that closed containers of apples offered for sale or shipped into North Carolina carry no grade other than the applicable U. S. grade. Washington State mandated that all apples produced in and shipped in interstate commerce pass a much more rigorous inspection than that mandated by the United States. The inability to display the recognized state grade in North Carolina impeded marketing of Washington apples. The Court obviously suspected the impact was intended, but, rather than strike the state requirement down as purposeful, it held that the regulation had the practical effect of discriminating, and, inasmuch as no defense based on possible consumer protection could be presented, the state tification aside from economic protectionism. The State barred the importation of out-of-state baitfish, and the Court credited lower-court findings that legitimate ecological concerns existed about the possible presence of parasites and nonnative species in baitfish shipments. 1046 Wyoming v. Oklahoma, 502 U.S. 437 (1992). See also Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U.S. 725 (1981) (a tax case, invalidating a state first-use tax, which, because of exceptions and credits, imposed a tax only on natural gas moving out-of-state, because of impermissible discrimination). 1047 New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, 455 U.S. 331 (1982). See also Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322 (1979) (voiding a ban on transporting minnows caught in the State for sale outside the State); Sporhase v. Nebraska, 458 U.S. 941 (1982) (invalidating a ban on the withdrawal of ground water from any well in the State intended for use in another State). These cases largely eviscerated a line of older cases recognizing a strong state interest in protection of animals and resources. See Geer v. Connecticut, 161 U.S. 519 (1896). New England Power had rather old antecedents. E.g., West v. Kansas Gas Co., 221 U.S. 229 (1911); Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553 (1923). 1048 432 U.S. 333 (1977). Other cases in which the State was attempting to promote and enhance local products and businesses include Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137 (1970) (State required producer of high-quality cantaloupes to pack them in the State, rather than in an adjacent State at considerably less expense, in order that the produce be identified with the producing State); Foster-Fountain Packing Co. v. Haydel, 278 U.S. 1 (1928) (State banned export of shrimp from State until hulls and heads were removed and processed, in order to favor canning and manufacture within the State).

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law was invalidated. 1049 State actions to promote local products and producers, of everything from milk 1050 to alcohol, 1051 may not be achieved through protectionism. Even garbage transportation and disposition is covered by the negative commerce clause. A state law that banned the importation of most solid or liquid wastes that originated outside the State was struck down, because the State could not justify it as a health or safety measure, in the form of a quarantine, inasmuch as it did not limit in-state disposal at its landfills; the State was simply attempting to conserve landfill space and lower costs to its residents by keeping out trash from other States. 1052 Further extending the limitation of the clause on waste disposal, 1053 the Court invalidated as a discrimination against interstate commerce a local ‘‘flow control’’ law, which required all solid waste within the town to be processed at a designated transfer station before leaving the municipality. 1054 The town’s reason for the restriction was its decision to have built a solid waste transfer station by a private contractor, rather than with public funds by the town. To make the arrangement appetizing to the contractor, the town guaranteed it a minimum waste flow, for which it could charge a fee significantly higher than market rates. The guarantee was policed by the requirement that all solid waste generated within the town be processed at the contractor’s station and that any person disposing of solid waste in any other location would be penalized. The Court analogized the constraint as a form of economic protectionism, which bars out-of-state processors from the business of treating the localities solid waste, by hoarding a local resource for 1049 That discriminatory effects will result in invalidation, as well as purposeful discrimination, is also drawn from Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison, 340 U.S. 349 (1951) 1050 E.g., H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U.S. 525 (1949). See also Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Cottrell, 424 U.S. 366 (1976) (state effort to combat discrimination by other States against its milk through reciprocity provisions). In West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U.S. 186 (1994), the Court held invalidly discriminatory against interstate commerce a state milk pricing order, which imposed an assessment on all milk sold by dealers to in-state retailers, the entire assessment being distributed to in-state dairy farmers despite the fact that about twothirds of the assessed milk was produced out of State. The avowed purpose and undisputed effect of the provision was to enable higher-cost in-state dairy farmers to compete with lower-cost dairy farmers in other States. 1051 Healy v. Beer Institute, Inc., 491 U.S. 324 (1989); Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Auth., 476 U.S. 573 (1986). And see Bacchus Imports, Ltd. v. Dias, 468 U.S. 263 (1984) (a tax case). 1052 City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978), reaffirmed and applied in Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U.S. 334 (1992), and Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill v. Michigan Natural Resources Dept., 504 U.S. 353 (1992). 1053 See also Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Envtl. Quality, 511 U.S. 93 (1994) (discriminatory tax). 1054 C & A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown, 511 U.S. 383 (1994).

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the benefit of local businesses that perform the service. The town’s goal of revenue generation was not a local interest that could justify the discrimination. Moreover, the town had other means to accomplish this goal, such as subsidization of the local facility through general taxes or municipal bonds. The Court did not deal with, indeed, did not notice, the fact that the local law conferred a governmentally-granted monopoly, an exclusive franchise, indistinguishable from a host of local monopolies at the state and local level. 1055 States may not interdict the movement of persons into the State, whatever the motive to protect themselves from economic or similar difficulties. 1056 Drawing the line between discriminatory regulations that are almost per se invalid and regulations that necessitate balancing is not an easy task. Not every claim of protectionism is sustained. Thus, in Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 1057 there was attacked a state law banning the retail sale of milk products in plastic, nonreturnable containers but permitting sales in other nonreturnable, nonrefillable containers, such as paperboard cartons. The Court found no discrimination against interstate commerce, because both in-state and out-of-state interests could not use plastic containers, and it refused to credit a lower, state-court finding that the measure was intended to benefit the local pulpwood industry. In Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, 1058 the Court upheld a statute that prohibited producers or refiners of petroleum products from operating retail service stations in Maryland. No discrimination was found, first, because there were no local producers or refiners within Maryland and therefore since the State’s entire gasoline supply flowed in interstate commerce there was no favoritism, and, second, although the bar on operating fell entirely on out-of-state concerns, there were out-of-state concerns that did not produce or refine gasoline and they were able to continue operating in the State, so that there was some distinction between all in-state 1055 See The Supreme Court, Leading Cases, 1993 Term, 108 HARV. L. REV. 139, 149–59 (1994). Weight was given to this consideration by Justice O’Connor, 511 U.S. at 401 (concurring) (local law an excessive burden on interstate commerce), and by Justice Souter, id. at 410 (dissenting). 1056 Edwards v. California, 314 U.S. 160 (1941) (California effort to bar ‘‘Okies,’’ persons fleeing the Great Plains dust bowl in the Depression). Cf. the notable case of Crandall v. Nevada, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 35 (1867) (without tying it to any particular provision of Constitution, Court finds a protected right of interstate movement). The right of travel is now an aspect of equal protection jurisprudence. 1057 449 U.S. 456, 470–474 (1981). 1058 437 U.S. 117 (1978).

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operators and some out-of-state operators as against some other out-of-state operators. Still a model example of balancing is Chief Justice Stone’s opinion in Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona. 1059 At issue was the validity of Arizona’s law barring the operation within the State of trains of more than 14 passenger cars, no other State had a figure this low, or 70 freight cars, only one other State had a cap this low. First, the Court observed that the law substantially burdened interstate commerce. Enforcement of the law in Arizona, while train lengths went unregulated or were regulated by varying standards in other States, meant that interstate trains of a length lawful in other States had to be broken up before entering the State; inasmuch as it was not practicable to break up trains at the border, that act had to be accomplished at yards quite removed, with the result that the Arizona limitation controlled train lengths as far east as El Paso, Texas, and as far west as Los Angeles. Nearly 95% of the rail traffic in Arizona was interstate. The other alternative was to operate in other States with the lowest cap, Arizona’s, with the result that that State’s law controlled the railroads’ operations over a wide area. 1060 If other States began regulating at different lengths, as they would be permitted to do, the burden on the railroads would burgeon. Moreover, the additional number of trains needed to comply with the cap just within Arizona was costly, and delays were occasioned by the need to break up and remake lengthy trains. 1061 Conversely, the Court found that as a safety measure the state cap had ‘‘at most slight and dubious advantage, if any, over unregulated train lengths.’’ That is, while there were safety problems with longer trains, the shorter trains mandated by state law required increases in the numbers of trains and train operations and a consequent increase in accidents generally more severe than 1059 325 U.S. 761 (1945). Interestingly, Justice Stone had written the opinion for the Court in South Carolina State Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., 303 U.S. 177 (1938), in which, in a similar case involving regulation of interstate transportation and proffered safety reasons, he had eschewed balancing and deferred overwhelmingly to the state legislature. Barnwell Bros. involved a state law that prohibited use on state highways of trucks that were over 90 inches wide or that had a gross weight over 20,000 pounds, with from 85% to 90% of the Nation’s trucks exceeding these limits. This deference and refusal to evaluate evidence resurfaced in a case involving an attack on railroad ‘‘full-crew’’ laws. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. Chicago, R.I. & P. Railroad Co., 393 U.S. 129 (1968). 1060 The concern about the impact of one State’s regulation upon the laws of other States is in part a reflection of the Cooley national uniformity interest and partly a hesitation about the autonomy of other States, E.g., CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 481 U.S. 69, 88–89 (1987); Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York State Liquor Auth., 476 U.S. 573, 583–584 (1986). 1061 Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 771–75 (1945).

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those attributable to longer trains. In short, the evidence did not show that the cap lessened rather than increased the danger of accidents. 1062 Conflicting state regulations appeared in Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines. 1063 There, Illinois required the use of contour mudguards on trucks and trailers operating on the State’s highways, while adjacent Arkansas required the use of straight mudguards and banned contoured ones. At least 45 States authorized straight mudguards. The Court sifted the evidence and found it conflicting on the comparative safety advantages of contoured and straight mudguards. But, admitting that if that were all that was involved the Court would have to sustain the costs and burdens of outfitting with the required mudguards, the Court invalidated the Illinois law, because of the massive burden on interstate commerce occasioned by the necessity of truckers to shift cargoes to differently designed vehicles at the State’s borders. Arguably, the Court in more recent years has continued to stiffen the scrutiny with which it reviews state regulation of interstate carriers purportedly for safety reasons. 1064 Difficulty attends any evaluation of the possible developing approach, inasmuch as the Court has spoken with several voices. A close reading, however, indicates that while the Court is most reluctant to invalidate regulations that touch upon safety and that if safety justifications are not illusory it will not second-guess legislative judgment, nonetheless, the Court will not accept, without more, state assertions of safety motivations. ‘‘Regulations designed for that salutary purpose nevertheless may further the purpose so marginally, and interfere with commerce so substantially, as to be invalid under the Commerce Clause.’’ Rather, the asserted safety purpose must be weighed against the degree of interference with interstate commerce. ‘‘This ‘weighing’ . . . requires . . . a sensitive consideration of the weight and nature of the state regulatory concern in light of the extent of the burden imposed on the course of interstate commerce.’’ 1065 Balancing has been used in other than transportation-industry cases. Indeed, the modern restatement of the standard was in such 1062 325

U.S. at 775–79, 781–84. U.S. 520 (1959). 1064 Raymond Motor Transp., Inc. v. Rice, 434 U.S. 429 (1978); Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp., 450 U.S. 662 (1981). 1065 Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp., 450 U.S. 662, 670–671 (1981), (quoting Raymond Motor Transp. v. Rice, 434 U.S. 429, 441, 443 (1978)). Both cases invalidated state prohibitions of the use of 65–foot single-trailer trucks on state highways. 1063 359

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a case. 1066 There, the State required cantaloupes grown in the State to be packed there, rather than in an adjacent State, so that in-state packers’ names would be associated with a superior product. Promotion of a local industry was legitimate, the Court, said, but it did not justify the substantial expense the company would have to incur to comply. State efforts to protect local markets, concerns, or consumers against outside companies have largely been unsuccessful. Thus, a state law that prohibited ownership of local investment-advisory businesses by out-of-state banks, bank-holding companies, and trust companies was invalidated. 1067 The Court plainly thought the statute was protectionist, but instead of voiding it for that reason it held that the legitimate interests the State might have did not justify the burdens placed on out-of-state companies and that the State could pursue the accomplishment of legitimate ends through some intermediate form of regulation. In Edgar v. Mite Corp., 1068 an Illinois regulation of take-over attempts of companies that had specified business contacts with the State, as applied to an attempted take-over of a Delware corporation with its principal place of business in Connecticut, was found to constitute an undue burden, with special emphasis upon the extraterritorial effect of the law and the dangers of disuniformity. These problems were found lacking in the next case, in which the state statute regulated the manner in which purchasers of corporations chartered within the State and with a specified percentage of in-state shareholders could proceed with their take-over efforts. The Court emphasized that the State was regulating only its own corporations, which it was empowered to do, and no matter how many other States adopted such laws there would be no conflict. The burdens on interstate commerce, and the Court was not that clear that the effects of the law were burdensome in the appropriate context, were justified by the State’s interests in regulating its corporations and resident shareholders. 1069 In other areas, while the Court repeats balancing language, it has not applied it with any appreciable bite, 1070 but in most respects the state regulations involved are at most problematic in the context of the concerns of the commerce clause. 1066 Pike

v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137 (1970). v. BT Investment Managers, Inc., 447 U.S. 27 (1980). 1068 457 U.S. 624 (1982) (plurality opinion). 1069 CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 481 U.S. 69 (1987). 1070 E.g., Northwest Central Pipeline Corp. v. Kansas Corp. Comm’n, 489 U.S. 493, 525–526 (1989); Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 449 U.S. 456, 472– 474 (1981); Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, 437 U.S. 117, 127–128 (1978). But see Bendix Autolite Corp. v. Midwesco Enterprises, Inc., 486 U.S. 888 (1988). 1067 Lewis

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Foreign Commerce and State Powers State taxation and regulation of commerce from abroad are also subject to negative commerce clause constraints. In the seminal case of Brown v. Maryland, 1071 in the course of striking down a state statute requiring ‘‘all importers of foreign articles or commodities,’’ preparatory to selling the goods, to take out a license, Chief Justice Marshall developed a lengthy exegesis explaining why the law was void under both the import-export clause 1072 and the commerce clause. According to the Chief Justice, an inseparable part of the right to import was the right to sell, and a tax on the sale of an article is a tax on the article itself. Thus, the taxing power of the States did not extend in any form to imports from abroad so long as they remain ‘‘the property of the importer, in his warehouse, in the original form or package’’ in which they were imported, hence, the famous ‘‘original package’’ doctrine. Only when the importer parts with his importations, mixes them into his general property by breaking up the packages, may the State treat them as taxable property. Obviously, to the extent that the import-export clause was construed to impose a complete ban on taxation of imports so long as they were in their original packages, there was little occasion to develop a commerce-clause analysis that would have reached only discriminatory taxes or taxes upon goods in transit. 1073 In other respects, however, the Court has applied the foreign commerce aspect of the clause more stringently against state taxation. Thus, in Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 1074 the Court held that, in addition to satisfying the four requirements that govern the permissibility of state taxation of interstate commerce, 1075 ‘‘When a State seeks to tax the instrumentalities of for1071 25

U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419 (1827). I, § 10, cl. 2. This aspect of the doctrine of the case was considerably expanded in Low v. Austin, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 29 (1872), and subsequent cases, to bar States from levying nondiscriminatory, ad valorem property taxes upon goods that are no longer in import transit. This line of cases was overruled in Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages, 423 U.S. 276 (1976). 1073 See, e.g., Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. v. Reily, 373 U.S. 64 (1963); Minnesota v. Blasius, 290 U.S. 1 (1933). After the holding in Michelin Tire, the two clauses are now congruent. The Court has observed that the two clauses are animated by the same policies. Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U.S. 434, 449–50 n.14 (1979). 1074 441 U.S. 434 (1979). 1075 Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274, 279 (1977). A state tax failed to pass the nondiscrimination standard in Kraft General Foods, Inc. v. Iowa Dept. of Revenue & Finance, 505 U.S. 71 (1992). Iowa imposed an income tax on a unitary business operating throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. It included in the tax base of corporations the dividends the companies received from subsidiaries operating in foreign countries, but it allowed exclusions from the base of dividends received from domestic subsidiaries. A domestic sub1072 Article

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eign commerce, two additional considerations . . . come into play. The first is the enhanced risk of multiple taxation. . . . Second, a state tax on the instrumentalities of foreign commerce may impair federal uniformity in an area where federal uniformity is essential.’’ 1076 Multiple taxation is to be avoided with respect to interstate commerce by apportionment so that no jurisdiction may tax all the property of a multistate business, and the rule of apportionment is enforced by the Supreme Court with jurisdiction over all the States. However, the Court is unable to enforce such a rule against another country, and the country of the domicile of the business may impose a tax on full value. Uniformity could be frustrated by disputes over multiple taxation, and trade disputes could result. Applying both these concerns, the Court invalidated a state tax, a nondiscriminatory, ad valorem property tax, on foreignowned instrumentalities, i.e., cargo containers, of international commerce. The containers were used exclusively in international commerce and were based in Japan, which did in fact tax them on full value. Thus, there was the actuality, not only the risk, of multiple taxation. National uniformity was endangered, because, while California taxed the Japanese containers, Japan did not tax American containers, and disputes resulted. 1077 On the other hand, the Court has upheld a state tax on all aviation fuel sold within the State as applied to a foreign airline operating charters to and from the United States. The Court found the Complete Auto standards met, and it similarly decided that the two standards specifically raised in foreign commerce cases were not violated. First, there was no danger of double taxation because the tax was imposed upon a discrete transaction, the sale of fuel, that occurred within one jurisdiction only. Second, the one-voice standard was satisfied, inasmuch as the United States had never entered into any compact with a foreign nation precluding such state taxation, having only signed agreements with others, having no force of law, aspiring to eliminate taxation that constituted impediments to air travel. 1078 Also, a state unitary-tax scheme that used a worldwide-combined reporting formula was upheld as apsidiary doing business in Iowa was taxed but not ones that did no business. Thus, there was a facial distinction between foreign and domestic commerce. 1076 441 U.S. at 446, 448. See also Itel Containers Int’l Corp. v. Huddleston, 507 U.S. 60 (1993) (sustaining state sales tax as applied to lease of containers delivered within the State and used in foreign commerce). 1077 441 U.S. at 451–57. For income taxes, the test is more lenient, accepting not only the risk but the actuality of some double taxation as something simply inherent in accounting devices. Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Board, 463 U.S. 159, 187–192 (1983). 1078 Wardair Canada v. Florida Dep’t of Revenue, 477 U.S. 1 (1986).

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plied to the taxing of the income of a domestic-based corporate group with extensive foreign operations. 1079 Extending Container Corp., the Court in Barclays Bank v. Franchise Tax Bd. of California, 1080 upheld the State’s worldwidecombined reporting method of determining the corporate franchise tax owed by unitary multinational corporations, as applied to a foreign corporation. The Court determined that the tax easily satisfied three of the four-part Complete Auto test—nexus, apportionment, and relation to State’s services—and concluded that the nondiscrimination principle—perhaps violated by the letter of the law—could be met by the discretion accorded state officials. As for the two additional factors, as outlined in Japan Lines, the Court pronounced itself satisfied. Multiple taxation was not the inevitable result of the tax, and that risk would not be avoided by the use of any reasonable alternative. The tax, it was found, did not impair federal uniformity nor prevent the Federal Government from speaking with one voice in international trade. The result of the case, perhaps intended, is that foreign corporations have less protection under the negative commerce clause. 1081 The power to regulate foreign commerce was always broader than the States’ power to tax it, an exercise of the ‘‘police power’’ recognized by Chief Justice Marshall in Brown v. Maryland. 1082 That this power was constrained by notions of the national interest and preemption principles was evidenced in the cases striking down state efforts to curb and regulate the actions of shippers bringing persons into their ports. 1083 On the other hand, quarantine legislation to protect the States’ residents from disease and other hazards was commonly upheld though it regulated international commerce. 1084 A state game-season law applied to criminalize the possession of a dead grouse imported from Russia was 1079 Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Board, 463 U.S. 159 (1983). The validity of the formula as applied to domestic corporations with foreign parents or to foreign corporations with foreign parents or foreign subsidiaries, so that some of the income earned abroad would be taxed within the taxing State, is a question of some considerable dispute. 1080 512 U.S. 298 (1994). 1081 The Supreme Court, Leading Cases, 1993 Term, 108 HARV. L. REV. 139, 139–49 (1993). 1082 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 443–444 (1827). 1083 New York City v. Miln, 36 U.S. (11 Pet.) 102 (1837) (upholding reporting requirements imposed on ships’ masters), overruled in Henderson v. New York, 92 U.S. 259 (1876); Passenger Cases (Smith v. Turner), 48 U.S. (7 How.) 282 (1849); Chy Lung v. Freeman, 92 U.S. 275 (1876). 1084 Campagnie Francaise De Navigation a Vapeur v. Louisiana State Bd. of Health, 186 U.S. 380 (1902); Louisiana v. Texas, 176 U.S. 1 (1900); Morgan v. Louisiana, 118 U.S. 455 (1886).

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upheld because of the practical necessities of enforcement of domestic law. 1085 Nowadays, state regulation of foreign commerce is likely to be judged by the extra factors set out in Japan Line. 1086 Thus, the application of a state civil rights law to a corporation transporting passengers outside the State to an island in a foreign province was sustained in an opinion emphasizing that, because of the particularistic geographic situation the foreign commerce involved was more conceptual than actual, there was only a remote hazard of conflict between state law and the law of the other country and little if any prospect of burdening foreign commerce. CONCURRENT FEDERAL AND STATE JURISDICTION The General Issue: Preemption In Gibbons v. Ogden, 1087 the Court, speaking by Chief Justice Marshall, held that New York legislation that excluded from the navigable waters of that State steam vessels enrolled and licensed under an act of Congress to engage in the coasting trade was in conflict with the federal law and hence void. 1088 The result, said the Chief Justice, was required by the supremacy clause, which proclaimed not only that the Constitution itself but statutes enacted pursuant to it and treaties superseded state laws that ‘‘interfere with, or are contrary to the laws of Congress . . . . In every such case, the act of Congress, or the treaty, is supreme; and the law of the State, though enacted in the exercise of powers not controverted, must yield to it.’’ 1089 1085 New

York ex rel. Silz v. Hesterberg, 211 U.S. 31 (1908). Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U.S. 434, 456 n.20 (1979) (construing Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan, 333 U.S. 28 (1948). 1087 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824). 1088 A modern application of Gibbons v. Ogden is Douglas v. Seacoast Products, Inc., 431 U.S. 265 (1977), in which the Court, in reliance on the present version of the licensing statute utilized by Chief Justice Marshall, struck down state laws curtailing the operations of federally licensed vessels. In the course of the Douglas opinion, the Court observed that ‘‘[a]lthough it is true that the Court’s view in Gibbons of the intent of the Second Congress in passing the Enrollment and Licensing Act is considered incorrect by commentators, its provisions have been repeatedly reenacted in substantially the same form. We can safely assume that Congress was aware of the holding, as well as the criticism, of a case so renowned as Gibbons. We have no doubt that Congress has ratified the statutory interpretation of Gibbons and its progeny.’’ Id. at 278–79. 1089 Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 211 (1824). See also McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 436 (1819). Although preemption is basically constitutional in nature, deriving its forcefulness from the supremacy clause, it is much more like statutory decisionmaking, inasmuch as it depends upon an interpretation of an act of Congress in determining whether a state law is ousted. E.g., Douglas v. Seacoast Products, Inc., 431 U.S. 265, 271–72 (1977). See also Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S. 111 (1965). ‘‘Any such pre-emption or conflict claim is of course 1086 Japan

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Since the turn of the century, federal legislation, primarily but not exclusively under the commerce clause, has penetrated deeper and deeper into areas once occupied by the regulatory power of the States. One result is that state laws on subjects about which Congress has legislated have been more and more frequently attacked as being incompatible with the acts of Congress and hence invalid under the supremacy clause. 1090 ‘‘The constitutional principles of preemption, in whatever particular field of law they operate, are designed with a common end in view: to avoid conflicting regulation of conduct by various official bodies which might have some authority over the subject matter.’’ 1091 As Justice Black once explained in a much quoted exposition of the matter: ‘‘There is not—and from the very nature of the problem there cannot be—any rigid formula or rule which can be used as a universal pattern to determine the meaning and purpose of every act of Congress. This Court, in considering the validity of state laws in the light of treaties or federal laws touching the same subject, has made use of the following expressions: conflicting; contrary to; occupying the field; repugnance; difference; irreconcilability; inconsistency; violation; curtailment; and interference. But none of these expressions provides an infallible constitutional test or an exclusive constitutional yardstick. In the final analysis, there can be no one crystal clear distinctly marked formula. Our primary function is to determine whether, under the circumstances of this particular case, Pennsylvania’s law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.’’ 1092 Before setting out in their various forms the standards and canons to which the Court formally adheres, one must still recognize the highly subjective nature of their application. As an astute observer long ago observed, ‘‘the use or non-use of particular tests, as well as their content, is influenced more by judicial reaction to the desirability of the state legislation brought into question than by metaphorical sign-language of ‘occupation of the field.’ And it grounded in the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution: if a state measure conflicts with a federal requirement, the state provision must give way. The basic question involved in these cases, however, is never one of interpretation of the Federal Constitution but inevitably one of comparing two statutes.’’ Id. at 120. 1090 Cases considered under this heading are overwhelmingly about federal legislation based on the commerce clause, but the principles enunciated are identical whatever source of power Congress utilizes. Therefore, cases arising under legislation based on other powers are cited and treated interchangeably. 1091 Amalgamated Ass’n of Street Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 285– 286 (1971). 1092 Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67 (1941). This case arose under the immigration power of cl. 4.

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would seem that this is largely unavoidable. The Court, in order to determine an unexpressed congressional intent, has undertaken the task of making the independent judgment of social values that Congress has failed to make. In making this determination, the Court’s evaluation of the desirability of overlapping regulatory schemes or overlapping criminal sanctions cannot but be a substantial factor.’’ 1093 Preemption Standards.—Until roughly the New Deal, as recited above, the Supreme Court applied a doctrine of ‘‘dual federalism,’’ under which the Federal Government and the States were separate sovereigns, each preeminent in its own fields but lacking authority in the other’s. This conception affected preemption cases, with the Court taking the view, largely, that any congressional regulation of a subject effectively preempted the field and ousted the States. 1094 Thus, when Congress entered the field of railroad regulation, the result was invalidation of many previously enacted state measures. Even here, however, safety measures tended to survive, and health and safety legislation in other areas was protected from the effects of federal regulatory actions. In the 1940s, the Court began to develop modern standards for determining when preemption occurred, which are still recited and relied on. 1095 All modern cases recite some variation of the basic standards. ‘‘[T]he question whether a certain state action is preempted by federal law is one of congressional intent. The purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone. To discern Congress’ intent we examine the explicit statutory language and the structure and purpose of the statute.’’ 1096 Congress’ intent to supplant state au1093 Cramton, Pennsylvania v. Nelson: A Case Study in Federal Preemption, 26 U. CHI. L. REV. 85, 87–88 (1956). ‘‘The [Court] appears to use essentially the same reasoning process in a case nominally hinging on preemption as it has in past cases in which the question was whether the state law regulated or burdened interstate commerce. [The] Court has adopted the same weighing of interests approach in preemption cases that it uses to determine whether a state law unjustifiably burdens interstate commerce. In a number of situations the Court has invalidated statutes on the preemption ground when it appeared that the state laws sought to favor local economic interests at the expense of the interstate market. On the other hand, when the Court has been satisfied that valid local interests, such as those in safety or in the reputable operation of local business, outweigh the restrictive effect on interstate commerce, the Court has rejected the preemption argument and allowed state regulation to stand.’’ Note, Preemption as a Preferential Ground: A New Canon of Construction, 12 STAN. L. REV. 208, 217 (1959) (quoted approvingly as a ‘‘thoughtful student comment’’ in G. GUNTHER, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 297 (12th ed. 1991)). 1094 E.g., Charleston & W. Car. Ry. v. Varnville Furniture Co., 237 U.S. 597, 604 (1915). But see Corn Products Refining Co. v. Eddy, 249 U.S. 427, 438 (1919). 1095 E.g., Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52 (1941); Cloverleaf Butter v. Patterson, 315 U.S. 148 (1942); Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218 (1947); California v. Zook, 336 U.S. 725 (1949). 1096 Gade v. National Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88, 96 (1992) (internal quotation marks and case citations omitted). Recourse to legislative history as one

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thority in a particular field may be express in the terms of the statute. 1097 Since preemption cases, when the statute contains no express provision, theoretically turn on statutory construction, generalizations about them can carry one only so far. Each case must construe a different federal statute with a distinct legislative history. If the statute and the legislative history are silent or unclear, the Supreme Court has developed over time general criteria which it purports to utilize in determining the preemptive effect of federal legislation. ‘‘Absent explicit pre-emptive language, we have recognized at least two types of implied pre-emption: field pre-emption, where the scheme of federal regulation is so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it, . . . and conflict pre-emption, where compliance with both federal and state regulations is a physical impossibility, . . . or where state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.’’ 1098 ‘‘Preemption of state law by federal statute or regulation is not favored ‘in the absence of persuasive reasons—either that the nature of the regulated subject matters permits no other conclusion, or that the Congress has unmistakably so ordained.’’ 1099 However, ‘‘[t]he relative importance to the State of its own law is not material when there is a conflict with a valid federal law, for the Framers of our Constitution provided that the federal law must prevail.’’ 1100 means of ascertaining congressional intent, although contested, is permissible. Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 606–612 & n.4 (1991). 1097 Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 525 (1977); FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52, 56–57 (1991); Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 604–605 (1991). 1098 Gade v. National Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88, 98 (1992) (internal quotation marks and case citations omitted). The same or similar language is used throughout the preemption cases. E.g., Cipollone v. Liggett Group, 505 U.S. 504, 516 (1992); id. at 532-33 (Justice Blackmun concurring and dissenting); id. at 545 (Justice Scalia concurring and dissenting); Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 604–605 (1991); English v. General Electric Co., 496 U.S. 72, 78–80 (1990); Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U.S. 238, 248 (1984); Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. State Energy Resources Comm’n, 461 U.S. 190, 203–204 (1983); Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 153 (1982); Florida Lime & Avocado Growers v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142 (1963); Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67 (1941). 1099 Florida Lime & Avocado Growers v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142 (1963);, Chicago & Northwestern Transp. Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co., 450 U.S. 311, 317 (1981). Where Congress legislates in a field traditionally occupied by the States, courts should ‘‘start with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.’’ Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Dev. Comm., 461 U.S. 190, 206 (1983) (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230 (1947)). 1100 Free v. Brand, 369 U.S. 633, 666 (1962).

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In the final conclusion, ‘‘the generalities’’ that may be drawn from the cases do not decide them. Rather, ‘‘the fate of state legislation in these cases has not been determined by these generalities but by the weight of the circumstances and the practical and experienced judgment in applying these generalities to the particular instances.’’ 1101 The Standards Applied.—As might be expected from the caveat just quoted, any overview of the Court’s preemption decisions can only make the field seem muddled, and to some extent it is. But some guidelines may be extracted. Express Preemption. Of course, it is possible for Congress to write preemptive language that clearly and cleanly prescribes or does not prescribe displacement of state laws in an area. 1102 Provisions governing preemption can be relatively interpretation free. 1103 For example, a prohibition of state taxes on carriage of air passengers ‘‘or on the gross receipts derived therefrom’’ was held to preempt a state tax on airlines, described by the State as a personal property tax, but based on a percentage of the airline’s gross income; ‘‘the manner in which the state legislature has described and categorized [the tax] cannot mask the fact that the purpose 1101 Union

Brokerage Co. v. Jensen, 322 U.S. 202, 211 (1944) (per Justice Frank-

furter). 1102 Not only congressional enactments can preempt. Agency regulations, when Congress has expressly or implied empowered these bodies to preempt, are ‘‘the supreme law of the land’’ under the supremacy clause and can displace state law. E.g., Smiley v. Citibank, 517 U.S. 735 (1996); City of New York v. FCC, 486 U.S. 57, 63–64 (1988); Louisiana Public Service Comm’n v. FCC, 476 U.S. 355 (1986); Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp, 467 U.S. 691 (1984); Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141 (1982). Federal common law, i.e., law promulgated by the courts respecting uniquely federal interests and absent explicit statutory directive by Congress, can also displace state law. See Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., 487 U.S. 500 (1988) (Supreme Court promulgated common-law rule creating government-contractor defense in tort liability suits, despite Congress having considered and failed to enact bills doing precisely this); Westfall v. Erwin, 484 U.S. 292 (1988) (civil liability of federal officials for actions taken in the course of their duty). Finally, ordinances of local governments are subject to preemption under the same standards as state law. Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Laboratories, 471 U.S. 707 (1985). 1103 Thus, § 408 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, as amended by the Wholesome Meat Act, 21 U.S. C. § 678, provides that ‘‘[m]arking, labeling, packaging, or ingredient requirements in addition to, or different than, those made under this chapter may not be imposed by any state . . . .’’ See Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 528–532 (1977). Similarly, much state action is saved by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78bb(a), which states that ‘‘[n]othing in this chapter shall affect the jurisdiction of the securities commissioner (or any agency or officer performing like functions) of any State over any security or any person insofar as it does not conflict with the provisions of this chapter or the rules and regulations thereunder.’’ For examples of other express preemptive provisions, see Norfolk & Western Ry. v. American Train Dispatchers’ Ass’n, 499 U.S. 117 (1991); Exxon Corp. v. Hunt, 475 U.S. 355 (1986). And see Department of Treasury v. Fabe, 508 U.S. 491 (1993).

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and effect of the provision are to impose a levy upon the gross receipts of airlines.’’ 1104 But, more often than not, express preemptive language may be ambiguous or at least not free from conflicting interpretation. Thus, the Court was divided with respect to whether a provision of the Airline Deregulation Act proscribing the States from having and enforcing laws ‘‘relating to rates, routes, or services of any air carrier’’ applied to displace state consumer-protection laws regulating airline fare advertising. 1105 A basic issue is whether preemption or saving language applicable to a ‘‘state’’ applies as well to local governments. In a case involving statutory language preserving ‘‘state’’ authority, the Court created a presumption favoring applicability to local governments: ‘‘[a]bsent a clear statement to the contrary, Congress’ reference to the ‘regulatory authority of a State’ should be read to preserve, not preempt, the traditional prerogative of the States to delegate their authority to their constituent parts.’’ 1106 Perhaps the broadest preemption section ever enacted, § 514 of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), is so constructed that the Court has been moved to comment that the provisions ‘‘are not a model of legislative drafting.’’ 1107 The section declares that the statute shall ‘‘supersede any and all State laws insofar as they now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan,’’ but saves to the States the power to enforce ‘‘law[s] . . . which regulates insurance, banking, or securities,’’ except that an employee benefit plan governed by ERISA shall not be ‘‘deemed’’ an insurance company, an insurer, or engaged in the business of insurance for purposes of state laws ‘‘purporting to regulate’’ insurance companies or insurance contracts. 1108 Interpretation of the provisions has resulted in contentious and divided Court opinions. 1109 1104 Aloha

Airlines v. Director of Taxation, 464 U.S. 7, 13–14 (1983). v. TWA, 504 U.S. 374 (1992). The section, 49 U.S.C. § 1305(a)(1), was held to preempt state rules on advertising. See also American Airlines, Inc. v. Wolens, 513 U.S. 219 (1995). 1106 City of Columbus v. Ours Garage and Wrecker Serv., 122 S. Ct. 2226, 2230 (2002). 1107 Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 739 (1985), repeated in FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52, 58 (1991). 1108 29 U.S.C. §§ 1144(a), 1144(b)(2)(A), 1144(b)(2)(B). The Court has described this section as a ‘‘virtually unique pre-emption provision.’’ Franchise Tax Bd. v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 24 n.26 (1983). See Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133, 138–139 (1990); and see id. at 142–45 (describing and applying another preemption provision of ERISA). 1109 Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133 (1990) (ERISA preempts state common-law claim of wrongful discharge to prevent employee attaining benefits under plan covered by ERISA); FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52 (1990) (provision of state motor-vehicle financial-responsibility law barring subrogation and reimbursement from claimant’s tort recovery for benefits received from a self-insured 1105 Morales

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Illustrative of the judicial difficulty with ambiguous preemption language are the fractured opinions in the Cipollone case, in which the Court had to decide whether sections of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, enacted in 1965 and 1969, preempted state common-law actions against a cigarette company for the alleged harm visited on a smoker. 1110 The 1965 provision barred the requirement of any ‘‘statement’’ relating to smoking health, other than what the federal law imposed, and the 1969 provision barred the imposition of any ‘‘requirement or prohibition based on smoking and health’’ by any ‘‘State law.’’ It was, thus, a fair question whether common-law claims, based on design defect, failure to warn, breach of express warranty, fraudulent misreprehealth-care plan preempted by ERISA); Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U.S. 1 (1987) (state law requiring employers to provide a one-time severance payment to employees in the event of a plant closing held not preempted by 5–4 vote); Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724 (1985) (state law mandating that certain minimum mental-health-care benefits be provided to those insured under general health-insurance policy or employee health-care plan is a law ‘‘which regulates insurance’’ and is not preempted); Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, 463 U.S. 85 (1983) (state law forbidding discrimination in employee benefit plans on the basis of pregnancy not preempted, because of another saving provision in ERISA, and provision requiring employers to pay sick-leave benefits to employees unable to work because of pregnancy not preempted under construction of coverage sections, but both laws ‘‘relate to’’ employee benefit plans); Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 451 U.S. 504 (1981) (state law prohibiting plans from reducing benefits by amount of workers’ compensation awards ‘‘relates to’’ employee benefit plan and is preempted); District of Columbia v. Greater Washington Bd. of Trade, 506 U.S. 125 (1992) (law requiring employers to provide health insurance coverage, equivalent to existing coverage, for workers receiving workers’ compensation benefits); John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Harris Trust and Savings Bank, 510 U.S. 86 (1993) (ERISA’s fiduciary standards, not conflicting state insurance laws, apply to insurance company’s handling of general account assets derived from participating group annuity contract); New York State Conf. of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645 (1995) (no preemption of statute that required hospitals to collect surcharges from patients covered by a commercial insurer but not from patients covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan); De Buono v. NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Services Fund, 520 U.S. 806 (1997); California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Construction, Inc., 519 U.S. 316 (1997); Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833 (1997) (decided not on the basis of the express preemption language but instead by implied preemption analysis). 1110 Cipollone v. Liggett Group, 505 U.S. 504 (1992). The decision as a canon of construction promulgated two controversial rules. First, the courts should interpret narrowly provisions that purport to preempt state police-power regulations, and, second, that when a law has express preemption language courts should look only to that language and presume that when the preemptive reach of a law is defined Congress did not intend to go beyond that reach, so that field and conflict preemption will not be found. Id. at 517; and id. at 532-33 (Justice Blackmun concurring and dissenting). Both parts of this canon are departures from established law. Narrow construction when state police powers are involved has hitherto related to implied preemption, not express preemption, and courts generally have applied ordinary-meaning construction to such statutory language; further, courts have not precluded the finding of conflict preemption, though perhaps field preemption, because of the existence of some express preemptive language. See id. at 546-48 (Justice Scalia concurring and dissenting).

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sentation, and conspiracy to defraud, were preempted or whether only positive state enactments came within the scope of the clauses. Two groups of Justices concluded that the 1965 section reached only positive state law and did not preempt common-law actions; 1111 different alignments of Justices concluded that the 1969 provisions did reach common-law claims, as well as positive enactments, and did preempt some of the claims insofar as they in fact constituted a requirement or prohibition based on smoking health. 1112 Little clarification of the confusing Cipollone decision and opinions resulted in the cases following, although it does seem evident that the attempted distinction limiting courts to the particular language of preemption when Congress has spoken has not prevailed. At issue in Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, was 1113 the Medical Device Amendments (MDA) of 1976, which prohibited States from adopting or continuing in effect ‘‘with respect to a [medical] device’’ any ‘‘requirement’’ that is ‘‘different from, or in addition to’’ the applicable federal requirement and that relates to the safety or effectiveness of the device. 1114 The issue, then, was whether a common-law tort obligation imposed a ‘‘requirement’’ that was different from or in addition to any federal requirement. The device, a pacemaker lead, had come on the market not pursuant to the rigorous FDA test but rather as determined by the FDA to be ‘‘substantially equivalent’’ to a device previously on the market, a situation of some import to at least some of the Justices. Unanimously, the Court determined that a defective design claim was not preempted and that the MDA did not prevent States from providing a damages remedy for violation of common-law duties that paralleled federal requirements. But the Justices split 4– 1-4 with respect to preemption of various claims relating to manufacturing and labeling. FDA regulations, which a majority deferred to, limited preemption to situations in which a particular state requirement threatens to interfere with a specific federal interest. Moreover, the common-law standards were not specifically developed to govern medical devices and their generality removed them 1111 505

U.S. at 518-19 (opinion of the court), 533-34 (Justice Blackmun concur-

ring). 1112 505 U.S. at 520-30 (plurality opinion), 535-43 (Justice Blackmun concurring and dissenting), 548-50 (Justice Scalia concurring and dissenting). 1113 518 U.S. 470 (1996). See also CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658 (1993) (under Federal Railroad Safety Act, a state common-law claim alleging negligence for operating a train at excessive speed is preempted, but a second claim alleging negligence for failure to maintain adequate warning devices at a grade crossing is not preempted); Norfolk So. Ry. v. Shanklin, 529 U.S. 344 (2000) (applying Easterwood). 1114 21 U.S.C. § 350k(a).

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from the category of requirements ‘‘with respect to’’ specific devices. However, five Justices did agree that common-law requirements could be, just as statutory provisions, ‘‘requirements’’ that were preempted, though they did not agree on the application of that view. 1115 Following Cipollone, the Court observed that while it ‘‘need not go beyond’’ the statutory preemption language, it did need to ‘‘identify the domain expressly pre-empted’’ by the language, so that ‘‘our interpretation of that language does not occur in a contextual vacuum.’’ That is, it must be informed by two presumptions about the nature of preemption: the presumption that Congress does not cavalierly preempt common-law causes of action and the principle that it is Congress’ purpose that is the ultimate touchstone. 1116 The Court continued to struggle with application of express preemption language to state common-law tort actions in Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. 1117 The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act contained both a preemption clause, prohibiting states from applying ‘‘any safety standard’’ different from an applicable federal standard, and a ‘‘saving clause,’’ providing that ‘‘compliance with’’ a federal safety standard ‘‘does not exempt any person from any liability under common law.’’ The Court determined that the express preemption clause was inapplicable. However, despite the saving clause, the Court ruled that a common law tort action seeking damages for failure to equip a car with an airbag was preempted because its application would frustrate the purpose of a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard that had allowed manufacturers to choose from among a variety of ‘‘passive restraint’’ systems for the applicable model year. 1118 The Court’s holding makes clear, contrary to the suggestion in Cipollone, that existence of ex1115 The dissent, by Justice O’Connor and three others, would have held preempted the latter claims, 518 U.S. at 509, whereas Justice Breyer thought that common-law claims would sometimes be preempted, but not here. Id. at 503 (concurring). 1116 518 U.S. at 484–85. See also id. at 508 (Justice Breyer concurring); Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U.S. 280, 288–89 (1995); Barnett Bank v. Nelson, 517 U.S. 25, 31 (1996); California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Construction, Inc., 519 U.S. 316, 334 (1997) (Justice Scalia concurring); Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833 (1997) (using ‘‘stands as an obstacle’’ preemption analysis in an ERISA case, having express preemptive language, but declining to decide when implied preemption may be used despite express language), and id. at 854 (Justice Breyer dissenting) (analyzing the preemption issue under both express and implied standards). 1117 529 U.S. 861 (2000). 1118 The Court focused on the word ‘‘exempt’’ to give the saving clause a narrow application – as ‘‘simply bar[ring] a special kind of defense, . . . that compliance with a federal safety standard automatically exempts a defendant from state law, whether the Federal Government meant that standard to be an absolute requirement or only a minimum one.’’ 529 U.S. at 869.

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press preemption language does not foreclose operation of conflict (in this case ‘‘frustration of purpose’’) preemption. Field Preemption. Where the scheme of federal regulation is ‘‘so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it,’’ 1119 States are ousted from the field. Still a paradigmatic example of field preemption is Hines v. Davidowitz, 1120 in which the Court held that a new federal law requiring the registration of all aliens in the country precluded enforcement of a pre-existing state law mandating registration of aliens within the State. Adverting to the supremacy of national power in foreign relations and the sensitivity of the relationship between the regulation of aliens and the conduct of foreign affairs, the Court had little difficulty declaring the entire field to have been occupied by federal law. 1121 Similarly, in Pennsylvania v. Nelson, 1122 the Court invalidated as preempted a state law punishing sedition against the National Government. The Court enunciated a three-part test: 1) the pervasiveness of federal regulation; 2) federal occupation of the field as necessitated by the need for national uniformity; and 3) the danger of conflict between state and federal administration. 1123 The Rice case itself held that a federal system of regulating the operations of warehouses and the rates they charged completely occupied the field and ousted state regulation. 1124 However, it is often a close decision whether a federal law has regulated part of a field, however defined, or the whole area, so that state law cannot even supplement the federal. 1125 Illustrative of this point is the 1119 Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230 (1947). The case also is the source of the oft-quoted maxim that when Congress legislates in a field traditionally occupied by the States, courts should ‘‘start with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.’’ Id. 1120 312 U.S. 52 (1941). 1121 The Court also said that courts must look to see whether under the circumstances of a particular case, the state law ‘‘stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.’’ 312 U.S. at 67. That standard is obviously drawn from conflict preemption, for the two standards are frequently intermixed. Nonetheless, not all state regulation is precluded. De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351 (1976) (upholding a state law penalizing the employment of an illegal alien, the case arising before enactment of the federal law doing the same thing). 1122 350 U.S. 497 (1956). 1123 350 U.S. at 502–05. Obviously, there is a noticeable blending into conflict preemption. 1124 Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218 (1947). 1125 Compare Campbell v. Hussey, 368 U.S. 297 (1961) (state law requiring tobacco of a certain type to be marked by white tags, ousted by federal regulation that occupied the field and left no room for supplementation), with Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc., 373 U.S. 132 (1963) (state law setting minimum oil content for avocados certified as mature by federal regulation is complementary to federal law,

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Court’s holding that the Atomic Energy Act’s preemption of the safety aspects of nuclear power did not invalidate a state law conditioning construction of nuclear power plants on a finding by a state agency that adequate storage and disposal facilities were available to treat nuclear wastes, since ‘‘economic’’ regulation of power generation has traditionally been left to the States - an arrangement maintained by the Act - and since the state law could be justified as an economic rather than a safety regulation. 1126 A city’s effort to enforce stiff penalties for ship pollution that resulted from boilers approved by the Federal Government was held not preempted, the field of boiler safety, but not boiler pollution, having been occupied by federal regulation. 1127 A state liability scheme imposing cleanup costs and strict, no-fault liability on shore facilities and ships for any oil-spill damage was held to complement a federal law concerned solely with recovery of actual cleanup costs incurred by the Federal Government and which textually presupposed federal-state cooperation. 1128 On the other hand, a comprehensive regulation of the design, size, and movement of oil tankers in Puget Sound was found, save in one respect, to be either expressly or implicitly preempted by federal law and regulations. Critical to the determination was the Court’s conclusion that Congress, without actually saying so, had intended to mandate exclusive standards and a single federal decisionmaker for safety purposes in vessel regulation. 1129 Also, a closely divided Court voided a city ordinance placing an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew since federal standard was a minimum one, the field having not been occupied). One should be wary of assuming that a state law that has dual purposes and impacts will not, just for the duality, be held to be preempted. See Gade v. National Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88 (1992); Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637 (1971) (under bankruptcy clause). 1126 Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. Energy Resources Comm’n, 461 U.S. 190 (1983). Neither does the same reservation of exclusive authority to regulate nuclear safety preempt imposition of punitive damages under state tort law, even if based upon the jury’s conclusion that a nuclear licensee failed to follow adequate safety precautions. Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U.S. 238 (1984). See also English v. General Electric Co., 496 U.S. 72 (1990) (employee’s state-law claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress for her nuclear-plant employer’s actions retaliating for her whistleblowing is not preempted as relating to nuclear safety). 1127 Huron Portland Cement Co. v. City of Detroit, 362 U.S. 440 (1960). 1128 Askew v. American Waterways Operators, 411 U.S. 325 (1973). 1129 Ray v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 435 U.S. 151 (1978). United States v. Locke, 529 U.S. 89 (2000) (applying Ray). See also Exxon Corp. v. Eagerton, 462 U.S. 176 (1983) (preempting a state ban on pass-through of a severance tax on oil and gas, because Congress has occupied the field of wholesale sales of natural gas in interstate commerce); Schneidewind v. ANR Pipeline Co., 485 U.S. 293 (1988) (Natural Gas Act preempts state regulation of securities issuance by covered gas companies); Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc., 489 U.S. 141 (1989) (under patent clause, state law extending patent-like protection to unpatented designs invades an area of pervasive federal regulation).

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on jet flights from the city airport where, despite the absence of preemptive language in federal law, federal regulation of aircraft noise was of such a pervasive nature as to leave no room for state or local regulation. 1130 Congress may preempt state regulation without itself prescribing a federal standard; it may deregulate a field and thus occupy it by opting for market regulation and precluding state or local regulation. 1131 Conflict Preemption. Several possible situations will lead to a holding that a state law is preempted as in conflict with federal law. First, it may be that the two laws, federal and state, will actually conflict. Thus, in Rose v. Arkansas State Police, 1132 federal law provided for death benefits for state law enforcement officers ‘‘in addition to’’ any other compensation, while the state law required a reduction in state benefits by the amount received from other sources. The Court, in a brief, per curiam opinion, had no difficulty finding the state provision preempted. 1133 Second, conflict preemption may occur when it is practically impossible to comply with the terms of both laws. Thus, where a federal agency had authorized federal savings and loan associations to include ‘‘due-on-sale’’ clauses in their loan instruments and where the State had largely prevented inclusion of such clauses, while it was literally possible for lenders to comply with both rules, the federal rule being permissive, the state regulation prevented the exercise of the flexibility the federal agency had conferred and was preempted. 1134 On the other hand, it was possible for an employer to comply both with a state law mandating leave and rein1130 City

of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, 411 U.S. 624 (1973). Gas Pipe Line Corp. v. Mississippi Oil & Gas Board, 474 U.S. 409 (1986); Puerto Rico Dept. of Consumer Affairs v. Isla Petroleum Corp., 485 U.S. 495 (1988). 1132 479 U.S. 1 (1986). 1133 See also Lawrence County v. Lead-Deadwood School Dist., 469 U.S. 256 (1985) (state law requiring local governments to distribute federal payments in lieu of taxes in same manner as general state-tax revenues conflicts with federal law authorizing local governments to use the payments for any governmental purpose); Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984) (state franchise law requiring judicial resolution of claims preempted by federal arbitration law precluding adjudication in state or federal courts of claims parties had contracted to submit to arbitration); Perry v. Thomas, 482 U.S. 483 (1987) (federal arbitration law preempts state law providing that court actions for collection of wages may be maintained without regard to agreements to arbitrate); Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265 (1995) (federal arbitration law preempts state law invalidating predispute arbitration agreements that were not entered into in contemplation of substantial interstate activity); Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996) (federal arbitration law preempts state statute that conditioned enforceability of arbitration clause on compliance with special notice requirement). See also Free v. Brand, 369 U.S. 663 (1962). 1134 Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141 (1982). 1131 Transcontinental

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statement to pregnant employees and with a federal law prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. 1135 Similarly, when faced with both federal and state standards on the ripeness of avocados, the Court discerned that the federal standard was a ‘‘minimum’’ one rather than a ‘‘uniform’’ one and decided that growers could comply with both. 1136 Third, a fruitful source of preemption is found when it is determined that the state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the full purposes and objectives of Congress. 1137 Thus, the Court voided a state requirement that the average net weight of a package of flour in a lot could not be less than the net weight stated on the package. While applicable federal law permitted variations from stated weight caused by distribution losses, such as through partial dehydration, the State allowed no such deviation. Although it was possible for a producer to satisfy the federal standard while satisfying the tougher state standard, the Court discerned that to do so defeated one purpose of the federal requirement—the facilitating of value comparisons by shoppers. Because different producers in different situations in order to comply with the state standard may have to overpack flour to make up for dehydration loss, consumers would not be comparing packages containing identical amounts of flour solids. 1138 In Felder v. Casey, 1139 a state notice-of-claim statute was found to frustrate the remedial objectives of civil rights laws as applied to actions brought in state court under 42 U. S. C. §1983. A state law recognizing the validity of an unrecorded oral sale of an aircraft was held preempted by the Federal Aviation Act’s provision that unrecorded ‘‘instruments’’ of transfer are invalid, since the congressional purpose evidenced in the legislative history was to make information about an aircraft’s title readily available by requiring that all transfers be documented and recorded. 1140 In Boggs v. Boggs, 1141 the Court, 5–to–4, applied the ‘‘stands as an obstacle’’ test for conflict even though the statute (ERISA) 1135 California Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272 (1987). Compare Cloverleaf Butter v. Patterson, 315 U.S. 148 (1942) (federal law preempts more exacting state standards, even though both could be complied with and state standards were harmonious with purposes of federal law). 1136 Florida Lime & Avocado Growers v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132 (1963). 1137 The standard is, of course, drawn from Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67 (1941). See also Barnett Bank of Marion County v. Nelson, 517 U.S. 25 (1996) (federal law empowering national banks in small towns to sell insurance preempts state law prohibiting banks from dealing in insurance; despite explicit preemption provision, state law stands as an obstacle to accomplishment of federal purpose). 1138 Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 532–543 (1977). 1139 487 U.S. 131 (1988). 1140 Philco Aviation v. Shacket, 462 U.S. 406 (1983). 1141 520 U.S. 833 (1997).

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contains an express preemption section. The dispute arose in a community-property State, in which heirs of a deceased wife claimed property that involved pension-benefit assets that was left to them by testamentary disposition, as against a surviving second wife. Two ERISA provisions operated to prevent the descent of the property to the heirs, but under community-property rules the property could have been left to the heirs by their deceased mother. The Court did not pause to analyze whether the ERISA preemption provision operated to preclude the descent of the property, either because state law ‘‘relate[d] to’’ a covered pension plan or because state law had an impermissible ‘‘connection with’’ a plan, but it instead decided that the operation of the state law insofar as it conflicted with the purposes Congress had intended to achieve by ERISA and insofar as it ran into the two noted provisions of ERISA stood as an obstacle to the effectuation of the ERISA law. ‘‘We can begin, and in this case end, the analysis by simply asking if state law conflicts with the provisions of ERISA or operates to frustrate its objects. We hold that there is a conflict, which suffices to resolve the case. We need not inquire whether the statutory phrase ‘relate to’ provides further and additional support for the pre-emption claim. Nor need we consider the applicability of field preemption.’’ 1142 Similarly, the Court found it unnecessary to consider field preemption due to its holding that a Massachusetts law barring state agencies from purchasing goods or services from companies doing business with Burma imposed obstacles to the accomplishment of Congress’s full objectives under the federal Burma sanctions law. 1143 The state law was said to undermine the federal law in several respects that could have implicated field preemption – by limiting the President’s effective discretion to control sanctions, and by frustrating the President’s ability to engage in effective diplomacy in developing a comprehensive multilateral strategy – but the Court ‘‘decline[d] to speak to field preemption as a separate issue.’’ 1144 Also, a state law making agricultural producers’ associations the exclusive bargaining agents and requiring payment of service fees by nonmember producers was held to counter a strong federal policy protecting the right of farmers to join or not join such asso1142 Id. at 841. The dissent, id. at 854 (Justice Breyer), agreed that conflict analysis was appropriate, but he did not find that the state law achieved any result that ERISA required. 1143 Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363 (2000). 1144 530 U.S. at 374 n.8.

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ciations. 1145 And a state assertion of the right to set minimum stream-flow requirements different from those established by FERC in its licensing capacity was denied as being preempted under the Federal Power Act, despite language requiring deference to state laws ‘‘relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water.’’ 1146 Contrarily, a comprehensive federal regulation of insecticides and other such chemicals was held not to preempt a town ordinance that required a permit for the spraying of pesticides, there being no conflict between requirements. 1147 The application of state antitrust laws to authorize indirect purchasers to recover for all overcharges passed on to them by direct purchasers was held to implicate no preemption concerns, inasmuch as the federal antitrust laws had been interpreted as not permitting indirect purchasers to recover under federal law; state law may be inconsistent with federal law but in no way did it frustrate federal objectives and policies. 1148 The effect of federal policy was not strong enough to warrant a holding of preemption when a State authorized condemnation of abandoned railroad property after conclusion of an ICC proceeding permitting abandonment, although the railroad’s opportunity costs in the property had been considered in the decision on abandonment. 1149 Federal Versus State Labor Laws.—One group of cases, which has caused the Court much difficulty over the years, concerns the effect of federal labor laws on state power to govern labor-management relations. Although the Court some time ago 1145 Michigan Canners & Freezers Ass’n v. Agricultural Marketing & Bargaining Bd., 467 U.S. 461 (1984). See also Nantahala Power & Light Co. v. Thornburg, 476 U.S. 953 (1986) (state allocation of costs for purposes of setting retail electricity rates, by disallowing costs permitted by FERC in setting wholesale rates, frustrated federal regulation by possibly preventing the utility from recovering in its sales the costs of paying the FERC-approved wholesale rate); Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp, 467 U.S. 691 (1984) (state ban on cable TV advertising frustrates federal policy in the copyright law by which cable operators pay a royalty fee for the right to retransmit distant broadcast signals upon agreement not to delete commercials); International Paper Co. v. Ouellette, 479 U.S. 481 (1987) (damage action based on common law of downstream State frustrates Clean Water Act’s policies favoring permitting State in interstate disputes and favoring predictability in permit process). 1146 California v. FERC, 495 U.S. 490 (1990). The savings clause was found inapplicable on the basis of an earlier interpretation of the language in First Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative v. FPC, 328 U.S. 152 (1946). 1147 Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 614–616 (1991). 1148 California v. ARC America Corp., 490 U.S. 93 (1989). 1149 Hayfield Northern Ry. v. Chicago & N.W. Transp. Co., 467 U.S. 622 (1984). See also CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 481 U.S. 69 (1987) (federal law’s broad purpose of protecting shareholders as a group is furthered by state anti-takeover law); Rose v. Rose, 481 U.S. 619 (1987) (provision governing veterans’ disability benefits protects veterans’ families as well as veterans, hence state child-support order resulting in payment out of benefits is not preempted).

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reached a settled rule, changes in membership on the Court reopened the issue and modified the rules. With the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act and subsequent amendments, Congress declared a national policy in labor-management relations and established the NLRB to carry out that policy. 1150 It became the Supreme Court’s responsibility to determine what role state law on labor-management relations was to play. At first, the Court applied a test of determination whether the state regulation was in direct conflict with the national regulatory scheme. Thus, in one early case, the Court held that an order by a state board which commanded a union to desist from mass picketing of a factory and from assorted personal threats was not in conflict with the national law that had not been invoked and that did not touch on some of the union conduct in question. 1151 A ‘‘cease and desist’’ order of a state board implementing a state provision making it an unfair labor practice for employees to conduct a slowdown or to otherwise interfere with production while on the job was found not to conflict with federal law, 1152 while another order of the board was also sustained in its prohibition of the discharge of an employee under a maintenance-of-membership clause inserted in a contract under pressure from the War Labor Board and which violated state law. 1153 On the other hand, a state statute requiring business agents of unions operating in the State to file annual reports and to pay an annual fee of one dollar was voided as in conflict with federal law. 1154 And state statutes providing for mediation and outlawing 1150 Throughout the ups-and-downs of federal labor-law preemption, it remains the rule that the Board remains preeminent and almost exclusive. See, e.g., Wisconsin Dep’t of Industry v. Gould, Inc., 475 U.S. 282 (1986) (States may not supplement Board enforcement by debarring from state contracts persons or firms that have violated the NLRA); Golden Gate Transit Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, 475 U.S. 608 (1986) (City may not condition taxicab franchise on settlement of strike by set date, since this intrudes into collective-bargaining process protected by NLRA). On the other hand, the NLRA’s protection of associational rights is not so strong as to outweigh the Social Security Act’s policy permitting States to determine whether to award unemployment benefits to persons voluntarily unemployed as the result of a labor dispute. New York Tel. Co. v. New York Labor Dep’t, 440 U.S. 519 (1979); Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory, 431 U.S. 471 (1977); Baker v. General Motors Corp., 478 U.S. 621 (1986). 1151 Allen-Bradley Local No. 1111 v. WERB, 315 U.S. 740 (1942). 1152 United Automobile Workers v. WERB, 336 U.S. 245 (1949), overruled by Machinists & Aerospace Workers v. WERC, 427 U.S. 132 (1976). 1153 Algoma Plywood Co. v. WERB, 336 U.S. 301 (1949). 1154 Hill v. Florida ex rel. Watson, 325 U.S. 538 (1945). More recently, the Court has held that Hill’s premise that the NLRA grants an unqualified right to select union officials has been removed by amendments prohibiting some convicted criminals from holding union office. Partly because the federal disqualification standard was itself dependent upon application of state law, the Court ruled that more stringent state disqualification provisions, also aimed at individuals who had been in-

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public utility strikes were similarly voided as being in specific conflict with federal law. 1155 A somewhat different approach was noted in several cases in which the Court held that the federal act had so occupied the field in certain areas as to preclude state regulation. 1156 The latter approach was predominant through the 1950s as the Court voided state court action in enjoining 1157 or awarding damages 1158 for peaceful picketing, in awarding of relief by damages or otherwise for conduct which constituted an unfair labor practice under federal law, 1159 or in enforcing state antitrust laws so as to affect collective bargaining agreements 1160 or to bar a strike as a restraint of trade, 1161 even with regard to disputes over which the NLRB declined to assert jurisdiction because of the degree of effect on interstate commerce. 1162 In San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 1163 the Court enunciated the rule, based on its previous decade of adjudication. ‘‘When an activity is arguably subject to § 7 or § 8 of the Act, the States . . . must defer to the exclusive competence of the volved in racketeering and other criminal conduct, were not inconsistent with federal law. Brown v. Hotel Employees, 468 U.S. 491 (1984). 1155 United Automobile Workers v. O’Brien, 339 U.S. 454 (1950); Bus Employees v. WERB, 340 U.S. 383 (1951). See also Bus Employees v. Missouri, 374 U.S. 74 (1963). 1156 Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U.S. 468 (1955); Garner v. Teamsters Local 776, 346 U.S. 485 (1953); Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York Employment Relations Bd., 330 U.S. 767 (1947). See also Livadas v. Bradshaw, 512 U.S. 107 (1994) (finding preempted because it stood as an obstacle to the achievement of the purposes of NLRA a practice of a state labor commissioner). Of course, where Congress clearly specifies, the Court has had no difficulty. Thus, in the NLRA, Congress provided, 29 U.S.C. § 164(b), that state laws on the subject could override the federal law on union security arrangements and the Court sustained those laws. Lincoln Federal Labor Union v. Northwestern Iron & Metal Co., 335 U.S. 525 (1949); AFL v. American Sash & Door Co., 335 U.S. 538 (1949). When Congress in the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.§ 152, Eleventh, provided that the federal law on union security was to override contrary state laws, the Court sustained that determination. Railway Employees’ Department v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225 (1956). The Court has held that state courts may adjudicate questions relating to the permissibility of particular types of union security arrangements under state law even though the issue involves as well an interpretation of federal law., Retail Clerks Int’l Ass’n v. Schermerhorn, 375 U.S. 96 (1963). 1157 Garner v. Teamsters Local 776, 346 U.S. 485 (1953); United Mine Workers v. Arkansas Flooring Co., 351 U.S. 62 (1956); Meat Cutters v. Fairlawn Meats, 353 U.S. 20 (1957); Construction Laborers v. Curry, 371 U.S. 542 (1963). 1158 San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 353 U.S. 26 (1957). 1159 Guss v. Utah Labor Board, 353 U.S. 1 (1957). 1160 Teamsters Union v. Oliver, 358 U.S. 283 (1959). 1161 Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U.S. 468 (1955). 1162 Guss v. Utah Labor Board, 353 U.S. 1 (1957). The ‘‘no-man’s land’’ thus created by the difference between the reach of Congress’ commerce power and the NLRB’s finite resources was closed by 73 Stat. 541, 29 U.S.C. § 164(c), which authorized the States to assume jurisdiction over disputes which the Board had indicated through promulgation of jurisdictional standards that it would not treat. 1163 359 U.S. 236 (1959).

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National Labor Relations Board if the danger of state interference with national policy is to be averted.’’ 1164 For much of the period since Garmon, the dispute in the Court concerned the scope of the few exceptions permitted in the Garmon principle. First, when picketing is not wholly peaceful but is attended by intimidation, violence, and obstruction of the roads affording access to the struck establishment, state police powers have been held not disabled to deal with the conduct and narrowlydrawn injunctions directed against violence and mass picketing have been permitted 1165 as well as damages to compensate for harm growing out of such activities. 1166 A 1958 case permitted a successful state court suit for reinstatement and damages for lost pay because of a wrongful expulsion, leading to discharge from employment, based on a theory that the union constitution and by-laws constitute a contract between the union and the members the terms of which can be enforced by state courts without the danger of a conflict between state and federal law. 1167 The Court subsequently narrowed the interpretation of this ruling by holding in two cases that members who alleged union interference with their existing or prospective employment relations could not sue for damages but must file unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. 1168 Gonzales was said to be limited to ‘‘purely internal union matters.’’ 1169 Finally, Gonzales, was abandoned in a five-to-four decision in which the Court held that a person who alleged that his union had misinterpreted its constitution and its collective bargaining agreement with the individual’s employer in expelling him from the union and causing him to be discharged from his employment because he was late paying his dues had to pursue his federal remedies. 1170 While it was not likely that in Gonzales, a state court resolution of the scope of duty owed the 1164 359 U.S. at 245. The rule is followed in, e.g., Radio & Television Technicians v. Broadcast Service of Mobile, 380 U.S. 255 (1965); Hattiesburg Building & Trades Council v. Broome, 377 U.S. 126 (1964); Longshoremen’s Local 1416 v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U.S. 195 (1970); Amalgamated Ass’n of Street Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274 (1971). Cf. Nash v. Florida Industrial Comm., 389 U.S. 235 (1967). 1165 United Automobile Workers v. WERB, 351 U.S. 266 (1956); Youngdahl v. Rainfair, 355 U.S. 131 (1957). 1166 United Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U.S. 634 (1958); United Construction Workers v. Laburnum Constr. Corp., 347 U.S. 656 (1954). 1167 International Ass’n of Machinists v. Gonzales, 356 U.S. 617 (1958). 1168 Journeymen Local 100 v. Borden, 373 U.S. 690 (1963); Iron Workers Local 207 v. Perko, 373 U.S. 701 (1963). Applying Perko, the Court held that a state court action by a supervisor alleging union interference with his contractual relationship with his employer is preempted by the NLRA. Local 926, Int’l Union of Operating Engineers v. Jones, 460 U.S. 669 (1983). 1169 373 U.S. at 697(Borden), and 705 (Perko). 1170 Amalgamated Ass’n of Street Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274 (1971).

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member by the union would implicate principles of federal law, Justice Harlan wrote for the Court, state court resolution in this case involved an interpretation of the contract’s union security clause, a matter on which federal regulation is extensive. 1171 One other exception has been based, like the violence cases, on the assumption that it concerns areas traditionally left to local law into which Congress would not want to intrude. In Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 1172 the Court permitted a state court adjudication of a defamation action arising out of a labor dispute. And in Letter Carriers v. Austin, 1173 the Court held that federal law preempts state defamation laws in the context of labor disputes to the extent that the State seeks to make actionable defamatory statements in labor disputes published without knowledge of their falsity or in reckless disregard of truth or falsity. However, a state tort action for the intentional infliction of emotional distress occasioned through an alleged campaign of personal abuse and harassment of a member of the union by the union and its officials was held not preempted by federal labor law. Federal law was not directed to the ‘‘outrageous conduct’’ alleged, and NLRB resolution of the dispute would neither touch upon the claim of emotional distress and physical injury nor award the plaintiff any compensation. But state court jurisdiction, in order that there not be interference with the federal scheme, must be premised on tortious conduct either unrelated to employment discrimination or a function of the particularly abusive manner in which the discrimination is accomplished or threatened rather than a function of the actual or threatened discrimination itself. 1174 A significant retrenchment of Garmon occurred in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 1175 in the context of state court assertion of jurisdiction over trespassory picketing. Objecting to the company’s use of nonunion work in one of its departments, the union picketed the store, using the company’s property, the lot area surrounding the store, instead of the public sidewalks, to walk on. After the union refused to move its pickets to the sidewalk, the company sought and obtained a state court order enjoining the 1171 403

U.S. at 296. U.S. 53 (1966). 1173 418 U.S. 264 (1974). 1174 Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U.S. 290 (1977). Following this case, the Court held that a state court action for misrepresentation and breach of contract, brought by replacement workers promised permanent employment when hired during a strike, was not preempted. The action for breach of contract by replacement workers having no remedies under the NLRA was found to be deeply rooted in local law and of only peripheral concern under the Act. Belknap, Inc. v. Hale, 463 U.S. 491 (1983). See also Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n v. Davis, 476 U.S. 380 (1986). 1175 436 U.S. 180 (1978). 1172 383

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picketing on company property. Depending upon the union motivation for the picketing, it was either arguably prohibited or arguably protected by federal law, the trespassory nature of the picketing being one factor the NLRB would have looked to in determining at least the protected nature of the conduct. The Court held, however, that under the circumstances, neither the arguably prohibited nor the arguably protected rationale of Garmon was sufficient to deprive the state court of jurisdiction. First, as to conduct arguably prohibited by NLRA, the Court seemingly expanded the Garmon exception recognizing state court jurisdiction for conduct that touches interests ‘‘deeply rooted in local feeling’’ 1176 in holding that where there exists ‘‘a significant state interest in protecting the citizens from the challenged conduct’’ and there exists ‘‘little risk of interference with the regulatory jurisdiction’’ of the NLRB, state law is not preempted. Here, there was obviously a significant state interest in protecting the company from trespass; the second, ‘‘critical inquiry’’ was whether the controversy presented to the state court was identical to or different from that which could have been presented to the Board. The Court concluded that the controversy was different. The Board would have been presented with determining the motivation of the picketing and the location of the picketing would have been irrelevant; the motivation was irrelevant to the state court and the situs of the picketing was the sole inquiry. Thus, there was deemed to be no realistic risk of state interference with Board jurisdiction. 1177 Second, in determining whether the picketing was protected, the Board would have been concerned with the situs of the picketing, since under federal labor laws the employer has no absolute right to prohibit union activity on his property. Preemption of state court jurisdiction was denied, nonetheless, in this case on two joined bases. One, preemption is not required in those cases in which the party who could have presented the protection issue to the Board has not done so and the other party to the dispute has no acceptable means of doing so. In this case, the union could have filed with the Board when the company demanded removal of the pickets, but did not, and the company could not file with the Board at all. Two, even if the matter is not presented to the Board, preemption is called for if there is a risk of erroneous state court adjudication of the protection issue that is unacceptable, so that one must look to the strength of the argument that the activity is protected. While the state court had to make an initial determination 1176 San

Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 244 (1959). Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 190–98 (1978).

1177 Sears,

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that the trespass was not protected under federal law, the same determination the Board would have made, in the instance of trespassory conduct, the risk of erroneous determination is small, because experience shows that a trespass is far more likely to be unprotected than protected. 1178 Introduction of these two balancing tests into the Garmon rationale substantially complicates determining when state courts do not have jurisdiction, and will no doubt occasion much more litigation in state courts than has previously existed. Another series of cases involves not a Court-created exception to the Garmon rule but the applicability and interpretation of § 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act, 1179 which authorizes suits in federal, and state, 1180 courts to enforce collective bargaining agreements. The Court has held that in enacting § 301, Congress authorized actions based on conduct arguably subject to the NLRA, so that the Garmon preemption doctrine does not preclude judicial enforcement of duties and obligations which would otherwise be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB so long as those duties and obligations are embodied in a collective-bargaining agreement, perhaps as interpreted in an arbitration proceeding. 1181 Here, too, the permissible role of state tort actions has been in great dispute. Generally, a state tort action as an alternative to a § 301 arbitration or enforcement action is preempted if it is substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of a collective-bargaining agreement. 1182 Thus, a state damage action for the badfaith handling of an insurance claim under a disability plan that was part of a collective-bargaining agreement was preempted because it involved interpretation of that agreement and because state enforcement would frustrate the policies of § 301 favoring uniform federal-law interpretation of collective-bargaining agreements and favoring arbitration as a predicate to adjudication. 1183 1178 436

U.S. at 199–207. Stat. 156 (1947), 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). 1180 Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney, 368 U.S. 502 (1962). The state courts must, however, apply federal law. Local 174, Teamsters Union v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95 (1962). 1181 Smith v. Evening News Ass’n, 371 U.S. 195 (1962); Humphrey v. Moore, 375 U.S. 335 (1964); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171 (1967). 1182 See the analysis in Lingle v. Norge Div. of Magic Chef, Inc., 486 U.S. 399 (1988) (state tort action for retaliatory discharge for exercising rights under a state workers’ compensation law is not preempted by § 301, there being no required interpretation of a collective-bargaining agreement). 1183 Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202 (1985). See also Int’l Brotherhood of Electric Workers v. Hechler, 481 U.S. 851 (1987) (state-law claim that union breached duty to furnish employee a reasonably safe workplace preempted); United Steelworkers of America v. Rawson, 495 U.S. 362 (1990) (state-law claim that union 1179 61

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Finally, the Court has indicated that with regard to some situations, Congress has intended to leave the parties to a labor dispute free to engage in ‘‘self-help,’’ so that conduct not subject to federal law is nonetheless withdrawn from state control. 1184 However, the NLRA is concerned primarily ‘‘with establishing an equitable process for determining terms and conditions of employment, and not with particular substantive terms of the bargain that is struck when the parties are negotiating from relatively equal positions,’’ so States are free to impose minimum labor standards. 1185 COMMERCE WITH INDIAN TRIBES Congress’ power to regulate commerce ‘‘with the Indian tribes,’’ once almost rendered superfluous by Court decision, 1186 has now been resurrected and made largely the basis for informing judicial judgment with respect to controversies concerning the rights and obligations of Native Americans. Although Congress in 1871 forbade the further making of treaties with Indian tribes, 1187 cases disputing the application of the old treaties and especially their effects upon attempted state taxation and regulation of on-reservation activities continue to be a staple of the Court’s docket. 1188 But this clause is one of the two bases now found sufficient to empower Federal Government authority over Native Americans. ‘‘The source of federal authority over Indian matters has been the subject of some confusion, but it is now generally recognized that the power derives from federal responsibility for regulating commerce with Indian tribes and for treaty making.’’ 1189 Forsaking reliance upon was negligent in inspecting a mine, the duty to inspect being created by the collective-bargaining agreement preempted). 1184 Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 394 U.S. 369 (1969); Machinists & Aerospace Workers v. WERC, 427 U.S. 132 (1976); Golden Gate Transit Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, 475 U.S. 608 (1986). And, cf. New York Telephone Co. v. New York Labor Dept., 440 U.S. 519 (1979). 1185 Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724 (1985) (upholding a state requirement that health-care plans, including those resulting from collective bargaining, provide minimum benefits for mental-health care). 1186 United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886). Rejecting the commerce clause as a basis for congressional enactment of a system of criminal laws for Indians living on reservations, the Court nevertheless sustained the act on the ground that the Federal Government had the obligation and thus the power to protect a weak and dependent people. Cf. United States v. Holiday, 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 407 (1866); United States v. Sandoval, 231 U.S. 28 (1913). This special fiduciary responsibility can also be created by statute. E.g., United States v. Mitchell, 463 U.S. 206 (1983). 1187 16 Stat. 544, 566, 25 U.S.C. § 71. 1188 E.g., Puyallup Tribe v. Washington Game Dep’t, 433 U.S. 165 (1977); Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Ass’n, 443 U.S. 658 (1979); Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981). 1189 McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Comm’n, 411 U.S. 164, 172 n. 7 (1973). See also Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 551–553 (1974); United States v. Mazurie,

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other theories and rationales, the Court has established the preemption doctrine as the analytical framework within which to judge the permissibility of assertions of state jurisdiction over the Indians. However, the ‘‘semi-autonomous status’’ of Indian tribes erects an ‘‘independent but related’’ barrier to the exercise of state authority over commercial activity on an Indian reservation. 1190 Thus, the question of preemption is not governed by the standards of preemption developed in other areas. ‘‘Instead, the traditional notions of tribal sovereignty, and the recognition and encouragement of this sovereignty in congressional Acts, inform the preemption analysis that governs this inquiry. . . . As a result, ambiguities in federal law should be construed generously, and federal pre-emption is not limited to those situations where Congress has explicitly announced an intention to pre-empt state activity.’’ 1191 A corollary is that the preemption doctrine will not be applied strictly to prevent States from aiding Native Americans. 1192 However, the protective rule is inapplicable to state regulation of liquor transactions, since there has been no tradition of tribal sovereignty with respect to that subject. 1193 The scope of state taxing powers—the conflict of ‘‘the plenary power of the States over residents within their borders with the semi-autonomous status of Indians living on tribal reservations’’ 1194 —has been often litigated. Absent cession of jurisdiction or other congressional consent, States possess no power to tax Indian reservation lands or Indian income from activities carried on within the boundaries of the reservation. 1195 Off-reservation Indian 419 U.S. 544, 553–556 (1974); Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 376 n. 2 (1976); White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136, 142 (1980); Ramah Navajo School Bd. v. Bureau of Revenue of New Mexico, 458 U.S. 832, 837 (1982). 1190 White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136, 142–143 (1980); Ramah Navajo School Board v. Bureau of Revenue of New Mexico, 458 U.S. 832, 837–838 (1982). ‘‘The two barriers are independent because either, standing alone, can be a sufficient basis for holding state law inapplicable to activity undertaken on the reservation or by tribal members.’’ Id. at 837, (quoting, White Mountain, 448 U.S. at 143). 1191 Ramah Navajo School Board v. Bureau of Revenue of New Mexico, 458 U.S. 832, 838 (1982). See also New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe, 462 U.S. 324 (1983). 1192 Three Affiliated Tribes v. Wold Engineering, 467 U.S. 138 (1984) (upholding state-court jurisdiction to hear claims of Native Americans against non-Indians involving transactions that occurred in Indian country). However, attempts by States to retrocede jurisdiction favorable to Native Americans may be held to be preempted. Three Affiliated Tribes v. Wold Engineering, 476 U.S. 877 (1986). 1193 Rice v. Rehner, 463 U.S. 713 (1983). 1194 McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Comm’n, 411 U.S. 164, 165 (1973). 1195 Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 148 (1973); McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Comm’n, 411 U.S. 164 (1973); Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463 (1976); Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373 (1976); Washington v. Confederated Colville Tribes, 447 U.S. 134 (1980); Montana v. Blackfeet

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activities require an express federal exemption to deny state taxing power. 1196 Subjection to taxation of non-Indians doing business with Indians on the reservation involves a close analysis of the federal statutory framework, although the operating premise was for many years to deny state power because of its burdens upon the development of tribal self-sufficiency as promoted through federal law and its interference with the tribes’ ability to exercise their sovereign functions. 1197 That operating premise, however, seems to have been eroded. For example, in Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 1198 the Court held that, in spite of the existence of multiple taxation occasioned by a state oil and gas severance tax applied to on-reservation operations by non-Indians, which was already taxed by the tribe, 1199 the impairment of tribal sovereignty was ‘‘too indirect and too insubstantial’’ to warrant a finding of preemption. The fact that the State provided significant services to the oil and gas lessees justified state taxation and also distinguished earlier cases in which the State had ‘‘asserted no legitimate regulatory interest that might justify the tax.’’ 1200 Still further erosion, or relaxation, of the principle of construction may be found in a later case, in which the Court, confronted with arguments that the imposition of particular state taxes on Indian property on the reservation was inconsistent with self-determination and self-governance, denominated these as ‘‘policy’’ arguments properly presented to Congress rather than the Court. 1201 The impact on tribal sovereignty is also a prime determinant of relative state and tribal regulatory authority. 1202 Tribe, 471 U.S. 759 (1985). See also Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505 (1991). A discernable easing of the reluctance to find congressional cession is reflected in more recent cases. See County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, 502 U.S. 251 (1992). 1196 Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 148–149 (1973). 1197 White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136 (1980); Central Machinery Co. v. Arizona Tax Comm’n, 448 U.S. 160 (1980); Ramah Navajo School Board v. Bureau of Revenue of New Mexico, 458 U.S. 832 (1982). 1198 490 U.S. 163 (1989). 1199 Held permissible in Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130 (1982). 1200 490 U.S. at 185 (distinguishing Bracker and Ramah Navaho School Bd). 1201 County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, 502 U.S. 251, 265 (1992). To be sure, this response was in the context of the reading of statutory texts and giving effect to them, but the unqualified designation is suggestive. For recent tax controversies, see Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Sac & Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114 (1993); Department of Taxation & Finance v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., 512 U.S. 61 (1994); Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. 450 (1995). 1202 E.g., New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe, 462 U.S. 324 (1983).

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Since Worcester v. Georgia, 1203 it has been recognized that Indian tribes are unique aggregations possessing attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory. 1204 They are, of course, no longer possessed of the full attributes of sovereignty, 1205 having relinquished some part of it by their incorporation within the territory of the United States and their acceptance of its protection. By specific treaty provision, they yielded up other sovereign powers, and Congress has removed still others. ‘‘The sovereignty that the Indian tribes retain is of a unique and limited character. It exists only at the sufferance of Congress and is subject to complete defeasance.’’ 1206 In a case of major import for the settlement of Indian land claims, the Court ruled in County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation, 1207 that an Indian tribe may obtain damages for wrongful possession of land conveyed in 1795 without the federal approval required by the Nonintercourse Act. 1208 The Act reflected the accepted principle that extinguishment of the title to land by Native Americans required the consent of the United States and left intact a tribe’s common-law remedies to protect possessory rights. The Court reiterated the accepted rule that enactments are construed liberally in favor of Native Americans and that Congress may abro1203 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832). See also Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831). Under this doctrine, tribes possess sovereign immunity from suit in the same way as the United States and the States do. Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58 (1978); United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 309 U.S. 506, 512–513 (1940). The Court has repeatedly rejected arguments to abolish tribal sovereign immunity or at least to curtail it. Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505, 510 (1991). 1204 United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313 (1978) (inherent sovereign power to punish tribal offenders). But tribes possess no criminal authority over non-Indians. Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978). And see Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676 (1990) (tribe has no criminal jurisdiction over non-tribal Indians who commit crimes on the reservation; jurisdiction over members rests on consent of the self-governed, and absence of consent defeats jurisdiction). Compare California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202 (1987) (state regulation of on-reservation bingo is preempted as basically civil/regulatory rather than criminal/prohibitory), with Brendale v. Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, 492 U.S. 408 (1989) (extensive ownership of land within ‘‘open areas’’ of reservation by non-members of tribe precludes application of tribal zoning within such areas). And see Hagen v. Utah, 510 U.S. 399 (1994). Among the fundamental attributes of sovereignty which a tribe possesses unless divested of it by federal law is the power to tax non-Indians entering the reservation to engage in economic activities. Washington v. Confederated Colville Tribes, 447 U.S. 134 (1980); Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130 (1982). 1205 United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375, 381 (1886); United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 323 (1978). 1206 United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 323 (1978). See South Dakota v. Bourland, 508 U.S. 679 (1993) (abrogation of Indian treaty rights and reduction of sovereignty). 1207 470 U.S. 226 (1985). 1208 1 Stat. 379 (1793).

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gate Indian treaty rights or extinguish aboriginal land title only if it does so clearly and unambiguously. Consequently, federal approval of land-conveyance treaties containing references to earlier conveyances that had violated the Nonintercourse Act did not constitute ratification of the invalid conveyances. 1209 Similarly, the Court refused to apply the general rule for borrowing a state statute of limitations for the federal common-law action, and it rejected the dissent’s view that, given ‘‘the extraordinary passage of time,’’ the doctrine of laches should have been applied to bar the claim. 1210 While the power of Congress over Indian affairs is broad, it is not limitless. 1211 The Court has promulgated a standard of review that defers to the legislative judgment ‘‘[a]s long as the special treatment can be tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress’ unique obligation toward the Indians . . .’’ 1212 A more searching review is warranted when it is alleged that the Federal Government’s behavior toward the Indians has been in contravention of its obligation and that it has in fact taken property from a tribe which it had heretofore guaranteed to the tribe, without either compensating the tribe or otherwise giving the Indians the full value of the land. 1213

Clause 4. The Congress shall have Power *** To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States. 1209 470

U.S. at 246–48.

1210 470

U.S. at 255, 257 (Justice Stevens).

1211 ‘‘The

power of Congress over Indian affairs may be of a plenary nature; but it is not absolute.’’ United States v. Alcea Bank of Tillamooks, 329 U.S. 40, 54 (1946) (plurality opinion), (quoted with approval in Delaware Tribal Business Comm. v. Weeks, 430 U.S. 73, 84 (1977)). 1212 Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 555 (1974). The Court applied the standard to uphold a statutory classification that favored Indians over non-Indians. But in Delaware Tribal Business Comm. v. Weeks, 430 U.S. 73 (1977), the same standard was used to sustain a classification that disfavored, although inadvertently, one group of Indians as against other groups. While Indian tribes are unconstrained by federal or state constitutional provisions, Congress has legislated a ‘‘bill of rights’’ statute covering them. See Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49 (1978). 1213 United States v. Sioux Nation, 448 U.S. 371 (1980). See also Solem v. Bartlett, 465 U.S. 463, 472 (1984) (there must be ‘‘substantial and compelling evidence of congressional intention to diminish Indian lands’’ before the Court will hold that a statute removed land from a reservation).

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NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP Nature and Scope of Congress’ Power Naturalization has been defined by the Supreme Court as ‘‘the act of adopting a foreigner, and clothing him with the privileges of a native citizen.’’ 1214 In the Dred Scott case, 1215 the Court asserted that the power of Congress under this clause applies only to ‘‘persons born in a foreign country, under a foreign government.’’ 1216 These dicta are much too narrow to describe the power that Congress has actually exercised on the subject. The competence of Congress in this field merges, in fact, with its indefinite, inherent powers in the field of foreign relations. ‘‘As a government, the United States is invested with all the attributes of sovereignty. As it has the character of nationality it has the powers of nationality, especially those which concern its relations and intercourse with other countries.’’ 1217 Congress’ power over naturalization is an exclusive power; no State has the power to constitute a foreign subject a citizen of the United States. 1218 But power to naturalize aliens may be, and was early, devolved by Congress upon state courts of record. 1219 And States may confer the right of suffrage upon resident aliens who have declared their intention to become citizens and many did so until recently. 1220 Citizenship by naturalization is a privilege to be given, qualified, or withheld as Congress may determine; an individual may claim it as a right only upon compliance with the terms Congress imposes. 1221 This interpretation makes of the naturalization power the only power granted in § 8 of Article I that is unrestrained by constitutional limitations on its exercise. Thus, the first naturalization act enacted by the first Congress restricted naturalization to 1214 Boyd

v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, 143 U.S. 135, 162 (1892). v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857). 1216 60 U.S. at 417, 419. 1217 Mackenzie v. Hare, 239 U.S. 299, 311 (1915). 1218 Chirac v. Chirac, 15 U.S. (2 Wheat.) 259, 269 (1817); United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 701 (1898). 1219 The first naturalization act, 1 Stat. 103 (1790), so provided. See 8 U.S.C. § 1421. In Holmgren v. United States, 217 U.S. 509 (1910), it was held that Congress may provide for the punishment of false swearing in the proceedings in state courts. 1220 Spragins v. Houghton, 3 Ill. 377 (1840); Stewart v. Foster, 2 Binn. (Pa.) 110 (1809). See K. PORTER, A HISTORY OF SUFFRAGE IN THE UNITED STATES ch. 5 (1918). 1221 United States v. MacIntosh, 283 U.S. 605, 615 (1931); Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698, 707–708 (1893). A caveat to this statement is that with regard to persons naturalized in the United States the qualification may only be a condition precedent and not a condition subsequent, Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964), whereas persons born abroad who are made citizens at birth by statute if one or both of their parents are citizens are subject to conditions subsequent. Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971). 1215 Scott

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‘‘free white persons[s],’’ 1222 which was expanded in 1870 so that persons of ‘‘African nativity and . . . descent’’ were entitled to be naturalized. 1223 Orientals were specifically excluded from eligibility in 1882, 1224 and the courts enforced these provisions without any indication that constitutional issues were thereby raised. 1225 These exclusions are no longer law. Present naturalization statutes continue and expand on provisions designed to bar subversives, dissidents, and radicals generally from citizenship. 1226 Although the usual form of naturalization is through individual application and official response on the basis of general congressional rules, naturalization is not so limited. Citizenship can be conferred by special act of Congress, 1227 it can be conferred collectively either through congressional action, such as the naturalization of all residents of an annexed territory or of a territory made a State, 1228 or through treaty provision. 1229 Categories of Citizens: Birth and Naturalization The first sentence of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment contemplates two sources of citizenship and two only: birth and naturalization. 1230 This contemplation is given statutory expression in § 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 1231 which itemizes those categories of persons who are citizens of the United States at birth; all other persons in order to become citizens must pass through the naturalization process. The first category merely tracks the language of the first sentence of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment in declaring that all persons born in the United States 1222 1

Stat. 103 (1790). of July 14, 1870, § 7, 16 Stat. 254, 256. of May 6, 1882, § 1, 22 Stat. 58. 1225 Cf. Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922); United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923); Toyota v. United States, 268 U.S. 402 (1925); Morrison v. California, 291 U.S. 82 (1934). The Court refused to review the only case in which the constitutional issue was raised and rejected. Kharaiti Ram Samras v. United States, 125 F. 2d 879 (C.A. 9, 1942), cert. denied, 317 U.S. 634 (1942). 1226 The Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, 1 Stat. 570, empowered the President to deport any alien he found dangerous to the peace and safety of the Nation. In 1903, Congress provided for denial of naturalization and for deportation for mere belief in certain doctrines, i.e., anarchy. Act of March 3, 1903, 32 Stat. 1214. See United States ex rel. Turner v. Williams, 194 U.S. 279 (1904). The range of forbidden views was broadened in 1918. Act of October 15, 1918, § 1, 40 Stat. 1012. The present law is found in 8 U.S.C. § 1424 and is discussed in The Naturalization of Aliens, infra. 1227 E.g., 77 Stat. 5 (1963) (making Sir Winston Churchill an ‘‘honorary citizen of the United States.’’). 1228 Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, 143 U.S. 135 (1892); Contzen v. United States, 179 U.S. 191 (1900). 1229 Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, 143 U.S. 135, 164, 168–169 (1892). 1230 United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 702 (1898). 1231 66 Stat. 235, 8 U.S.C. § 1401. 1223 Act 1224 Act

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and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens by birth. 1232 But there are six other categories of citizens by birth. They are: (2) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe, (3) a person born outside the United States of citizen parents one of whom has been resident in the United States, (4) a person born outside the United States of one citizen parent who has been continuously resident in the United States for one year prior to the birth and of a parent who is a national but not a citizen, (5) a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of one citizen parent who has been continuously resident in the United States or an outlying possession for one year prior to the birth, (6) a person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five unless prior to his twenty-first birthday he is shown not to have been born in the United States, and (7) a person born outside the United States of an alien parent and a citizen parent who has been resident in the United States for a period of ten years, provided the person is to lose his citizenship unless he resides continuously in the United States for a period of five years between his fourteenth and twenty-eighth birthdays. Subsection (7) citizens must satisfy the condition subsequent of five years continuous residence within the United States between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight, a requirement held to be constitutional, 1233 which means in effect that for constitutional purposes, according to the prevailing interpretation, there is a difference between persons born or naturalized in, that is, within, the United States and persons born outside the confines of the United States who are statutorily made citizens. 1234 The principal difference is that the former persons may not be involuntarily expatriated whereas the latter may be, subject only to due process protections. 1235 1232 §

301(a)(1), 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(1).

1233 Rogers

v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971).

1234 Compare

Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964); Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967). It will be noted that in practically all cases persons statutorily made citizens at birth will be dual nationals, having the citizenship of the country where they were born. Congress has never required a citizen having dual nationality to elect at some point one and forsake the other but it has enacted several restrictive statutes limiting the actions of dual nationals which have occasioned much litigation. E.g., Savorgnan v. United States, 338 U.S. 491 (1950); Kawakita v. United States, 343 U.S. 717 (1952); Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144 (1963); Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964); Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971). 1235 Cf. Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815, 836 (1971); Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144 (1963); Perez v. Brownell, 356 U.S. 44, 58–62 (1958).

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The Naturalization of Aliens Although, as has been noted, throughout most of our history there were significant racial and ethnic limitations upon eligibility for naturalization, the present law prohibits any such discrimination. ‘‘The right of a person to become a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of race or sex or because such person is married.’’ 1236 However, any person ‘‘who advocates or teaches, or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization that advocates or teaches . . . opposition to all organized government,’’ or ‘‘who advocates or teaches or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization that advocates or teaches the overthrow by force or violence or other unconstitutional means of the Government of the United States’’ or who is a member of or affiliated with the Communist Party, or other communist organizations, or other totalitarian organizations is ineligible. 1237 These provisions moreover are ‘‘applicable to any applicant for naturalization who at any time within a period of ten years immediately preceding the filing of the petition for naturalization or after such filing and before taking the final oath of citizenship is, or has been found to be, within any of the classes enumerated within this section, notwithstanding that at the time the petition is filed he may not be included within such classes.’’ 1238 Other limitations on eligibility are also imposed. Eligibility may turn upon the decision of the responsible officials whether the petitioner is of ‘‘good moral character.’’ 1239 The immigration and nationality laws themselves include a number of specific congressional determinations that certain persons do not possess ‘‘good moral character,’’ including persons who are ‘‘habitual drunkards,’’ 1240 adulterers, 1241 polygamists or advocates of polygamy, 1242 gamblers, 1243 convicted felons, 1244 and homosexuals. 1245 In order to petition for naturalization, an alien must have been resident for at 1236 §

311, 66 Stat. 239 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1422. 313(a), 66 Stat. 240 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1424(a). Whether ‘‘mere’’ membership is sufficient to constitute grounds for ineligibility is unclear. Compare Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522 (1954), with Berenyi v. Immigration Director, 385 U.S. 630 (1967). 1238 § 313(c), 66 Stat. 241 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1424(c). 1239 § 316(a)(3), 66 Stat. 242, 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)(3). 1240 § 101(f)(1), 66 Stat. 172, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f)(1). 1241 § 101(f)(2), 66 Stat. 172, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f)(2). 1242 § 212(a)(11), 66 Stat. 182, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(11). 1243 § 101(f)(4) and (5), 66 Stat. 172, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f)(4) and (5). 1244 § 101(f)(7) and (8), 66 Stat. 172, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f)(7) and (8). 1245 § 212(a)(4), 66 Stat. 182, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(4), barring aliens afflicted with ‘‘psychopathic personality,’’ a congressional euphemism including homosexuality. Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 387 U.S. 118 (1967). 1237 §

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least five years and to have possessed ‘‘good moral character’’ for all of that period. The process of naturalization culminates in the taking in open court of an oath ‘‘(1) to support the Constitution of the United States; (2) to renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the petitioner was before a subject or citizen; (3) to support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; (4) to bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and (5) (A) to bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, or (B) to perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law, or (C) to perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law.’’ 1246 Any naturalized person who takes this oath with mental reservations or conceals or misrepresents beliefs, affiliations, and conduct, which under the law disqualify one for naturalization, is subject, upon these facts being shown in a proceeding brought for the purpose, to have his certificate of naturalization cancelled. 1247 Moreover, if within a year of his naturalization a person joins an organization or becomes in any way affiliated with one which was a disqualification for naturalization if he had been a member at the time, the fact is made prima facie evidence of his bad faith in taking the oath and grounds for instituting proceedings to revoke his admission to citizenship. 1248 Rights of Naturalized Persons Chief Justice Marshall early stated in dictum that ‘‘[a] naturalized citizen . . . becomes a member of the society, possessing all the 1246 § 337(a), 66 Stat. 258 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1448(a). In United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644 (1929), and United States v. MacIntosh, 283 U.S. 605 (1931), a divided Court held that clauses (3) and (4) of the oath, as then prescribed, required the candidate for naturalization to be willing to bear arms for the United States, thus disqualifying conscientious objectors. These cases were overturned, purely as a matter of statutory interpretation by Girouard v. United States, 328 U.S. 61 (1946), and Congress codified the result, 64 Stat. 1017 (1950), as it now appears in the cited statute. 1247 § 340(a), 66 Stat. 260 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a). See Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759 (1988) (badly fractured Court opinion dealing with the statutory requirements in a denaturalization proceeding under this section). And see Johannessen v. United States, 225 U.S. 227 (1912). Congress has imposed no time bar applicable to proceedings to revoke citizenship, so that many years after naturalization has taken place a naturalized citizen remains subject to divestment upon proof of fraud. Costello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265 (1961); Polites v. United States, 364 U.S. 426 (1960); Knauer v. United States, 328 U.S. 654 (1946); Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U. S. 490 (1981). 1248 340(c), 66 Stat. 261 (1952), 8 U.S.C. § 1451(c). The time period had previously been five years.

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rights of a native citizen, and standing, in the view of the Constitution, on the footing of a native. The Constitution does not authorize Congress to enlarge or abridge those rights. The simple power of the national legislature is, to prescribe a uniform rule of naturalization, and the exercise of this power exhausts it, so far as respects the individual.’’ 1249 A similar idea was expressed in Knauer v. United States. 1250 ‘‘Citizenship obtained through naturalization is not a second-class citizenship. . . . [It] carries with it the privilege of full participation in the affairs of our society, including the right to speak freely, to criticize officials and administrators, and to promote changes in our laws including the very Charter of our Government.’’ Despite these dicta, it is clear that particularly in the past but currently as well a naturalized citizen has been and is subject to requirements not imposed on native-born citizens. Thus, as we have noted above, a naturalized citizen is subject at any time to have his good faith in taking the oath of allegiance to the United States inquired into and to lose his citizenship if lack of such faith is shown in proper proceedings. 1251 And the naturalized citizen within a year of his naturalization will join a questionable organization at his peril. 1252 In Luria v. United States, 1253 the Court sustained a statute making prima facie evidence of bad faith a naturalized citizen’s assumption of residence in a foreign country within five years after the issuance of a certificate of naturalization. But in Schneider v. Rusk, 1254 the Court voided a statute that provided that a naturalized citizen should lose his United States citizenship if following naturalization he resided continuously for three years in his former homeland. ‘‘We start,’’ Justice Douglas wrote for the 1249 Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 737, 827 (1824). One must be aware, however, that this language does not appear in any case having to do with citizenship or naturalization or the rights of naturalized citizens and its force may be therefore questioned. Compare Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253, 261 (1967) (Justice Black for the Court: ‘‘a mature and well-considered dictum . . .’’), with id. at 275–276 (Justice Harlan dissenting: the dictum, ‘‘cannot have been intended to reach the question of citizenship.’’). The issue in Osborn was the right of the Bank to sue in federal court. Osborn had argued that the fact that the bank was chartered under the laws of the United States did not make any legal issue involving the bank one arising under the laws of the United States for jurisdictional purposes; to argue the contrary, Osborn contended, was like suggesting that the fact that persons were naturalized under the laws of Congress meant such persons had an automatic right to sue in federal courts, unlike natural-born citizens. The quoted language of Marshall’s rejects this attempted analogy. 1250 328 U.S. 654, 658 (1946). 1251 Johannessen v. United States, 225 U.S. 227 (1912); Knauer v. United States, 328 U.S. 654 (1946); Costello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265 (1961). 1252 See 8 U.S.C. § 1451(c). 1253 231 U.S. 9 (1913). The provision has been modified to reduce the period to one year. 8 U.S.C. § 1451(d). 1254 377 U.S. 163 (1964).

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Court, ‘‘from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native-born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the ‘natural born’ citizen is eligible to be President.’’ 1255 The failure of the statute, the Court held, was that it impermissibly distinguished between native-born and naturalized citizens, denying the latter the equal protection of the laws. 1256 ‘‘This statute proceeds on the impermissible assumption that naturalized citizens as a class are less reliable and bear less allegiance to this country than do the native-born. This is an assumption that is impossible for us to make. . . . A native-born citizen is free to reside abroad indefinitely without suffering loss of citizenship. The discrimination aimed at naturalized citizens drastically limits their rights to live and work abroad in a way that other citizens may. It creates indeed a second-class citizenship. Living abroad, whether the citizen be naturalized or native-born, is no badge of lack of allegiance and in no way evidences a voluntary renunciation of nationality and allegiance.’’ 1257 The Schneider equal protection rationale was abandoned in the next case in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment forbade involuntary expatriation of naturalized persons. 1258 But in Rogers v. Bellei, 1259 the Court refused to extend this holding to persons statutorily naturalized at birth abroad because one of their parents was a citizen and similarly refused to apply Schneider. Thus, one who failed to honor a condition subsequent had his citizenship revoked. ‘‘Neither are we persuaded that a condition subsequent in this area impresses one with ‘second-class citizenship.’ That cliche is too handy and too easy, and, like most cliches, can be misleading. That the condition subsequent may be beneficial is apparent in the light of the conceded fact that citizenship was fully deniable. The proper emphasis is on what the statute permits him to gain from the possible starting point of noncitizenship, not on what he claims to lose from the possible starting point of full citizenship to which he has no constitutional right in the first place. His citizenship, while it lasts, although conditional, is not ‘secondclass.’’’ 1260 1255 377

U.S. at 165. there is no equal protection clause specifically applicable to the Federal Government, it is established that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment forbids discrimination in much the same manner as the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 1257 Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163, 168–169 (1964). 1258 Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967). 1259 401 U.S. 815 (1971). 1260 401 U.S. at 835–36. 1256 While

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It is not clear where the progression of cases has left us in this area. Clearly, naturalized citizens are fully entitled to all the rights and privileges of those who are citizens because of their birth here. But it seems equally clear that with regard to retention of citizenship, naturalized citizens are not in the secure position of citizens born here. 1261 On another point, the Court has held that, absent a treaty or statute to the contrary, a child born in the United States who is taken during minority to the country of his parents’ origin, where his parents resume their former allegiance, does not thereby lose his American citizenship and that it is not necessary for him to make an election and return to the United States. 1262 On still another point, it has been held that naturalization is so far retroactive as to validate an acquisition of land prior to naturalization as to which the alien was under a disability. 1263 Expatriation: Loss of Citizenship The history of the right of expatriation, voluntarily on the part of the citizen or involuntarily under duress of statute, is shadowy in United States constitutional law. Justice Story, in the course of an opinion, 1264 and Chancellor Kent, in his writings, 1265 accepted the ancient English doctrine of perpetual and unchangeable allegiance to the government of one’s birth, a citizen being precluded from renouncing his allegiance without permission of that government. The pre-Civil War record on the issue is so vague because there was wide disagreement on the basis of national citizenship in the first place, with some contending that national citizenship was derivative from state citizenship, which would place the power of providing for expatriation in the state legislatures, and with others contending for the primacy of national citizenship, which would place the power in Congress. 1266 The citizenship basis was settled by the first sentence of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, but expatriation continued to be a muddled topic. An 1868 statute specifically recognized ‘‘the right of expatriation’’ by individuals, but it 1261 At least, there is a difference so long as Afroyim prevents Congress from making expatriation the consequence of certain acts when done by natural born citizens as well. 1262 Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325 (1939). The qualifying phrase ‘‘absent a treaty or statute . . .’’ is error now, so long as Afroyim remains in effect. But note Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815, 832–833 (1971). 1263 Governeur v. Robertson, 24 U.S. (11 Wheat.) 332 (1826); Osterman v. Baldwin, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 116 (1867); Manuel v. Wulff, 152 U.S. 505 (1894). 1264 Shanks v. DuPont, 28 U.S. (3 Pet.) 242, 246 (1830). 1265 2 J. KENT, COMMENTARIES 49–50 (1827). 1266 J. TENBROEK, ANTI-SLAVERY ORIGINS OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT 71– 94 (1951); see generally J. ROCHE, THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP (1949).

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was directed to affirming the right of foreign nationals to expatriate themselves and to become naturalized United States citizens. 1267 An 1865 law provided for the forfeiture of the ‘‘rights of citizenship’’ of draft-dodgers and deserters, but whether the statute meant to deprive such persons of citizenship or of their civil rights is unclear. 1268 Beginning in 1940, however, Congress did enact laws designed to strip of their citizenship persons who committed treason, 1269 deserted the armed forces in wartime, 1270 left the country to evade the draft, 1271 or attempted to overthrow the Government by force or violence. 1272 In 1907, Congress provided that female citizens who married foreign citizens were to have their citizenship held ‘‘in abeyance’’ while they remained wedded but to be entitled to reclaim it when the marriage was dissolved. 1273 About the simplest form of expatriation, the renunciation of citizenship by a person, there is no constitutional difficulty. ‘‘Expatriation is the voluntary renunciation or abandonment of nationality and allegiance.’’ 1274 But while the Court has hitherto insisted on the voluntary character of the renunciation, it has sustained the power of Congress to prescribe conditions and circumstances the voluntary entering into of which constitutes renunciation; the person need not intend to renounce so long as he intended to do what he did in fact do. 1275 The Court first encountered the constitutional issue of forced expatriation in the rather anomalous form of the statute, 1276 which placed in limbo the citizenship of any American female who married a foreigner. Sustaining the statute, the Court relied on the 1267 Act of July 27, 1868, 15 Stat. 223. While the Act’s preamble rhetorically proclaims the ‘‘natural and inherent right of all people’’ to expatriate themselves, its title is ‘‘An Act concerning the Rights of American Citizens in foreign States’’ and its operative parts are concerned with that subject. It has long been taken, however, as a general proclamation of United States recognition of the right of United States citizens to expatriate themselves. Mackenzie v. Hare, 239 U.S. 299, 309 (1915); Mandoli v. Acheson, 344 U.S. 133, 135–136 (1952). Cf. Savorgnan v. United States, 338 U.S. 491, 498 n. 11 (1950). 1268 The Enrollment Act of March 3, 1865, § 21, 13 Stat. 487, 490. The language of the section appears more consistent with a deprivation of civil rights than of citizenship. Note also that § 14 of the Wade-Davis Bill, pocket-vetoed by President Lincoln, specifically provided that any person holding office in the Confederate Government ‘‘is hereby declared not to be a citizen of the United States.’’ 6 J. RICHARDSON, MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS 223 (1899). 1269 Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 1169. 1270 Id. 1271 58 Stat. 746 (1944). 1272 68 Stat. 1146 (1954). 1273 34 Stat. 1228 (1907), repealed by 42 Stat. 1021 (1922). 1274 Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325, 334 (1939). 1275 Mackenzie v. Hare, 239 U.S. 299, 309, 311–312 (1915); Savorgnan v. United States, 338 U.S. 491, 506 (1950). 1276 34 Stat. 1228 (1907).

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congressional foreign relations power exercised in order to prevent the development of situations that might entangle the United States in embarrassing or hostile relationships with a foreign country. Noting too the fictional merging of identity of husband and wife, the Court thought it well within congressional power to attach certain consequences to these actions, despite the woman’s contrary intent and understanding at the time she entered the relationship. 1277 Beginning in 1958, the Court had a running encounter with the provisions of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which prescribed expatriation for a lengthy series of actions. 1278 In 1958, a five-to-four decision sustained the power to divest a dual national of his United States citizenship because he had voted in an election in the other country of which he was a citizen. 1279 But at the same time, another five-to-four decision, in which a majority rationale was lacking, struck down punitive expatriation visited on persons convicted by court-martial of desertion from the armed forces in wartime. 1280 In the next case, the Court struck down another puni1277 Mackenzie

v. Hare, 239 U.S. 299 (1915). generally 8 U.S.C. §§ 1481–1489. Among the acts for which loss of citizenship is prescribed are (1) obtaining naturalization in a foreign state, (2) taking an oath of allegiance to a foreign state, (3) serving in the armed forces of a foreign state without authorization and with consequent acquisition of foreign nationality, (4) assuming public office under the government of a foreign state for which only nationals of that state are eligible, (5) voting in an election in a foreign state, (6) formally renouncing citizenship before a United states foreign service officer abroad, (7) formally renewing citizenship within the United States in time of war, subject to approval of the Attorney General, (8) being convicted and discharged from the armed services for desertion in wartime, (9) being convicted of treason or of an attempt to overthrow forcibly the Government of the United States, (10) fleeing or remaining outside the United States in wartime or a proclaimed emergency in order to evade military service, and (11) residing abroad if a naturalized citizen, subject to certain exceptions, for three years in the country of his birth or in which he was formerly a national or for five years in any other foreign state. Several of these sections have been declared unconstitutional, as explained in the text. 1279 Perez v. Brownell, 356 U.S. 44 (1958). For the Court, Justice Frankfurter sustained expatriation as a necessary exercise of the congressional power to regulate the foreign relations of the United States to prevent the embarrassment and potential for trouble inherent in our nationals voting in foreign elections. Justice Whittaker dissented because he saw no problem of embarrassment or potential trouble if the foreign state permitted aliens or dual nationals to vote. Chief Justice Warren and Justices Black and Douglas denied that expatriation is within Congress’ power to prescribe for an act, like voting, which is not necessarily a sign of intention to relinquish citizenship. 1280 Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86 (1958). Chief Justice Warren for himself and three Justices held that expatriation for desertion was a cruel and unusual punishment proscribed by the Eighth Amendment. Justice Brennan concurred on the ground of a lack of the requisite relationship between the statute and Congress’ war powers. For the four dissenters, Justice Frankfurter argued that Congress had power to impose loss of citizenship for certain activity and that there was a rational nexus between refusal to perform a duty of citizenship and deprivation of citizenship. Justice Frankfurter denied that the penalty was cruel and unusual punish1278 See

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tive expatriation visited on persons who, in time of war or emergency, leave or remain outside the country in order to evade military service. 1281 And in the following year, the Court held unconstitutional a section of the law that expatriated a naturalized citizen who returned to his native land and resided there continuously for a period of three years. 1282 The cases up to this point had lacked a common rationale and would have seemed to permit even punitive expatriation under the proper circumstances. But, in Afroyim v. Rusk, 1283 a five-to-four majority overruled the 1958 decision permitting expatriation for voting in a foreign election and announced a constitutional rule against all but purely voluntary renunciation of United States citizenship. The majority ruled that the first sentence of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionally vested citizenship in every person ‘‘born or naturalized in the United States’’ and that Congress was powerless to take that citizenship away. 1284 The continuing vitality of this decision was called into question by another five-to-four decision in 1971, which technically distinguished Afroyim in upholding a congressionally-prescribed loss of citizenship visited upon a person who was statutorily naturalized ‘‘outside’’ the United States, and held not within the protection of the first sentence of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 1285 Thus, while Afroyim was distinguished, the tenor of the majority opinion was hostile to its holding, and it may be that in a future case it will be overruled. ment and denied that it was punishment at all ‘‘in any valid constitutional sense.’’ Id. at 124. 1281 Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144 (1963). For the Court Justice Goldberg held that penal expatriation effectuated solely by administrative determination violated due process because of the absence of procedural safeguards. Justices Black and Douglas continued to insist Congress could not deprive a citizen of his nationality at all. Justice Harlan for the dissenters thought the statute a valid exercise of Congress’ war powers but the four dissenters divided two-to-two on the validity of a presumption spelled out in the statute. 1282 Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964). 1283 387 U.S. 253 (1967). 1284 Justice Harlan, for himself and Justices Clark, Stewart, and White, argued in dissent that there was no evidence that the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment had at all the intention ascribed to them by the majority. He would have found in Afroyim’s voluntary act of voting in a foreign election a voluntary renunciation of United States citizenship. 387 U.S. at 268. 1285 Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971). The three remaining Afroyim dissenters plus Chief Justice Burger and Justice Blackmun made up the majority, the three remaining Justices of the Afroyim majority plus Justice Marshall made up the dissenters. The continuing vitality of Afroyim was assumed in Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U. S. 252 (1980), in which a divided Court upheld a congressionally-imposed standard of proof, preponderance of evidence, by which to determine whether one had by his actions renounced his citizenship.

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The issue, then, of the constitutionality of congressionally-prescribed expatriation must be taken as unsettled. ALIENS The Power of Congress to Exclude Aliens The power of Congress ‘‘to exclude aliens from the United States and to prescribe the terms and conditions on which they come in’’ is absolute, being an attribute of the United States as a sovereign nation. ‘‘That the government of the United States, through the action of the legislative department, can exclude aliens from its territory is a proposition which we do not think open to controversy. Jurisdiction over its own territory to that extent is an incident of every independent nation. It is a part of its independence. If it could not exclude aliens, it would be to that extent subject to the control of another power. . . . The United States, in their relation to foreign countries and their subjects or citizens, are one nation, invested with powers which belong to independent nations, the exercise of which can be invoked for the maintenance of its absolute independence and security throughout its entire territory.’’ 1286 1286 Chinese Exclusion Case (Chae Chan Ping v. United States), 130 U.S. 581, 603, 604 (1889); see also Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698, 705 (1893); The Japanese Immigrant Case (Yamataya v. Fisher), 189 U.S. 86 (1903); United States ex rel. Turner v. Williams, 194 U.S. 279 (1904); Bugajewitz v. Adams, 228 U.S. 585 (1913); Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52 (1941); Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U. S. 753 (1972). In Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 530–531 (1954), Justice Frankfurter for the Court wrote: ‘‘[M]uch could be said for the view, were we writing on a clean slate, that the Due Process Clause qualifies the scope of political discretion heretofore recognized as belonging to Congress in regulating the entry and deportation of aliens. . . . But the slate is not clean. As to the extent of the power of Congress under review, there is not merely ‘a page of history,’ . . . but a whole volume. . . . [T]hat the formulation of these policies is entrusted exclusively to Congress has become about as firmly imbedded in the legislative and judicial tissues of our body politic as any aspect of our government.’’ Although the issue of racial discrimination was before the Court in Jean v. Nelson, 472 U.S. 846 (1985), in the context of parole for undocumented aliens, the Court avoided it, holding that statutes and regulations precluded INS considerations of race or national origin. Justices Marshall and Brennan, in dissent, argued for reconsideration of the long line of precedents and for constitutional restrictions on the Government. Id. at 858. That there exists some limitation upon exclusion of aliens is one permissible interpretation of Reagan v. Abourezk, 484 U.S. 1 (1987), affg. by an equally divided Court, 785 F.2d 1043 (D.C.Cir. 1986), holding that mere membership in the Communist Party could not be used to exclude an alien on the ground that his activities might be prejudicial to the interests of the United States. The power of Congress to prescribe the rules for exclusion or expulsion of aliens is a ‘‘fundamental sovereign attribute’’ which is ‘‘of a political character and therefore subject only to narrow judicial review.’’ Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88, 101 n. 21 (1976); Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 81–82 (1976); Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792 (1977). Although aliens are ‘‘an identifiable class of persons,’’ who aside from the classification at issue ‘‘are already subject to disadvantages not shared by the remainder of the community,’’ Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S.

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Except for the Alien Act of 1798, 1287 Congress went almost a century without enacting laws regulating immigration into the United States. The first such statute, in 1875, barred convicts and prostitutes 1288 and was followed by a series of exclusions based on health, criminal, moral, economic, and subversion considerations. 1289 Another important phase was begun with passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, 1290 which was not repealed until 1943. 1291 In 1924, Congress enacted into law a national origins quota formula which based the proportion of admittable aliens on the nationality breakdown of the 1920 census, which, of course, was heavily weighed in favor of English and northern European ancestry. 1292 This national origins quota system was in effect until it was repealed in 1965. 1293 The basic law remains the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 1294 which, with certain revisions in 1965 and later piecemeal alterations, regulates who may be admitted and under what conditions; the Act, it should be noted, contains a list of 31 excludable classes of aliens. 1295 Numerous cases underscore the sweeping nature of the powers of the Federal Government to exclude aliens and to deport by adat 102, Congress may treat them in ways that would violate the equal protection clause if a State should do it. Diaz, (residency requirement for welfare benefits); Fiallo, (sex and illegitimacy classifications). Nonetheless in Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. at 103, the Court observed that when the Federal Government asserts an overriding national interest as justification for a discriminatory rule that would violate the equal protection clause if adopted by a State, due process requires that it be shown that the rule was actually intended to serve that interest. The case struck down a classification that the Court thought justified by the interest asserted but that had not been imposed by a body charged with effectuating that interest. See Vergara v. Hampton, 581 F.2d 1281 (C.A. 7, 1978). See Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, 509 U.S. 155 (1993) (construing statutes and treaty provisions restrictively to affirm presidential power to interdict and seize fleeing aliens on high seas to prevent them from entering U.S. waters). 1287 Act of June 25, 1798, 1 Stat. 570. The Act was part of the Alien and Sedition Laws and authorized the expulsion of any alien the President deemed dangerous. 1288 Act of March 3, 1875, 18 Stat. 477. 1289 22 Stat. 214 (1882) (excluding idiots, lunatics, convicts, and persons likely to become public charges); 23 Stat. 332 (1885), and 24 Stat. 414 (1887) (regulating importing cheap foreign labor); 26 Stat. 1084 (1891) (persons suffering from certain diseases, those convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude, paupers, and polygamists); 32 Stat. 1213 (1903) (epileptics, insane persons, professional beggars, and anarchists); 34 Stat. 898 (1907) (feeble-minded, children unaccompanied by parents, persons suffering with tuberculosis, and women coming to the United States for prostitution or other immoral purposes). 1290 Act of May 6, 1882, 22 Stat. 58. 1291 Act of December 17, 1943, 57 Stat. 600. 1292 Act of May 26, 1924, 43 Stat. 153. 1293 Act of October 3, 1965, P.L. 89–236, 79 Stat. 911. 1294 Act of June 27, 1952, P.L. 82–414, 66 Stat. 163, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq. as amended. 1295 The list of excludable aliens may be found at 8 U.S.C. § 1182. The list has been modified and classified by category in recent amendments.

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ministrative process persons in excluded classes. For example, in United States ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 1296 an order of the Attorney General excluding, on the basis of confidential information he would not disclose, a wartime bride, who was prima facie entitled to enter the United States, 1297 was held to be unreviewable by the courts. Nor were regulations on which the order was based invalid as an undue delegation of legislative power. ‘‘Normally Congress supplies the conditions of the privilege of entry into the United States. But because the power of exclusion of aliens is also inherent in the executive department of the sovereign, Congress may in broad terms authorize the executive to exercise the power, e.g., as was done here, for the best interest of the country during a time of national emergency. Executive officers may be entrusted with the duty of specifying the procedures for carrying out the congressional intent.’’ 1298 However, when Congress has spelled out the basis for exclusion or deportation, the Court remains free to interpret the statute and review the administration of it and to apply it, often in a manner to mitigate the effects of the law on aliens. 1299 Congress’ power to admit aliens under whatever conditions it lays down is exclusive of state regulation. The States ‘‘can neither add to nor take from the conditions lawfully imposed by Congress upon admission, naturalization and residence of aliens in the United States or the several states. State laws which impose discriminatory burdens upon the entrance or residence of aliens lawfully within the United States conflict with this constitutionally derived federal power to regulate immigration, and have accordingly been held invalid.’’ 1300 This principle, however, has not precluded all state regulations dealing with aliens. 1301 The power of Congress to legislate with respect to the conduct of alien residents is a concomitant of its power to prescribe the terms and conditions on 1296 338 U.S. 537 (1950). See also Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U.S. 206 (1953), in which the Court majority upheld the Government’s power to exclude on the basis of information it would not disclose a permanent resident who had gone abroad for about nineteen months and was seeking to return on a new visa. But the Court will frequently read the applicable statutes and regulations strictly against the Government for the benefit of persons sought to be excluded. Cf. Delgadillo v. Carmichael, 332 U.S. 388 (1947); Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding, 344 U.S. 590 (1953); Rosenburg v. Fleuti, 374 U.S. 449 (1963). 1297 Under the War Brides Act of 1945, 59 Stat. 659. 1298 338 U.S. at 543. 1299 E.g., Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Errico, 385 U.S. 214 (1966). 1300 Takahashi v. Fish & Game Comm’n, 334 U.S. 410, 419 (1948); De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 358 n.6 (1976); Toll v. Moreno, 458 U.S. 1, 12–13 (1982). See also Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 66 (1941); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 376–380 (1971). 1301 E.g., Heim v. McCall, 239 U.S. 175 (1915); Ohio ex rel. Clarke v. Deckebach, 274 U.S. 392 (1927); Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634, 646–649 (1973); De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351 (1976); Cabell v. Chavez-Salido, 454 U.S. 432 (1982).

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which they may enter the United States, to establish regulations for sending out of the country such aliens as have entered in violation of law, and to commit the enforcement of such conditions and regulations to executive officers. It is not a power to lay down a special code of conduct for alien residents or to govern their private relations. 1302 Yet Congress is empowered to assert a considerable degree of control over aliens after their admission to the country. By the Alien Registration Act of 1940, Congress provided that all aliens in the United States, fourteen years of age and over, should submit to registration and finger printing and willful failure to comply was made a criminal offense against the United States. 1303 This Act, taken in conjunction with other laws regulating immigration and naturalization, has constituted a comprehensive and uniform system for the regulation of all aliens. 1304 An important benefit of this comprehensive regulation accruing to the alien is that it precludes state regulation that may well be more severe and burdensome. For example, in Hines v. Davidowitz, 1305 the Court voided a Pennsylvania law requiring the annual registration and fingerprinting of aliens but going beyond the subsequently-enacted federal law to require acquisition of an alien identification card that had to be carried at all times and to be exhibited to any police officer upon demand and to other licensing officers upon applications for such things as drivers’ licenses. The Court did not squarely hold the State incapable of having such a law in the absence of federal law but appeared to lean in that direction. 1306 Another decision voided a Pennsylvania law limiting those eligible to welfare assistance to citizens and an Arizona law prescribing a fifteen-year durational residency period before an alien could be eligible for welfare assistance. 1307 Congress had pro1302 Purporting to enforce this distinction, the Court voided a statute, which, in prohibiting the importation of ‘‘any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution,’’ provided that whoever should keep for the purpose of prostitution ‘‘any alien woman or girl within three years after she shall have entered the United States’’ should be deemed guilty of a felony. Keller v. United States, 213 U.S. 138 (1909). 1303 54 Stat. 670, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1301–1306. 1304 See Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 69–70 (1941). 1305 312 U.S. 52 (1941). 1306 312 U.S. at 68. But see De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351 (1976), in which the Court upheld a state law prohibiting an employer from hiring aliens not entitled to lawful residence in the United States. The Court wrote that States may enact legislation touching upon aliens coexistent with federal laws, under regular preemption standards, unless the nature of the regulated subject matter precludes the conclusion or unless Congress has unmistakably ordained the impermissibility of state law. 1307 Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365 (1971). See also Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634 (1973); In re Griffiths, 413 U.S. 717 (1973); Cabell v. Chavez-Salido, 454 U.S. 432 (1982).

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vided, Justice Blackmun wrote for a unanimous Court, that persons who were likely to become public charges could not be admitted to the United States and that any alien who became a public charge within five years of his admission was to be deported unless he could show that the causes of his economic situation arose after his entry. 1308 Thus, in effect Congress had declared that lawfully admitted resident aliens who became public charges for causes arising after their entry were entitled to the full and equal benefit of all laws for the security of persons and property and the States were disabled from denying aliens these benefits. 1309 Deportation Unlike the exclusion proceedings, 1310 deportation proceedings afford the alien a number of constitutional rights: a right against self-incrimination, 1311 protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, 1312 guarantees against ex post facto laws, bills of attainder, and cruel and unusual punishment, 1313 a right to bail, 1314 a right to procedural due process, 1315 a right to counsel, 1316 a right to notice of charges and hearing, 1317 as well as a right to cross-examine. 1318 Notwithstanding these guarantees, the Supreme Court has upheld a number of statutory deportation measures as not unconstitutional. The Internal Security Act of 1950, in authorizing the Attorney General to hold in custody, without bail, aliens who are members of the Communist Party of the United States, pending determination as to their deportability, is not unconstitutional. 1319 Nor was it unconstitutional to deport under the Alien Registration 1308 8

U.S.C. §§ 1182(a)(8), 1182(a)(15), 1251(a)(8). 42 U.S.C. § 1981, applied in Takahashi v. Fish & Game Comm’n, 334 U.S. 410, 419 n.7 (1948). 1310 See United States ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 338 U.S. 537, 544 (1950), where the Court noted that ‘‘[w]hatever the procedure authorized by Congress is, it is due process as far as an alien denied entry is concerned.’’ 1311 Kimm v. Rosenberg, 363 U.S. 405 (1960). 1312 Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 229 (1960). 1313 Marcello v. Bonds, 349 U.S. 302 (1955). 1314 Carlson v. Landon, 342 U.S. 524, 540 (1952). 1315 Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath, 339 U.S. 33, 49 (1950). See discussion of aliens’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, Aliens: Entry and Deportation. 1316 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(2). 1317 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1). 1318 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(3). 1319 Carlson v. Landon, 342 U.S. 524 (1952). In Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993), the Court upheld an INS regulation providing for the ongoing detention of juveniles apprehended on suspicion of being deportable, unless parents, close relatives, or legal guardians were available to accept release, as against a substantive due process attack. 1309 See

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Act of 1940 1320 a legally resident alien because of membership in the Communist Party, although such membership ended before the enactment of the Act. Such application of the Act did not make it ex post facto, being but an exercise of the power of the United States to terminate its hospitality ad libitum. 1321 And a statutory provision 1322 making it a felony for an alien against whom a specified order of deportation is outstanding ‘‘to willfully fail or refuse to make timely application for travel or other documents necessary to his departure’’ was not on its face void for ‘‘vagueness.’’ 1323 An alien unlawfully in the country ‘‘has no constitutional right to assert selective enforcement as a defense against his deportation.’’ 1324 BANKRUPTCY Persons Who May Be Released From Debt In an early case on circuit, Justice Livingston suggested that inasmuch as the English statutes on the subject of bankruptcy from the time of Henry VIII down had applied only to traders it might ‘‘well be doubted, whether an act of Congress subjecting to such a law every description of persons within the United States, would comport with the spirit of the powers vested in them in relation to this subject.’’ 1325 Neither Congress nor the Supreme Court has ever accepted this limited view. The first bankruptcy law, passed in 1800, departed from the English practice to the extent of including bankers, brokers, factors and underwriters as well as traders. 1326 Asserting that the narrow scope of the English statutes was a mere matter of policy, which by no means entered into the nature of such laws, Justice Story defined bankruptcy legislation in the sense of the Constitution as a law making provisions for cases of persons failing to pay their debts. 1327 This interpretation has been ratified by the Supreme Court. In Hanover National Bank v. Moyses, 1328 it held valid the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, which provided that persons other than traders might become bankrupts and that this might be done on voluntary petition. The Court has given tacit approval to the extension of the 1320 54 Stat. 670. For existing statutory provisions as to deportation, see 8 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. 1321 Carlson v. Landon, 342 U.S. 524 (1952). 1322 8 U.S.C. § 1252(e). 1323 United States v. Spector, 343 U.S. 169 (1952). 1324 Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471, 488 (1999). 1325 Adams v. Storey, 1 Fed. Cas. 141, 142 (No. 66) (C.C.D.N.Y. 1817). 1326 2 Stat. 19 (1800). 1327 2 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 1113 (1833). 1328 186 U.S. 181 (1902).

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bankruptcy laws to cover practically all classes of persons and corporations, 1329 including even municipal corporations 1330 and wageearning individuals. The Bankruptcy Act has, in fact been amended to provide a wage-earners’ extension plan to deal with the unique problems of debtors who derive their livelihood primarily from salaries or commissions. In furthering the implementation of this plan, the Supreme Court has held that a wage earner may make use of it, notwithstanding the fact he has been previously discharged in bankruptcy within the last six years. 1331 Liberalization of Relief Granted and Expansion of the Rights of the Trustee As the coverage of the bankruptcy laws has been expanded, the scope of the relief afforded to debtors has been correspondingly enlarged. The act of 1800, like its English antecedents, was designed primarily for the benefit of creditors. Beginning with the act of 1841, which opened the door to voluntary petitions, rehabilitation of the debtor has become an object of increasing concern to Congress. An adjudication in bankruptcy is no longer requisite to the exercise of bankruptcy jurisdiction. In 1867, the debtor for the first time was permitted, either before or after adjudication of bankruptcy, to propose terms of composition that would become binding upon acceptance by a designated majority of his creditors and confirmation by a bankruptcy court. This measure was held constitutional, 1332 as were later acts, which provided for the reorganization of corporations that are insolvent or unable to meet their debts as they mature, 1333 and for the composition and extension of debts in proceedings for the relief of individual farmer debtors. 1334 Nor is the power of Congress limited to adjustment of the rights of creditors. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the rights of a purchaser at a judicial sale of the debtor’s property are within reach of the bankruptcy power, and may be modified by a reasonable extension of the period for redemption from such sale. 1335 Moreover, the Court expanded the bankruptcy court’s power over the property of the estate by affording the trustee af1329 Continental

Bank v. Rock Island Ry., 294 U.S. 648, 670 (1935). States v. Bekins, 304 U.S. 27 (1938), distinguishing Ashton v. Cameron County Dist., 298 U.S. 513 (1936). 1331 Perry v. Commerce Loan Co., 383 U.S. 392 (1966). 1332 In re Reiman, 20 Fed. Cas. 490 (No. 11,673) (D.C.S.D.N.Y. 1874), cited with approval in Continental Bank v. Rock Island Ry., 294 U.S. 648, 672 (1935). 1333 Continental Bank v. Rock Island Ry., 294 U.S. 648 (1935). 1334 Wright v. Vinton Branch, 300 U.S. 440 (1937); Adair v. Bank of America Ass’n, 303 U.S. 350 (1938). 1335 Wright v. Union Central Ins. Co., 304 U.S. 502 (1938). 1330 United

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firmative relief on counterclaim against a creditor filing a claim against the estate. 1336 Underlying most Court decisions and statutes in this area is the desire to achieve equity and fairness in the distribution of the bankrupt’s funds. 1337 United States v. Speers, 1338 codified by an amendment to the Bankruptcy Act, 1339 furthered this objective by strengthening the position of the trustee as regards the priority of a federal tax lien unrecorded at the time of bankruptcy. 1340 The Supreme Court has held, in other cases dealing with the priority of various creditors’ claims, that claims arising from the tort of the receiver is an ‘‘actual and necessary’’ cost of administration, 1341 that benefits under a nonparticipating annuity plan are not wages and are therefore not given priority, 1342 and that when taxes are allowed against a bankrupt’s estate, penalties due because of the trustee’s failure to pay the taxes incurred while operating a bankrupt business are also allowable. 1343 The Court’s attitude with regard to these and other developments is perhaps best summarized in the opinion in Continental Bank v. Rock Island Ry., 1344 where Justice Sutherland wrote, on behalf of a unanimous court: ‘‘[T]hese acts, far-reaching though they may be, have not gone beyond the limit of Congressional power; but rather have constituted extensions into a field whose boundaries may not yet be fully revealed.’’ 1345 Constitutional Limitations on the Bankruptcy Power In the exercise of its bankruptcy powers, Congress must not transgress the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. The Bankruptcy Act provides that oral testimony cannot be used in violation of the bankrupt’s right against self-incrimination. 1346 Congress may not take from a creditor specific property previously acquired from a debtor, nor circumscribe the creditor’s right to such an unreasonable extent as to deny him due process of law; 1347 this principle, however, is subject to the Supreme Court’s finding that a bankruptcy court has summary jurisdiction for ordering the surrender 1336 Katchen

v. Landy, 382 U.S. 323 (1966). of Marin v. England, 385 U.S. 99, 103 (1966). 1338 382 U.S. 266 (1965). Cf. United States v. Vermont, 337 U.S. 351 (1964). 1339 Act of July 5, 1966, 80 Stat. 269, 11 U.S.C. § 501, repealed. 1340 382 U.S., 271–72. 1341 Reading Co. v. Brown, 391 U.S. 471 (1968). 1342 Joint Industrial Bd. v. United States, 391 U.S. 224 (1968). 1343 Nicholas v. United States, 384 U.S. 678 (1966). 1344 294 U.S. 648 (1935). 1345 294 U.S. at 671. 1346 11 U.S.C. § 344. 1347 Louisville Bank v. Radford, 295 U.S. 555, 589, 602 (1935). 1337 Bank

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of voidable preferences when the trustee successfully counterclaims to a claim filed by the creditor receiving such preferences. 1348 Since Congress may not supersede the power of a State to determine how a corporation shall be formed, supervised, and dissolved, a corporation, which has been dissolved by a decree of a state court, may not file a petition for reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act. 1349 But Congress may impair the obligation of a contract and may extend the provisions of the bankruptcy laws to contracts already entered into at the time of their passage. 1350 Although it may not subject the fiscal affairs of a political subdivision of a State to the control of a federal bankruptcy court, 1351 Congress may empower such courts to entertain petitions by taxing agencies or instrumentalities for a composition of their indebtedness where the State has consented to the proceeding and the federal court is not authorized to interfere with the fiscal or governmental affairs of such petitioners. 1352 Congress may recognize the laws of the State relating to dower, exemption, the validity of mortgages, priorities of payment and similar matters, even though such recognition leads to different results from State to State; 1353 for although bankruptcy legislation must be uniform, the uniformity required is geographic, not personal. The power of Congress to vest the adjudication of bankruptcy claims in entities not having the constitutional status of Article III federal courts is unsettled. At least, it may not give to non-Article III courts the authority to hear state law claims made subject to federal jurisdiction only because of their relevance to a bankruptcy proceeding. 1354 Constitutional Status of State Insolvency Laws: Preemption Prior to 1898, Congress exercised the power to establish ‘‘uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy’’ only intermittently. The first national bankruptcy law was not enacted until 1800 and was repealed in 1803; the second was passed in 1841 and was repealed two years later; a third was enacted in 1867 and repealed in 1348 Katchen

v. Landy, 382 U.S. 323, 327–340 (1966). Title and Trust Co. v. Wilcox Bldg. Corp., 302 U.S. 120 (1937). 1350 In re Klein, 42 U.S. (1 How.) 277 (1843); Hanover National Bank v. Moyses, 186 U.S. 181 (1902). 1351 Ashton v. Cameron County Dist., 298 U.S. 513 (1936). See also United States v. Bekins, 304 U.S. 27 (1938). 1352 United States v. Bekins, 304 U.S. 27 (1938). 1353 Stellwagon v. Clum, 245 U.S. 605 (1918); Hanover National Bank v. Moyses, 186 U.S. 181, 190 (1902). 1354 Northern Pipeline Constr. Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50 (1982). And see Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33 (1989) (Seventh Amendment right to jury trial in bankruptcy cases). 1349 Chicago

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1878. 1355 Thus, during the first eighty-nine years under the Constitution, a national bankruptcy law was in existence only sixteen years altogether. Consequently, the most important issue of interpretation that arose during that period concerned the effect of the clause on state law. The Supreme Court ruled at an early date that in the absence of congressional action the States may enact insolvency laws, since it is not the mere existence of the power but rather its exercise that is incompatible with the exercise of the same power by the States. 1356 Later cases settled further that the enactment of a national bankruptcy law does not invalidate state laws in conflict therewith but serves only to relegate them to a state of suspended animation with the result that upon repeal of the national statute they again come into operation without re-enactment. 1357 A State is, of course, without power to enforce any law governing bankruptcies which impairs the obligation of contracts, 1358 extends to persons or property outside its jurisdiction, 1359 or conflicts with the national bankruptcy laws. 1360 Giving effect to the policy of the federal statute, the Court has held that a state statute regulating this distribution of property of an insolvent was suspended by that law, 1361 and that a state court was without power to proceed with pending foreclosure proceedings after a farmerdebtor had filed a petition in federal bankruptcy court for a composition or extension of time to pay his debts. 1362 A state court injunction ordering a defendant to clean up a waste-disposal site was held to be a ‘‘liability on a claim’’ subject to discharge under the bankruptcy law, after the State had appointed a receiver to take charge of the defendant’s property and comply with the injunc-

1355 Hanover

National Bank v. Moyses, 186 U.S. 181, 184 (1902).

1356 Sturges

v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 122, 199 (1819); Ogden v. Saunders, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 213, 368 (1827). 1357 Tua

v. Carriere, 117 U.S. 201 (1886); Butler v. Goreley, 146 U.S. 303, 314

(1892). 1358 Sturges

v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 122 (1819).

1359 Ogden

v. Saunders, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 213, 368 (1827); Denny v. Bennett, 128 U.S. 489, 498 (1888); Brown v. Smart, 145 U.S. 454 (1892). 1360 In re Watts and Sachs, 190 U.S. 1, 27 (1903); International Shoe Co. v. Pinkus, 278 U.S. 261, 264 (1929). 1361 International 1362 Kalb

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v. Feurerstein, 308 U.S. 433 (1940).

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tion. 1363 A state law governing fraudulent transfers was found to be compatible with the federal law. 1364 Substantial disagreement has marked the actions of the Justices in one area, however, resulting in three five-to-four decisions first upholding and then voiding state laws providing that a discharge in bankruptcy was not to relieve a judgment arising out of an automobile accident upon pain of suffering suspension of his driver’s license. 1365 The state statutes were all similar enactments of the Uniform Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, which authorizes the suspension of the license of any driver who fails to satisfy a judgment against himself growing out of a traffic accident; a section of the law specifically provides that a discharge in bankruptcy will not relieve the debtor of the obligation to pay and the consequence of license suspension for failure to pay. In the first two decisions, the Court majorities decided that the object of the state law was not to see that such judgments were paid but was rather a device to protect the public against irresponsible driving. 1366 The last case rejected this view and held that the Act’s sole emphasis was one of providing leverage for the collection of damages from drivers and as such was in fact intended to and did frustrate the purpose of the federal bankruptcy law, the giving of a fresh start unhampered by debt. 1367 If a State desires to participate in the assets of a bankruptcy, it must submit to the appropriate requirements of the bankruptcy court with respect to the filing of claims by a designated date. It cannot assert a claim for taxes by filing a demand at a later date. 1368 1363 Ohio v. Kovacs, 469 U.S. 274 (1985). Compare Kelly v. Robinson, 479 U.S. 36 (1986) (restitution obligations imposed as conditions of probation in state criminal actions are nondischargeable in proceedings under chapter 7), with Pennsylvania Dep’t of Public Welfare v. Davenport, 495 U.S. 552 (1990) (restitution obligations imposed as condition of probation in state criminal actions are dischargeable in proceedings under chapter 13). 1364 Stellwagon

v. Clum, 245 U.S. 605, 615 (1918).

1365 Reitz

v. Mealey, 314 U.S. 33 (1941); Kesler v. Department of Public Safety, 369 U.S. 153 (1962); Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637 (1971). 1366 Reitz v. Mealey, 314 U.S. 33, 37 (1941); Kesler v. Department of Public Safety, 369 U.S. 153, 169–174 (1962). 1367 Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637, 644–648, 651–654 (1971). The dissenters, Justice Blackmun for himself and Chief Justice Burger and Justices Harlan and Stewart, argued, in line with the Reitz and Kesler majorities, that the provision at issue was merely an attempt to assure driving competence and care on the part of its citizens and had only tangential effect upon bankruptcy. 1368 New

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Clauses 5 and 6. The Congress shall have Power *** To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures. *** To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States. FISCAL AND MONETARY POWERS OF CONGRESS Coinage, Weights, and Measures The power ‘‘to coin money’’ and ‘‘regulate the value thereof’’ has been broadly construed to authorize regulation of every phase of the subject of currency. Congress may charter banks and endow them with the right to issue circulating notes, 1369 and it may restrain the circulation of notes not issued under its own authority. 1370 To this end it may impose a prohibitive tax upon the circulation of the notes of state banks 1371 or of municipal corporations. 1372 It may require the surrender of gold coin and of gold certificates in exchange for other currency not redeemable in gold. A plaintiff who sought payment for the gold coin and certificates thus surrendered in an amoun