Thursday, May 18, 2006

The Clause Cause

Here's an interesting blog all about the Rapanos case, soon to be decided by the Supreme Court.

John and Judith Rapanos owned parcels of land in Michigan. They filled in wetlands on these sites. The United States declared this illegal under the Clean Waters Act and brought both criminal and civil charges.

The question presently under review regards the legal reach of the Act. Is the extension of its jurisdiction to intrastate wetlands, even those with only the remotest connection to navigable waters, within the power of Congress?

In other words, this is a Commerce Clause case. The modern history of this Clause has the Supreme Court bowing and scraping before every manifestation of Congress's power. The big question is will this new Court declare there actually may be some limits. (You can probably guess what side I'm on.)

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