Constitutional US Law

Tag: Art. 1. Sec. 8

  • Preemption

    The General Issue: Preemption (Concurrent Federal and State Jurisdiction)In Gibbons v. Ogden,1 the Court, speaking by Chief Justice Marshall, held that New York legislation that excluded from the navigable waters of that state steam vessels enrolled …

  • Corporations

    Power to Charter Corporations (Necessary and Proper Clause)In addition to the creation of banks, Congress has been held to have authority to charter a railroad corporation,1 or a corporation to construct an interstate bridge,<a name=t2 href=#f2 targe…

  • Federal Property

    Clause 17. District of Columbia; Federal PropertyCongress shall have power * * * 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 Government of th…

  • Indian Tribes

    Commerce With Indian TribesCongress's power to regulate commerce "with the Indian tribes," once almost rendered superfluous by Court decision,1 has now been resurrected and made largely the basis for informing judicial judgment with res…

  • Federal Jurisdiction

    Duration of Federal Jurisdiction (Authority over Places Purchased)A state may qualify its cession of territory by a condition that jurisdiction shall be retained by the United States only so long as the place is used for specified purposes.1 Such a p…

  • Maritime Law

    Maritime Law (Necessary and Proper Clause)Congress may implement the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction conferred upon the federal courts by revising and amending the maritime law that existed at the time the Constitution was adopted, but in so doing, it cannot go beyond the reach of that jurisdict…

  • Necessary and Proper Clause

    Necessary and Proper Clause DefinitionAll grants of power to Congress in § 8, as elsewhere, must be read in conjunction with the Necessary and Proper Clause, § 8, cl. 18, which authorizes Congress "[t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the …

  • State Jurisdiction

    Reservation of Jurisdiction by States (Authority over Places Purchased)For more than a century the Supreme Court kept alive, by repeated dicta,1 the doubt expressed by Justice Story "whether Congress are by the terms of the Constitution, at libe…

  • Transportation Regulation

    Regulation of Other Agents of Carriage and CommunicationsIn 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 li…

  • State Labor Laws

    Federal Versus State Labor LawsOne 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 labormanagement relations. Although the Court some time ago reached a settled rule, changes in membership on the Court re-o…

  • War Power

    Clauses 11-14. The War PowerThe Congress shall have power * * * ;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…

  • State Police Power

    Interstate Commerce: National Prohibitions and State Police PowerThe earliest acts prohibiting commerce 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…

  • War Powers in Peacetime

    War Powers in PeacetimeTo some indeterminate extent, the power to wage war embraces the power to prepare for it and the power to deal with the problems of adjustment following its cessation. Justice Story emphasized that "[i]t is important also to consider, that the surest means of avoiding war…

  • State Power on Patents and Copyrights

    State Power Affecting Patents and CopyrightsDisplacement of state police or taxing powers by federal patent or copyright has been a source of considerable dispute. Ordinarily, rights secured to inventors must be enjoyed in subordination to the general authority of the states over all property within…

  • State Proprietary Activity Exception

    The State Proprietary Activity (Market Participant) ExceptionIn a case of first impression, the Court held that a Maryland bounty scheme by which the state paid scrap processors for each "hulk" automobile destroyed is "the kind of action with which the Commerce Clause is not concerned…