US v. LOPEZ

SUMMARY OF THE READING

• The main point of the reading is Congress's limits of power under the Commerce Clause and its relation to the case US v. Lopez.
• A 12th-grade student carried a concealed handgun into his high school and was charged with violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. This case was one of many where congress argued so they could push the limits of their power.
• *maybe add basic background information for the Commerce Clause, what is it, what does it do, maybe make another slide just to help explain it. There is jo author to give background on*

Untitled Slide

• In the case US v. Lopez, the District Court denied the motion of the student to dismiss his indictment because they(the student) thought it was an unconstitutional charge and the act was beyond the power of Congress to legislate control of public schools.
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the students conviction because the court believed that Commerce Clause did not give Congress the power to legislate control of public schools.

Untitled Slide

• The Constitution delegates to congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among states, but it is defined beyond the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce that was categorized as mining, production, or manufacturing.
• The government argued that possession of a firearm in a school zone may result in violent crime and that violent crime could affect commerce in two ways. They said the cost of crime would be substantial and it would reduce the willingness of people to to travel to areas thought unsafe. Both ways they argued could greatly affect commerce.
• With the "costs of crime" logic, congress could not only regulate all violent crime but any activities that could lead to violent crime, like a student taking a gun to school. Under that logic, its extremely difficult to find any limitation on federal power, even in areas like law enforcement which have been historically under State power.

QUESTIONS