Amendments
Pike Balancing Test
A nondiscriminatory state or local law / regulation burdening ISC will be upheld so long as the benefits to the state or locality outweigh the burden on interstate commerce
Necessary and Proper Clause
A power need not be expressly enumerated in the Constitution to exist, but instead may be implied as necessary "for carrying into execution" an enumerated power
To delegate
To give part of one's power or work to someone in a lower position within one's organization.
Wickard v. Filburn: What is the substantial effects doctrine?
Congress's interstate power permits not only the regulation of commercial economic activity between states, but also non-commercial activity that cumulatively exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commercial activity.
The Tenth
"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."
Substantial Effect Test
1.Whether the regulated activity is non-economic as opposed to economic activity;
2.Whether the regulated item / activity actually moved in interstate commerce;
3.Whether there had been congressional findings / legislative record of economic link between regulated activity and Congress’s goal in regulating it; AND
4.How attenuated the link is between the regulated activity and interstate commerce.
Due Process Clause
“No State shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”
Prudential Standing
Even if a plaintiff's claim satisfies Art. III justiciability requirements, their claim will be dismissed if they fail a "prudential" standing requirement, unless Congress expressly overrides the prudential requirement at issue with their claim.
How to determine congressional intent, ranked in order of priority
1.The plain meaning of the text;
2.The context and structure of the statutory scheme in which the text is located;
3.Legislative history (e.g., amendment history, floor debates);
4.Canons of statutory construction (e.g., ejusdem generis, in pari materia, etc.).
Lugar Test
1. The deprivation must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the state, a rule of conduct imposed by the state, OR by a person for whom the state is responsible.
2. The party charged w/ the deprivation must be a state actor by virtue of being a state official, by acting together w/ or getting significant assistance from a state official, or b/c his conduct is otherwise attributable to the state.
Enforcement Clauses
“The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
Trump v. United States: SCOTUS held that POTUS has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken within constitutional authority and only presumptive immunity for "other official acts." What are courts barred from examining when determining whether or not an act is "official"?
Barred from examining motives behind the act or designating act unofficial simply due to its alleged violation of law
Dormant Commerce Clause
Implied prohibition on state laws and regulations unduly interfering with interstate commerce ("negative" commerce clause)