Is That Legal?

I never heard the phrase "reverse commerce clause" until today, and a Google search returns only seven hits, most of them about Anna Nicole Smith's supreme court case. It seems to mean some sort of restriction on state activity which would somehow interfere with other states' businesses, kind of a MFN clause for interstate commerce giving Congress and federal courts considerable lattitude to regulate intra-state activity.

Is that it?

(yes, I did look up the word.... ahem)

Judge Hecht seemingly made a con law miscategorization. The proper name is dormant commerce clause, not reverse commerce clause. Jonathon, your on the right track. The dormant commerce clause is considered the implicit polar opposite of the commerce clause. The doctrine, birthed by Justice Marshall in Gibbons, is based on the principle that if the Constitution granted the federal government full plenary power to regulate interstate commerce through the Commerce Clause, it is implicit within that power that a State cannot cannot constiutionaly interfere with interstate commerce. The rationale behind the principle is that implicit within the commerce clause is a ban against State protectionist legislation, like excise taxes, that place it on a better pedestal in commerce and trade thanother states within interstate commerce and thusly intrude improperly into commerce regulated by the federal government.

Thanks, Dan!

I didn't have to look up the word! yee-haw that made my day, we covered that in my undergrad con law course a few weeks ago. More important I laughed at the joke which I think officially qualifies me as a con law geek, now I can check that off of my life goals! (maybe a half check)

This has been a great day.