Con Law · WikiFramers

Part One - The Structure of Government · Module 3

The Commerce Clause

The main engine of federal power across three eras — Gibbons's breadth, the New Deal settlement, and the Lopez-line retrenchment.

Topics

The initial era and the definition of the commerce power. The 1890s to 1937: a limited federal commerce power. 1937 to the 1990s: the broad commerce power. The 1990s to the present: narrowing the commerce power.

Reading list

0 of 15 readings published · the rest are in preparation and will appear here as they are edited

  1. Opinion Gibbons v. Ogden in preparation
  2. Note United States v. E.C. Knight Co. in preparation
  3. Note Champion v. Ames in preparation
  4. Note Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States (The Shreveport Rate Case) in preparation
  5. Note Hammer v. Dagenhart in preparation
  6. Note NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. in preparation
  7. Note United States v. Darby in preparation
  8. Opinion Wickard v. Filburn in preparation
  9. Note Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States in preparation
  10. Note Katzenbach v. McClung in preparation
  11. Note Perez v. United States in preparation
  12. Opinion United States v. Lopez in preparation
  13. Note United States v. Morrison in preparation
  14. Opinion Gonzales v. Raich in preparation
  15. Opinion (edited) National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius in preparation
  16. Current case Canna Provisions, Inc. v. Bondi, 138 F.4th 602 (1st Cir. May 27, 2025), cert. denied, No. 25-518 (U.S. Dec. 15, 2025) (an as-applied challenge asking whether Raich survives the changed federal and state regulatory landscape). in preparation

Also assigned

Canvas The Federalist No. 42 (Madison), "The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered." Madison devotes a few paragraphs to the commerce power and treats it as uncontroversial. Ask why the clause that generated the least argument in 1788 generated the most in the two centuries after.

How to read this list

A case named without a marker is assigned as an opinion and is to be read in its entirety. Opinion (edited) means the Professor has cut it for length; the text on this site is the assigned text. Note means the case is not assigned as an opinion at all — its holding, its facts to the extent they matter, and its place in the doctrinal line are given in a note written for this course, and you are responsible for that note exactly as you are responsible for an assigned opinion. Most modules close with a Current case, a recent decision chosen because it shows the doctrine you have just read being applied at its live edge; current cases are assigned as opinions. You are responsible for all assigned required materials, including the notes, questions, problems and commentary that accompany the cases, whether or not we discuss them in class.