GOALS:
The Commerce Clause. The Dormant Commerce Clause. Why we infer a DCC. What the DCC is designed to prevent.
TEXT:
Article I of the Constitution delegates many different powers to Congress. One of these powers is to "regulate Commerce... among the several states." This is referred to as the commerce clause, and this clause has been interpreted to authorize Congress to enact an extremely broad range of legislation.
While the Constitution never explicitly bars individual states from interfering with Congress' commerce power, the Supreme Court has inferred the presence of a "dormant commerce clause" from the text of Article I. This dormant commerce clause allows state and municipal legislation resulting in interference with interstate commerce to be evaluated and limited by the Supreme Court, even where Congress has passed no conflicting law. Legislation is often found to violate the dormant commerce clause on the grounds that the legislation is economically “discriminatory” to other states. |