Constitutional Law I
Federal Power III
(Era of Dual Federalism)
Feb. 15, 2006
Overview, Themes
Pre-Civil War
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Taney replaces Marshall, state appeasement
Union victory, Reconstruction
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Passage of Civil War Amendments (13, 14, 15)
States’ Rights movement discredited
Post-Civil War
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Rapid Industrialization
Rise of trusts, industrial class
Laissez Faire movement - Conservative Court
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Invalidating Economic Regulation
Federal Laws
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Restrictive definition of “commerce”
Restrictive definition of “interstate”
Expansive reading of 10th Amendment
State Laws
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Expansion of “due process” to include liberty
of contract
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Restricting “Commerce”
U.S. v. E.C. Knight (1895)
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Challenge to Sherman Antitrust Act
Fuller: “Commerce succeeds to manufacture
and is not a part of it”
 Complete separation of commerce and police powers
 No part of sugar trust, controlling 98% of nation’s
production, was in “interstate commerce”
These cases overrule McCulloch & Gibbons
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On meaning of commerce
On meaning of interstate
On meaning of regulate
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Fuller Court
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Restricting “Commerce”
Carter v. Carter Coal (1936)
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Challenge to Bit. Coal Conserv. Act
 Minimum and maximum prices; labor law
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“That commodities produced or manufactured
within a state are intended to be sold or
transported outside the state does not render
their production or manufacture … commerce”
 Mining, manufacture, employment are not commerce
 Production (and incidents) are purely local activities
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If price control and labor agreements (both
involving economic transactions) are not
commerce, what is?
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Carter Coal Company
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Carter Company Town
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Carter Coins
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