Market-preserving federalism and the de facto commerce clause
摘要
The text of the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause (Article I) has remained unaltered since 1789. Literally, it gives Congress “Power to […] regulate Commerce […] among the several States[.]” But the de facto Commerce Clause has evolved over time. Federal powers with respect to both interstate and intrastate commerce (and relative to the powers retained by the states) have been tied to changing Supreme Court interpretations of the tersely worded clause. I detail the evolution of the de facto Commerce Clause from a political economy perspective, using the market-preserving federalism model as a benchmark.