10-03-2008, 01:53 PM
That case is somewhat annoying yes. But, no more annoying than the "Patriot Act," the A&S Acts, and a whole host of other issues.
To me, the commerce clause is bad in a different way... the dormant commerce clause... a.k.a. the Sup. Crt.'s wonderful interpretation that even if there's nothing directly said about something, states can't work in certain areas. Some of the decisions were good, and supported the concepts of unity accross the U.S. Some of the decisions were also good because they standardized things accross the U.S. (Consider for a moment that a train starting in California and going to South Carolina had, at one point, been subject to a number of different restrictions including size, etc.) Also, truck drivers ran into problems because many states had different regulations on weight distribution, location of axles, etc. The downside to many decisions in these areas is that even where the federal government has not acted, the commerce clause sill blocks state action.
To me, the commerce clause is bad in a different way... the dormant commerce clause... a.k.a. the Sup. Crt.'s wonderful interpretation that even if there's nothing directly said about something, states can't work in certain areas. Some of the decisions were good, and supported the concepts of unity accross the U.S. Some of the decisions were also good because they standardized things accross the U.S. (Consider for a moment that a train starting in California and going to South Carolina had, at one point, been subject to a number of different restrictions including size, etc.) Also, truck drivers ran into problems because many states had different regulations on weight distribution, location of axles, etc. The downside to many decisions in these areas is that even where the federal government has not acted, the commerce clause sill blocks state action.