ML20102B657
| ML20102B657 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Shoreham File:Long Island Lighting Company icon.png |
| Issue date: | 02/27/1985 |
| From: | Irwin D LONG ISLAND LIGHTING CO. |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| CON-#185-811 OL-3, NUDOCS 8503040247 | |
| Download: ML20102B657 (78) | |
Text
&
}
QILCO, February 27, 1985 00CKETE8 G. USNMc UNITED STATES OF AMERICA '85 r),R ; p **
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ~
NEbjlia s
[ggy Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing B6ard In the Matter of ) *'
) - -- -.._.. , ,., ,,
LONG ISLAND LIGHTING COMPANY ) Docket No. 50-322-OL-3
) (Emergency Planning Proceeding)
(Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, )
Unit 1) ) .
LILCO'S RENEWED MOTION FOR
SUMMARY
DISPOSITION OF LEGAL AUTHORITY ISSUES ON FEDERAL-LAW GROUNDS The first ten emergency planning contentions filed by Inter-venors in this proceeding allege that various actions proposed by LILCO to implement its Shoreham Emergency Plan are unlawful as a matter of New York State law. Last August 6, LILCO asked this ,
Board to rule, as a matter of federal law, on its authority to perform various emergency planning functions imposed by the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a prerequisite to its obtaining an operating license for Shoreham Nuclear Power Station.1/ It is undisputed that New York State and Suffolk County have authority to perform these functions but have refused to do so at Shoreham.
LILCO requested the Board to rule that under these circumstances, 1/ LILCO's Motion for Summary Disposition of Contentions 1-10 (the " Legal Authority" Issues), August 6, 1984.
1 e98R'*t888:8 1
4 any state-law-based restrictions on LILCO's performance of these functions would be void because they are preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
At the time LILCO filed its motion, lawsuits by Intervenors suffolk County and New York State were pending in the New York State Supreme Court in Suffolk County on the question whether, as a matter of New York State law, the actions contemplated by LILCO (and recited in Contentions 1-10) were unlawful.2/ This Board, 2/ Intervenors have consistently taken the position that their complaints in New York State court raised only state-law issues. Promptly after the cases were filed, LILCO sought to remove them to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, arguing that even though the complaints were couched in state-law terms, there was such an inherent nexus to federal law issues that the District Court should take juris-diction. New York /Suffolk opposed removal, contending that the issues raised in the complaints were of a purely state-law na-ture, and that federal preemption issues could arise only by way of an affirmation defense. The District Court agreed and Cuomo and remanded the matter to New York State Supreme Court.
suffolk County v. LILCO (Nos. CV-84-2328, 84-1405 (E.D.N.Y.
June 15, 1984). Following remand, LILCO filed a motion to dis-miss the complaints based on State law. LILCO reserved the issue of federal preemption because the case was not yet in a posture where LILCO was required to file an answer or plead its grounds of defense. In a brief opposing LILCO's motion to dis-miss and supporting their own cross-motion for summary judg-ment, New York /Suffolk argued that the State court should de-cide that the relief sought by them was not preempted by the federal government's powers under the Atomic Energy Act or by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, in an Order dated October 2, 1984, the presiding judge declined to
' consider federal law issues in the context of the papers before him, and set the matter, restricted to state-law issues alone, for briefing and oral argument on the issue of LILCO's authori-ty as a matter of New York State law to perform various Transi-tion Plan functions.
- - _ _ _ - _ _ _ . . _ _ _ - _ __a
after considering the pleadings filed by the parties,3/ determined on October 22, 19844/ that in view of the pending New York State court litigation, LILCO's Motion was premature. However, the Board neither rejected it on the merits nor on grounds of prematu-rity, but rather retained jurisdiction and deferred judgment on it until its forthcoming initial decision on the merits of emergency planning issues.5/ October 22 Order at 3. The Board cited the 3/ In addition to LILCO's motion, the pleadings properly be-fore the Board included the Opposition of Suffolk County and State of New York to LILCO's Motion for Summary Disposition of Contentions 1-10 (the " Legal Authority" Issues), September 24, 1984, and the NRC Staff's Answer in Opposition to LILCO's '
Motion for Summary Disposition of Contentions 1-10 (the " Legal Authority" Issues), October 4, 1984. A pleading filed by Suffolk County on October 15 was struck by the Board in its October 22 Memorandum and Order. None of the pleadings before this Board on LILCO's original motion addressed the merits of the LILCO Emergency Plan as a matter of New York State law.
4/ Memorandum and Order Deferring Ruling on LILCO Motion for Summary Disposition and Scheduling Submission of Briefs on the Merits (" October 22 Order").
5/ To aid in that process, the Licensing Board requested the parties to address three further issues: (1) what the Board should do if (contrary to its apparent expectation) the New York State court had not reached a decision before the Licensing Board's initial decision was completod; (2) how many of LILCO's proposed actions were actually required by federal law; and (3) whether New York State /Suffolk County emergency response participation, unplanned and unrehearaud on any Shoreham-specific basis, would have, on balance, a more helpful or harmful effect. October 22 Order at 3-4. The first ques-tion elicited the first treatment of the merits of state-law issues before the Licensing Board; that question, and the par-ties' answers, have now been mooted by the February 20 decision of the New York State Supreme Court. The second question was addressed to a preemption theory based on conflict between (footnote continued)
l*
d
_4_
Appeal Board's decision in the Indian' Point 2 cooling tower case, Consolidated Edison Co. (Indian Point Station, Unit No. 2), ALAB-399, 5 NRC 1156, 1170 (1977), for the proposition of federal ab-i stention in ruling on unresolved matters of state law, in order to avoid either presuming conflicts where they might not exist or trenching on legitimate areas of state jurisdiction.
Since the Licensing Board issued its October 22 Order, the reason for further abstention has vanished: on February 20, 1985, the New York Supreme Court ruled, in Cuomo and Suffolk County v.
LILCO, No. 84-4615, that as a matter of New York State law LILCO does not have the authority to implement its Shoreham Emergency Plan.6/ That decision, which does not distinguish among any of (footnote continued) federal and state schemes of regulation, a matter which (among other preemption theories) is now ripe. The third question was responsive to matters raised in the initial papers of Suffolk County and New York State on the issue of the " realism" of any assumption that, in the event of an actual emergency, Suffolk County and New York State would not respond with the resources available to them. That question is not strictly relevant to LILCO's legal authority under federal law. The parties' responses to the Board s October 22 Order are as follows:
LILCO's Brief on Contentions 1-10, November 19, 1984; Suffolk County and State of New York Response to ASLB Memorandum and Order Dated October 22, 1984, November 19, 1984; LILCO's Reply Brief on Contentions 1-10, November 29, 1984; Suffolk County and State of New York Reply Brief on Contentions 1-10, November
< 29, 1984; and NRC Staff's Response Pursuant to Licensing Board's Memorandum and Order of October 22, 1984, December 7, 1984.
6/ LILCO forwarded a copy of this decision to the Board and
! parties on February 22.
I 1
L m.
8
-S-the actions LILCO would take, squarely poses the issue whether the actions proposed by LILCO, if necessary to comply with NRC regula-tions and thus necessary to obtain a federal operating license for Shoreham, are permitted as a matter of federal law notwithstanding their status under New York State law, where it is undisputed that New York State and Suffolk County have the authority to carry out these functions but have refused to do so.2/
The merits of this question have been briefed at length by the parties, and LILCO is not aware of any material developments of law or fact, besides the New York State court decision dis-cussed above,g/ other than the decision last week by the United States Supreme Court in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, No. 82-1913 (February 19, 1985) (slip opinion), copy attached. In that case (slip op, at 28), the Supreme Court over-ruled National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976), a case heavily relied on by Intervenors for the proposition that the 2/ LILCO disagrees with the New York State court's decision and intends to seek appellate review of it. However, LILCO be-lieves that this Board should not await the conclusion of that process before acting: the decision will become effective upon entry of an Order of Judgment as a matter of New York law; and the complete review process (through the New York Appellate Di-vision and Court of Appeals, with an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court) bids fair to take two or three years at least, g/ The Board may desire further discussion of issues by the parties. If so, LILCO suggests that the Board define any such issues as clearly as possible and require the parties to limit any comments to those specific issues, within a short time frame and tight page limitations.
9 10th Amendment would prevent the exercise of federal power on the issues before this Board in order to permit LILCO to implement its Shoreham Emergency Plan, even if it we're to find that federal pre-emption would otherwise apply.9/
In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court rejected as
" unworkable" the four-part test established in National League of' Cities and successor cases, particularly that part dealing with
" traditional governmental functions" of states.10/
The Court stated:
We therefore now reject, as unsound in principle and unworkable in practice, a rule of state immunity from federal regulation that turns on a judicial appraisal of whether a par-
~
ticular governmental function is " integral" or
" traditional." Any such rule leads to inconsistent results at the same time that it disserves principles of democratic self-governance, and it breeds inconsistency pre-cisely because it is divorced from those principles.
Slip op. at 18. The Court then observed that while the Constitu-tionprotectstheStatesagainstinfiniteexpansiona[d 9/ See, e.g., Opposition of Suffolk County and the State of New York to LILCO's Motion for Summary Disposition . . . ,
September 24, 1984, at 55-57.
10/ The Court found, for example, that the test had led to inconsistent results as applied to licensing of automobile drivers (found protected under National League of Cities in U.S. v. Best, 573 F.2d 1095, 1102-03 (9th Cir. 1978) and to regulation of traffic on public roads (found not protected in Friends of the Earth v. Carey, 552 F.2d 25, 38 (2nd Cir.),
cert. denied, 434 U.S. 902 (1977)), see slip op, at 9-10.
-7 application of the Commerce Clause powers of the Federal Government, that protection is one of " process rather than one of result," inherent in the structure of the federal system. Slip op. at 25; see also id. at 19-26. The Court concluded that in N,ational League of Cities it had attempted to articulate affirmative limits on the Commerce Clause power in terms of core governmental functions and fundamental attributes of state sovereignty. But the model of democratic decisionmaking the Court there identified underestimated, in our view, the solicitude of the national political process for the continued vitality of the States. At-tempts by other courts since then to draw guid-ance from this model have proved it both im-practicable and doctrinally barren. In sum, in
. National League of Cities the Court tried to repair what.did not need repair.
Slip op. at 27-28. LILCO submits that if this Board finds that the Atomic Energy Act and subsequent legislation set up a framework where state law prohibitions on LILCO's exercise of federally required emergency planning functions are preempted, the argument that the 10th Amendment prohibits the exercise of these functions because they involve " traditional functions" of state ai local governments has been dispositively rejected.
The Board's proposal last October to decide any remaining
. legal authority issues in its initial decision was appropriate and should now be pursued. The doctrine of abstention, as a part of federal-state notions of comity, suggests this Board's avoiding conflicts with duly constituted state tribunals where possible; it
~
s
' does not require or suggest ceding decisions on federal law ques-tions within its expertise to non-federal bodies.11/ The conflict between federal and state schemes, if it ever will exist, now ex-ists: unless the New York State court decision is overridden on federal-law grounds, LILCO will not be able, by itself, to imple-ment its Emergency Plan regardless of its substantive merits.
Waiting for any higher-level state court decision will not sharpen that fact.12/
11/ This Board's determination to permit a New York State court to rule on questions of state law before reaching its own decision is merely consistent with a rule first formulated by the U.S Supreme Court in Railroad Commission of Texas v.
Pullman Company, 312 U.S. 496, 500-501 (1941), which stands for the proposition that federal courts, and by analogy federal -
agencies, may refrain from deciding cases, or aspects of cases, in which state action is challenged in federal forums as con-trary to the federal Constitution if there are unsettled ques-tions of state law that may be dispositive of the issue and avoid the need for deciding the constitutional question. Typi-cally, where a federal tribunal has decided to exercise
" Pullman-type" abstention, the parties are instructed to seek a declaratory judgment in state court on the state law issues and the federal body does not dismiss the action but stays it and retains jurisdiction pending the outcome of proceedings in state court. See generally, Wright, Miller and Cooper, 17 Federal Practice and Procedure: Jurisdiction 5 4243 (1978), at 472-473.
The New York State Supreme Court decision of February 20 is consistent with this " Pullman-type" abstention structure.
It both purports to be a final decision and deals exclusively
, with state-law issues. Federal law questions were never placed for decision before the state court since the case was decided on cross motions to dismiss and for summary judgment limited by the Court's October 2, 1984 Order to state law issues, and the case thus never developed to the point where LILCO would have filed an answer and pleaded its formal defenses LILCO also notified the New York State court prior to October 2 that it had placed the federal preemption issues before this Board.
12/ In the Indian Point case, the NRC Licensing Board's deci-sion was rendered after decisions by the New York State Supreme (footnote continued)
+ .
A
.g_
Abstention by this Board to this point, while not required, has not been inappropriate, though LILCO has already begun to be prejudiced by the passage of time.13/ Further delay in ruling, however, will begin to prejudice LILCO seriously. It has already been over six months since the record in this case closed and over four months since the issues raised by LILCO's motion were briefed. LILCO's attempts to induce FEMA to schedule a graded emergency exercise, required by the NRC's regulations for issuance of an operating license, have been thwarted thus far by the unresolved nature of the legal authority issues.14/ While this (footnote continued)
Court and the Appellate Division, but before any action by the Court of Appeals. The NRC Appeal Board criticized the Licens-ing Board's failure to give proper consideration to limitations placed by the New York State Appellate Division on the Supreme Court's initial decision, since the Licensing Board had thus failed to base its determination of the issue upon the highest state court decision then available in that litigation. Howev-er, the Appeal Board did not suggest that waiting for the New York Court of Appeals to rule was necessary. Further, the Ap-
- peal Board noted that no greater powers could be conferred on the local zoning board than already had been, without running afoul of federal preemption. These circumstances argue, by
- analogy, that this Board should rule on the preemption issue at
! this time since there is no logical possibility that an appel-late review could confer greater power on New York State and l
Suffolk County relative to LILCO, and thus no possibility that a federal-state law conflict could be sharpened more clearly, than is the case now. See ALAB-399, 5 NRC 1156 at 1170-71.
13/ See Transcript of Conference of Counsel, January 4, 1985, at 15,763-65, 15,778-79 (Irwin).
14/ Id. at 15,778 (Glass).
l
4 record lies fallow further issues, such as that relating to desig-nation of the Nassau Coliseum and now that of provision for per-sons exposed to dangerous levels of radiation,15/ arise. Further delay in resolving this issue would only prejudice LILCO fur-ther.ls/
Equally important, there is no reason relating to the quality and nature of an ultimate decision for this Board to stay its hand further. The conflict between federal and state law exists now.
Determination of the extent and resolution of that conflict re-quires determining what is actually required by NRC regulations; this Board, with the full record of this proceeding before it and with the expertise in NRC requirements, is far better equipped than any other tribunal to construe and apply the Commission's regulations to this situation.
LILCO respectfully renews its request to this Board of August 6, 1984, to rule on the question of whether state-law prohibitions against LILCO's implementing federally imposed emergency planning requirements which New York State and Suffolk County have the l
l 15/ See Motion of Suffolk County and New York State to Admit l
l New Contention, February 25, 1985, based on GUARD v. United i States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, No. 84-1091 (D.C. Cir.
February 12, 1985).
Both the federal courts and the NRC have recognized that 1p/
prejudice to a litigant from delays during the pendency of an l
i extended state-court review process may obviate further abstention. Indian Point, supra, ALAB-399, 5 NRC at 1170-71; see also Wright, Miller and Cooper, supra, id. at 6 4243 p. 473 l & n.10.
i I
L-
a 4
authority but have refused to implement, are overridden as a mat-ter of federal law. LILCO also respectfully suggests that if the Board believes any issues bearing on its decision on this question have not been adequately discussed by the parties thus far, it so notify the parties and permit them a short period to submit fo-cused comments of specifically limited length on such issues.
Respectfully submitted, LONG ISLAND LIGHTING COMPANY Donald P. Irwin James N. Christman Hunton & Williams 707 East Main Street P.O. Box 1535 Richmond, Virginia 23212 DATED: February 27, 1985 ATTACHMENT: Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, No. 82-1913, United States Supreme Court, February 19, 1985.
i
W
.- LILCO, February 27, 1985 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE In the Matter of LONG ISLAND LIGHTING COMPANY (Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1)
(Emergency Planning Proceeding)
Docket No. 50-322-OL-3 I certify that copies of LILCO's LILCO'S RENEWED MO-TION FOR
SUMMARY
DISPOSITION OF LEGAL AUTHORITY ISSUES ON FEDERAL-LAW GROUNDS were served this date upon the following by first-class mail, postage prepaid, or (as indicated by an asterisk) by Federal Express, or (as indicated by two asterisks) by hand.
Morton B. Margulies, Secretary of the Commission Chairman ** U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
< Atomic Safety and Licensing Commission Board Washington, D.C. 20555 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing East-West Tower, Rm. 461A Appeal Board Panel 4350 East-West Hwy. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Bethesda, MD 20814 Commission
- Washington, D.C. 20555 Dr. Jerry R. Kline**
Atomic Safety and Licensing Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commission East-West Tower, Rm. 427 Washington, D.C. 20555 4350 East-West Hwy.
Bethesda, MD 20814 Bernard M. Bordenick, Esq.**
Oreste Russ Pirfo, Esq.
Mr. Frederick J. Shon** Edwin J. Reis, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Board Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 7735 Old Georgetown Road Commission (to mailroom)
East-West Tower, Rm. 430 Bethesda, MD 20814 4350 East-West Hwy.
Bethesda, MD 20814 Stewart M. Glass, Esq.*
Regional Counsel s
Donna Duer, Esq.** Federal Emergency Management Law Clerk Agency
- Atomic Safety and Licensing 26 Federal Plaza, Room 1349 Board Panel New York, New York 10278 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Stephen B. Latham, Esq.*
East-West Tower, North Tower John F. Shea, Esq.
4350 East-West Highway Twomey, Latham & Shea Bethesda, MD 20814 33 West Second Street P.O. Box 398 Riverhead, NY 11901
Fabian G. Palomino, Esq.* Ralph Shapiro, Esq.*
Special Counsel to the Cammer & Shapiro, P.C.
Governor 9 East 40th Street Executive' Chamber New York, New York 10016 Rcom 229 State Capitol James B. Dougherty, Esq.*
Albany, New York 12224 3045 Porter Street Washington, D.C. 20008 Herbert H. Brown, Esq.**
Lawrence Coe Lanpher, Esq. Jonathan D. Feinberg, Esq.
Christopher M. McMurray, Esq. New York State Public Service Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Commission, Staff Counsel 8th Floor 3 Rockefeller Plaza 1900 M Street, N.W. Albany, New York 12223 Washington, D.C. 20036 Spence W. Perry, Esq.*
MHB Technical Associates Associate General Counsel 1723 Hamilton Avenue Federal Emergency Management Suite K Agency San Jose, California 95125 500 C Street, S.W., Rm. 840 Washington, D.C. 20472 Mr. Jay Dunkleberger
. New York State Energy Ms. Nora Bredes Office Executive Coordinator Agency Building 2 Shoreham Opponents' Coalition
< Empire State Plaza 195 East Main Street Albany, New York 12223 Smithtown, New York 11787 i
Gerald C. Crotty, Esq. Martin Bradley Ashare, Esq.
Counsel to the Governor Suffolk County Attorney
-Executive Chamber H. Lee Dennison Building State Capitol Veterans Memorial Highway Albany, New York 12224 Hauppauge, New York 11788 Donald P. Irwin Hunton & Williams 707 East Main Street Post Office Box 1535
' Richmond, Virginia 23212 DATED: February 27, 1985
b s-s l
l I
s.=m ans:wn aw m g.ree-amem.m m.=h
" " *i a""
M[*"' gs ".3.,.2" or c ar*Q.r
, ='L""g. r.
cn. CEI ". C SUPREME COURTOFTHEUNITED STATES Synshus I GARCIA v. SAN ANTONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY rr AL.
AFFEAL FECRE UNFFED WFATES DIWrENF COURT WW TER WErrEEN DINTE3CT OF TEIAS l g No IB-tm8. Argand Mueh 13, IS06.-Reargend Osteher 1,195b-
- February 1s, leer o
appease San Anteale MetrepskaaTransk AssherEy SAIrFA) k a pubile ameNrensk autharky that is the as$sr punider of transponselen in the See Antonio, Tez., A, "-- area. It has received =M fed-
= Act d eral Amancial aanstanee under the Urban Mass T._
i -
1964. In 1F19, the Wage and Hour Adinimistration of the Deparanset d Labor lesned an opinion that SAMTA's operations are not imumane flroen of the FairIAber Stand-the usinimem wage and ovestime ., _ _
ants Act (FIAA) seder National 5 (Che v. Usery, as U. S.
SIB, in which k was held that the Commeros Clause does aet empower Congress to endures sash requirements agniast the States % areas of
^=' fissatises." Id., at 80R. SAMTA than died an tradtismal .- Entering
- astion in Federal Distrist Court, seeking declaratory relief.
judgannat Asr SAMTA, the District Coat held that W1^= ewaarship.__
and aparation of a manHressit systems is a treetiemal n==e% and thus, under National League (Che, is essept boss the ekligatismsimposal by the FIAA.
Keld: la adRmilag SAlrFA emiplayees the pr.e==*iam of the wage and hour prwisines of the FIAA, Congress soutravened me adhimative ihmit sa ks Pp. 8-B.
power under the Commeros Cismos.(a) '!be assempt to draw the bee
' Assetimes"is amt enh newerkshie istenas of"tremtional . _
het is inesamisteet with established primeiples of Andandiam and, indeed,
- Fagsther with No. B-1951. Danesen, Seevotary (Later v. See Am.
Transit Aetherity at et, mise en appeal tem the sense 4emio M m' '
( esert. I s
e i F1
l ' ;*,
l I
j n GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
SyGses with these very federelha primeiples en which Nehonal Leopus q(Cities perpered to rest.
not esse, senerdhety, le overruled. Pp. bla. '=
(b) Dare is nothing in the overtkas and adahnme.wege . J -
at the FIAA, as applied to SAMTA, that is destructive of state sever-eignty er violative of any ht provielen. De States' eestin-and reis la the federal syntan le prbnerty ._-W not by any exter-nelty imposed Haits sa the commeros power, but by the structure of the Federal Goverassent itself. In this mee, the polithal precome essetively pe== -I that mie. Pp.18.-38.
557 F. Sepp. 445, reverned and remanded.
St.acsaruN, J., delivered the epiaise of the Court, la wideh BasNNAN, Warrs,uimenaer and STuvsNs, M., jelmed. Powsti, J., Sled a dio-esadag opinion, la which Bunosa, C. J., and Rassegunrr and O'Cooneos, JJ., joined. RanNeusr, J., med a dissenting opinion. O'Casosos, J.,
med a diesenting opaden, la which PowsIA and RanNQUWr, JJ., joined.
~~
?,
W4 .
4 Q k* h e
l l
I l
l
l .*
1o I~
"*M' Dammesasone * '2"iss".
u eren U.nas a Ds*ad"n'N'N". nan.*" " I een.
a.
A ".ll2s:Lme.R';;llltm!.::'"
SUPREME COURTOFTHEUNITEDSTATES Nos. 8B-1918 AND B-1951 JOE G. GARCIA, APPELLANT 82-1918 u SAN ANTONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY rr AL.
RAYMOND J. DONOVAN, SECRETARY OF LABOR, APPELLANT -
g 85-1951 a'
SAN ANIONIO METROPOLITAN TRANET
~
AUTHORITYIrFas.,.
I l .
ON AFFEAIA FRott TER UNFFED WFATEE IMrFBBCF COURT Foa Tus warranN DETRICF OF TEXAS j [Fdnery 19,1985]
JUrrsca Bt.acEnEUN deHvered the opinion of the Court.
- We revisit in these esses an issue raised in NN!
In that liti-League (Cities v. Usery,425 U. S. 888 (1976).
gation, this Court, by a sharply divided vote, ruled that the r==-ee Clause does not empower Congress to enforce the j minin==-wage and overthne provisions of the Fair Labor I
Standards Act (FLSA) against the States "In areas of tradi-tional .w""1 fbnetions." Id., at 852. Although No-(
tional Imapue ( Cities supp5ed some an=pla= of "tradi-tional . - - si ihnetions," it did not eSer a general
='rp1=* of how a " traditional" fhnetion is to be distin-i guished hem a 'u"W- =1" one. Since then, federal and
, state eoarts have struggled with the task, thus imposed, of identifying a traditional ihnetion fbe purposes of state immu-nity under the eman ='te Clanse.
i In the prwent esses, a Federal District Court concluded i
.t that municipal ownership and operation of a mass-transit sys-
"^*~~*~w_m,,_ ,_
- "" t. - - . .
- ' a i *-
i E-1918 & B-1N1-OPINION 2 GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
tem is a traditional governmental ihnetion and thus, under Nationel league of Ch, is exempt from the obligations im-posed by the FIAA. Faced with the identical question, three Federal Courts d Appeals and one state appellate court have reached the opposite conclusion.'
l i Our ====inatian of this "fhnetion" standard applied in these and other cases over the last eight years now persuades
)
l as that the attempt to draw the boundaries of state regula-tory immunity in terms of " traditional governmental fune-l tion" is not only unworkable but is incansi=*mnt with estab-lished principles of federalism and, indeed, with those very federalism principles on which National League ofCities pur-parted to rest. mt ease, accordinsty,is overruled.
l I The history of public transportation in San Antonio, Tex.,
l is charseteristic of the history of local mass transit in the United States genere%. Panssager i. , --Y= tr hire withhi San Antente arighish was provided en a private basis
- by alesel trumspostatism esapesy. In ISIS, the Tasas Leg-islature autherised the State r s Wh to regulate ve- )
hesias proviens earriage er nk Isis Tes. Gen. Laws, ch. ~
147, 9 4, 1 12, now endined, as ===== dad, as Tes. Rev. Civ.
Stat. Ann., Art.1175, Hao and 21 (Vernon less). Two years later, San Antonio enacted an ordinance setting forth franchising, insurance, and safety requirements for passen-ger vehicles operated for hire. The city continued to rely on such publicly reguisted private mass transit until 1959, when j
ft purchased the privately owned San Antor.io Transit Com-( pony and repleeed it with a public authority imown as the San AntonioTransit System (SATS). SATS operated until11rt8, i
( ,
- see Does v. Cnemensses Ares Jtarional 7._ _, _ W Aetherity, l l 191 F. M 80 (CAA ISWk Alswins v. Cey Couns#, GIS F. W 1000 (Call l 195), east. pendag, Nes. 5-1M4 and 5-57; Krusesr v. Near Ceede Ares f%snest Autherty, ETT F. W set (CA8195), east. domind,400 U. 8.1148 ;
USWh Fransas v. Cay (Taushesses,434 Se. M 61 (Fin. App.198).
1 I,
l l
I
~
Ie ) !
l l
l l
I s-1913 & SB-1961-OPINION 8
GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
when the city transferred its facilities and equipment to ap-pellee San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority '
(SAMTA), a pubHe mase-transit authority w---+i on a enuntywide basis. See generally SAMTA Tex. Rev. Civ.
currently is theStat. Ann., '
Art.1118x (Vernon Supp.1984).
n#r provider of transportation in the San Antonio nutro-politan area; between 1978 and 1980 alone, its ve passengers.As did other locaHties, San Antonio a r==ehad the point where it esse to look to the FederalSATS Government fbr nanc assistance in maintaining its public mass transit. -%-
managed to n=et its operating expenses and band 9 for the $rstBydecade of its aviat=== without federal or local IMO, however, its Gnancial position had anandal aid.
deteriorated to the point where floderal subsidies were vital SATS' general manager that ist its esatinued , l'=
year tadiand hs8me Congress that "If we de est resshe sub-stentist h4 tuas the FederalGoverummmet, Sun Amende may -
. . . juin the growing ranks of ellies that huse herist (public]
transportselas er may and up with me lyublial transputation at sS."* n u P. t -- + wC .mani samei-8
' 'the prinsipal tuberal programa to which SEIR and ether mase transit systems looked Amr relief was the Urban Mass i % Act of 1964 (UMTA), Pub. L.88-885,78 Stat. I T W-Sog, as ==aandad, 49 U. S. C. App. H 1001 et seg., which pro- l vides substantial federal assistanee to urban masetransit See generauy /eakson Tnnesis duthority v.
progrens.
Transii Union,457 U. S.15 (1983). UMTA now authorises the Department of Transportation to ihnd 75 pareent of the M expenses w
capital outisys and up to 50 percent of theHWa),5(d) and (e),49 of qualifying mase. transit progruns. SATS reesivedits U. S. C. App. H 1600(a),100(d) and (e).
- T Baerlags en E. B. ens et al. hadme the
'Ustas Mass T.
Subsemminas es Esasing at the Esame t'* en Beaking and Car.
sumey,91st Ceag., ad assa., p. 419 (IMO) t- et F. Nesman ESD.
(
- A
31913 & 88-1961-OPINION 4 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
I Brst UMTA subsidy, a $4.1 million capital grant, in Decem-ber IMO. From then unta February 1980, SATS and SAMTA received over $51 million in UMTA grants-more than 881 million in espital grants, over $20 million in operst-ing assistance, and a minor amount in technieml assistance.
During SAMTA's Arzt two Ascal years, it received $12.5 mil-t' lion in UMTA operating grants, 826.8 million thxn sales taxes, and only $10.1 mibn fhun fsres. Federal subsidies and local sales taxes currently account for about 75 percent of SAMTA's operating expenses.
'Ibe present controversy concerns the extent to which SAMTA may be subjected to the minin==-wage and over-time requirements of the FIEA. When the FLSA was en-acted in 1988, its wage and overtime provisions did not apply to local mase. transit employees or, indeed, to employees of state andlocalgovernments. Il3(d),18(sX9),52 Stat.1060, low. In 1981, Congress avt== dad mM=rma wage coverage to amplaynes et serprivate mass transla carrier whose an-naal sress mamme was met Issa man a h Esk Labor Standants A===d===ae et 1s5, etsinn'sthem, 71.
Five years ister, Congress extended FL8A esverage to state -
and loest goveressent empisynes te the Srst thee by with-drawing the udnhaum-wage and eruttam awa-pha from pubBe hospitals, schools, and mass-transit carriers whose rates and services were subject to state resd=%- Fair '
Labor Standards And= mats of 1966, il103(a) and (b), 80 Stat. 881. At the same time, Congress aliminatad the over-thne avampeiaa ihr aR mass-transit =.*y::: other than drivers, operstars, and condneters. 1906(c), 80 Stat. 886.
The appikation of the "TSA to pubHe schools and hospitals was ruled to be within Congrw.a' power under the Namarce Clause. Maryland v. Wirts, Set U. S. 188 (1968).
'Ibe FLSA obHgations of public mass-transit systems like SATS were expanded in IM4 when Congrees provided fbr l
' the progressive rt# of tb surviving overtime exemption he mass-transit employees. Dir Labor Standants Amend-l l
( -
l i
o
i s
(
s's-ists a as-1961-OPINION l 5 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ON10 METRO. TRANSrf AUTE.
f monts ofIlrT4, f 21(b),88 Stat. 68. Congress simultaneously brought the States and their subdivisions furhr within the anddt of the FLSA by extending FLSA coverage H6(aX1)and (6),to virtually au state and local-government - =*-yees. SATS com-88 Stat. 58, 60, 29 U. S. C. H208(d) and (x).
pued with the FLSA's overtime requirements until 1976, l when this Court, in National Lesaw (Cities, supra, over-
! ruled Maryland v. Wirts, and held that the FLSA could not be applied constitutionally to the ^u.2W governmental Four months ihnetions" of state and local governments.
after National Leopw of Cities was handed down, SATS in-fhrmed its employees that the decision relieved SATS of its overtime cis.A under the FLSA.*
Matters rested there untR Septamher 17,1Fl9, when the l Wage and Hour M*mtion of the Department of Labor l issued an opinion that SAMTA's operations "are not constitu-i tiennEy h=====
fhun the g"A of the Fair Labor Opinion l , atamansds Ast" under National Iaspus ( Cidier.
l 4 , ws.es, e Las m:nas, On Neumsher M et that ye
' the Usted States Distrist Court er the Westarm District o Tumme. _ It sought a dealeratory judgment that, No- esmerary to
'the Wage and Bear Adimisistratissfs deter-6=ah=
sional Learw ( Citier preshuled the appusation of the
- FLSA's overtime Mr ^+ to SAMTA's .; T=ns.
De Secretary count J '-i under 29 U. S. C. 5217 fbr en-fhreement of the overtime and %MWar requirements of the FLSA. On the suno day that SAMTA fDed its action, appeBant Garcia and several other SAMTA employees brought suit against SAMTA in the anme District Court for ovuthne pay under the FLSA. Gereis v. SANTA, Civil
'Neisher SATB ner SAlffA appears to have attempted to aveld the l FLSA's ahwage previsions. We are leformed that besie wage lev-ein la the mess. transit indesay treden=aDy have been wsR in essess of the ;
=ne-- weses preserted by the FLEA. See Briet Aur NaalsmalImagne et cains et at as Ananeicerise 7-a,
(
e
- o
o 88-1913 & 88-1961--OPINION 4 GARCIA a SAN AN'1VNIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
'Ihe District Court has stayed Action No. SA 79 CA 458.
that action pending the outcome of these cases, but it allowed Garcia to intervene in the present litigation as a defendant in support c(the Secretary. One month after SAMTA brought suit, the Department of Labor ibemally amended its FLSA interpretive sqMons to provide that publicly owned local mass-transit systems are not entitled to immunity u.aunder No-tions!Iaapus of Ch. 44 Fed. Reg. 75,630 (1979),
as 29 CFR 5775.8(bX3)(1988).the District Court granted On November 17, 1981, SAMTNs motion for summary judgment and denied the See-retary's and Garcia's crose motion for partial summary judg-ment. Without fbrther evplanatian, the District Court ruled that " local public mass transit systems (including [SAMTA])
constitute integral operations in areas of traditional govern-n=ntal ihnedans" under Ndrr' League of Ch. Juris.
- =*-t in No. 82-1913, p. Sea. The Secretary and Garcia both appealed direetty to this Court pursuant to 28 U. S. C.
,' IIset Duries the pemisser atthose appenis, nonsporte-
- sien Unisms Lesy Island A. ca., des U. a. s7s (19se, was deshisd. In that ase, the Court ruled that ennumater rail i servios psovkled by the state owned Long Island RsB Road
^=1 ihmetism" and ~
el est esmatitute a "treatismal ,,.._-
=*ia==11munanity, under National henne did not seky ===**he Sus of the Railway Lespue of Ch, fhun t Labor Act. 'Ibereafter,it vacated the District Court's judg-ment in the present esses and remanded them for further 457 U. S.1102 d3= in the light of Long Island.
(198E).
l On neenand, the District Court adhered to its original view and again entered judgment for SAMTA. San Antonio Est-Ef:"f-s Tronest Authority v. Donovan,557 F. Supp. 445 h enart looked first to what it regarded as the It (1988).
"idstorical reality" of state involvement in mass transit.
'-'i that States not always had owned and operated i:::
, mase transit systans, but concinded that they had engaged l
l .
! m
I 38-1913 & 88-1961-OPINION 7
GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO MEI1LO. TRANSIT AUTH.
in a t a= -+= Hag pattern of public mgulation, and that this agulatory tradition gave rise to an " inference of sover-eignty." Id., at 447-448. The court next looked to the meorti of federal involvement in the 8 eld and concinded that constitutional humanity would not result in an erosion of fed-eral authority with respect to state owned mase-transit sys-tems, because many federal statutes themselves contain ex-emptions for States and thus make the withdrawal of federal regulatory power over public mass-transit systems a super-Although th vening federal policy. Id., at 448-450.
em! Government's authority over empbyee wages under the FLSA obviously would be eroded, Congress had not asserted any interest in the wages of public mass-transit employees until 1966 and benee had not es+=Wishad a longstanding fed-i eralinterest in the 8 eld, in contrast to the century old federal l r#a y presence in the railroad irdej found signi8 cant j for the daci=ian in Long Island. Fmally, the court compared mass transit to the list of Ametions L.lentiAnd as constitution-aI5 knemme in National Lespus (Che and anaeladad that a es met mehr 9ma'these Ansatisms b my material rumpect.
' Ins esart stated: "If tramat is to be estesguished Sam the ammmet pfationer Iesene ycaiss) ammatisse a ways, to be ly)ReutlDing a treatises 1 state inmation in thre liques way pornogreply is =a==*i=== identland: 557 essnesse F. Supp., at haeW E when they see it, but they ennt describe it."
' 458.*
The Secretary and Gania agnia took direct appeals kom We noted probable jurisdie-the District Court's judgment.
U. S. - (1988). After initial argument, the tion.
- m District Ceart eine emelysed the statue or mese truseit neder tlw iser part test devised In bythat the 8tsth Circuit in Aneero6esA v. CNy q(Clese-eens, the Court et Appeele leaked to Isad,808 F. ad 1888 QM9).
G) whether the Aussien beneets the commensity se a wheie and le emede svedeble et Metle er as espasse; g) whether it le underteken der public servios er peaudary gain; (3) whether sovernewet le he prieelpel primder; and (4) whether . __ ~ le particularly mased to sorderna it beoense or a esmoundty wide need. Id., at 1ert.
e
- . L -- n
-m
3-1913 & B-1961--OPINION 8 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
cases were restored to our calendar for reargument, and the perdes were requested to brief and argue the fbuowing addf-tional quesdon:
"Whether or not the principles of the Tenth Amend-ment as set forth in Nh! League ofCities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 881rQM6), abould be reconsidered?"
- U. S. 0984). Reargument fbuowedin due course.
II Appellees have not argued that SAMTA is immune from r@% under the FLSA on the ground that it is a local transit system engaged in intrastate enemancial nedvity. In a practical sense, SAMTA's operadcas might well be charac-terland as "loceL" Nonetheless, it long has been seeded that Congress' =*harity under the Comunerce Clause extends to intrastate eennemic andvities that aSect interstate com-anos. Sag e,p., Andst v. Phyinis Suqiber Mining & A8(anta l
Resi. Aasm.,458 U. 8,384, FMMirl 0981);Xeartq(B 0964);
Neesi, fue s Undeed Semess, 819 U. 8. Str,'3I Mahant v. FIBurn, att U. 8.111,15 090Rk UniIed 88stes j v. Derty, att U. 8.100 0941). ~ Was RAMTis privately owned and operated enterprise, it could not credBdy argue that Congress exceeded the bounds a(its Cnemarce Clause powers in prescribing minimum wages and overtime rates for SAMTA's employees. Any E-- 14=1 exemption fkom the requirements of the FLSA therefore must rest on l
SAMTA's status as a governmental endty rather than on the "loen!" nature ofits operations.
% 'N fbe governmental : -- ty under Na-The tional Imapue q(Citise were ====arised by this Court in Rodel, supro. Under that =====vy, ibur conditions must be satis 8ed befbre a state activity may be da==ad immune fhun a particular federal r@% under the Comunerce Cisnee. First, it is said that the finderal statute at issue nest regulate "the ' States as States.'" Second, the statute nest " address matters that are indisputably ' U Lee [s] of 1
1 .
-l
&1913 & 8B-1961-4 PIN 10N 9
GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
state sovereignty.'" Third, state compHanee with the fed-eral obligation umst "directly hapair (the States') abDity 'to structure lategral operations in areas of traditional govern-mentalihnetions.'" FinaHy, the relation of state and federal lateresta must not be such that "the452 nature U. S.,ofatthe federal in-terest . . . justines state subehsion."
287-288, and n. 29, quoting National Leapew (Cities, 426 U. S., at 845, 852, 854.
h controversy in the present esses has focused on the third Rodel zw a 4s=+Jat the chauenged federal statute trench on MM governmental fhnetions." h Dis-trict Court voiend a ===an ennearn:"Despite the at=adance l of ageetives, identifying which particular state ihnetions are
( inunune remains difBeult." 557 F. Supp., at 447. Just how I
tr=h1==a== the task has been is revealed by the results ranched in other federal esses. Thus, courts have held that reselsting ==hai - serviess, sold Cross Am6 dsnee v.
.0% (Eeness C4, 58 F. Espp. 988, 987-95 (WD Mo.
l ,- 19eD, are se ether grounds,1EE F. M 1885 (CAS 1988),
eart. pemens, No. s la; assesks amtsestas drivers, Undled 81stes v. Asst, NB F. M IAIE,1188-11t 8 (CA91M8);
spesothy a munistet airport, Assers6est w 0% (Cleve-
' Imod, 808 F. M 1985,1087-100B (CAA IMW); perdweelag soud waste disposal, Ry6md Equipsient Corp. v. City ( Akron, 654 F. 2d 1187,1196 (CA61981), and operating a highway au-thority, Molins.Katrada v. Puerto Rico Niphissy AmeAority, 600 F. 2d 841, 845-886 (CA11985), are ihnetions protected under National League (Cities. At the esmo time, courts
--; hands, have held that issonnes of industrial 4..-i, Woods v. Nonies and Structures q(Pitts6mryk, Kansas, Inc.,
480 F. Supp.1270,12BS-12M (Kan.1900); regulation afintra-state natural gas sales, Oddahonia er fel. C...,L,i v.
FKRC,404 F. Supp. 636,667 (WD Olds.1900), af'd, 661 F.
Sd 883 (CA101981), eart. denied su6 nom. Teens v. FKRC, 457 U. S.1105 (1988); regulation cf trafBe on puhue roads, Friends g tAs Karth v. Carey, 552 F. 3d 25, 38 (CA2), cert.
P I
i "
i o
B-1913 & B-1961-OPINION 10 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
denied,484 U. S. 902 (11rl7); regulation of air transportation, Hawkes Air Corp. v. PuMic Utilities Commission,644 T. 2d 1884,1840-1841 (CAS 1981); operation of a telephone system, Puerto Rico Tel. Co. v. FCC, 668 F. 2d 694, 700-701 (CA1 11r17); leasing and sale of natural gas, PuMic Service Co. v.
FKRC, 587 F. 2d 716,721 (CA5), eart. denied ema nom. Low-isiana v. FKRC, 444 U. S. 879 (1m); operation of a mental health heility, Williams v. Kasteide Mental Neolth Center, Inc., 000 F. 2d 671, 680-681 (Call), eart. denied, 450 U. S.
M6 (1982); and provision ofin Lause domestic services fbr the aged and h==b=pped, Bonnette 5. Calfornia NeoliA and We(fore Apeney,704 F. 2d 1465,1472 (CA91988), are not en-tithd to L ny. we find it difneult, if not <=panale, to identify an organising principle that pinees each of the cases in the first group on one side of a line and each of the cases in the second group on the other side. The -c 2r"-:=1 dis-tiestion hateosa liesoning drivers and regulating tradBe, for a6'ar between operstlag a kleinray autherley and ~ op.
aesting a assatal heskh hsIIty, is elashe at best.
.nas'er,thiscourtmeeltnasmadeutens hdea wayida n i n-kg the asspe of ths, governmental emmeh== deemed pro-League (CAIIss. In that ease the tested under National ,. .-t=-^M fhne-i t;eurt est Arth examples of pratacent and tions, see 426 U. S., at 851, 854, n.18, but provided no ex-planatiaa of how those examples were identified. The only i
other case fa which the Court has had ocession to address the i
- probleen is Long Island.' We there observed: "The deter-mination of whether a federallaw impairs a state's authority with respect to ' areas of traditional (state) fbnetions' may at times be a difBeult one." 466 U. S., at 684, quoting Na-tional Leopue q(Cities,496 U. S., at 862. 'Iba accuracy of
'See also, however, /derson Comedy Pt -
--P' Asen. v. AMo#
'Asenderise, 400 U. S.150,154, n. 6 (1988); FKAC s Mississippi, 486 U. S. 74, 781, and a. 7 (ISE) (epimise esseurring h the judgumsat la part and enesuchg la part); Fry v. Uniesd Sesise, 4B1 U. 8. Set, 858, and a. 2 l (1ME)(essentJag opinion).
i l
l, f
) l
. l 3-1918 & B-IN1-OPINION 11 f
GARCIA s SAN AN'!DNIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH. l
- is hM'ad by this Court's own difBeul-that =*at ties in Long Island in 4.;ij 5 a workable We reRed standard in large for
- " traditional gov mal ihnetions."
l part there on "the historical reality that the oi, 22 state and local governments," but we shoultaneously dis-avowed "a statie historical view 455 U.of S.,
state fbnetions at 686 ($rst generally l lauanne finun finderal regulation." We held that emphasis added; second ==phaala in original).
the inquiry into a particular ihnetion's %.::ti d" nature was merely a means of determining whether ."wes,"theid., federal stat-ate at issue unduly ha*pa " basic state ,.
at SS-487, but we did not oder an aw '
- of what makes one state ihnecion a "N basic prerogative" a rigid reliance on andthe another ihnetion
- notbasic. Finally,having l historieel pedigree of state involvement in a particular area, l
we nonetheless found it appropriate to emphasian the ex-tended historisal resord offsdormi levolvemosos in the G sua transportseism. As., seesp.aw
.i Many - standards levolve "undoubte(d] . . .
grey seems, Fry v. Unidad Siness, 481 U. 8 Court and other courte haw essantered so ihr, it normally i udght be thir to venture the assumption that esse by case I
development would lead to a workable at-dard for determin-
'=1 ihnetion abould be im-ing whether a particular gov m r mane basa federal s i"= under A thrther esationary note is sounded, however, by the the 'an=mte Clause.
Court's -5 5 - in In the related Asid of state imumnity firom Sondh Carolins v. United Stasse,199 federal *===daa U. S. 47 (1905), the Court held for the erst thee that the state tax imannity aseognised in Colleesor v. Day,11 Wall.
Ils (18'l0), extended only to the " ordinary" and " strictly gov-
. m and not to ernmentala i r by-=-a
^ "" "used of state the State in the carrying on of an i
ordinary private business." 199 U. S., at 451, 461. WhBe t
i i
1 ^
_ . . _ _ _ - _ -- - - _ _ _ - . = -. .. .. - _ - . . _ _ _ - - - _ _ . _ . . - _ . -
, i ,
I B-1918 & B-1961-OPINION 12 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
the Court appued the distinction outHned in South Camlina fbr the ibBowing 40 years, at no thne during that period did the Court develop a consistent fbrmulation of the idads d
^ -1 fhnetions that wars entitled to inununity.
The Court identi6ed the protected ihnetions at various times as " essential," " usual," " traditional," or " strictly govern-mental "' While "these differences in phraseology . . . umst not be too Eterally contzkr.1 : F ='," Brush v. Commis-sioner, 300 U. S. SER, SSR (19B7), they reGeet an inabGity to spee@ proeisely what aspects of a governmental ihnetion made it necessary to the ~@ existance" of the States. Collector v. Day,11 WaH., at 127. Indeed, the l Court althantely chose "not, by an attempt to fbemulate any I
general test, [to) risk embarrassing the decision c(esses (con-I earning) activities of a different idad which may arise in the fbturs " Drush v. Commineioner,300 U. S., at 305.
If these taz kommunity esses had any common thread, it was h the actsumpt to estingadsk between b__ ^ "" and "pseprietary" Amatisma.' To any that the esthutism be-i
- see Mass s amu near cA as U. s, ast, as oma esumment");
Estuurht v. Thsprus,85 U. S. 58, W GM (sumak Estusrht v. Pow.
are,35 U. S. End, 235 0884) ("esent"k Umand 5tsess v. Caithnnis, Srf l U. S.175,15 USGS) ("estivities in whisk the states have treatimanny en-r saged"k Senth Careisas v. Umsted States, ISO U. 8. 4rT, 4810805)
("stristty . - ^ "").
'In 3outh CareNas, the Coat relied en the essesyt of *stristly govers.
imammer' ensaises to 6 the appilemaism et a Anderelligear lissess tax to a stategurned I, -2 1 "- menspoly. In FNat, the Cast samami-
"The true eselmseles is between . . . thsee operatisms of the States essen-
^ ' esmetions, and whink the tial to the emeesties et ite (eds] ._ __
State esa emir de itself, and these assivities whisk are of a private--'eherme.
ter"; under this stended, '91L is as part et the essential Ammations of a Siste to provide af ^. ; - " . supptr artissial Ia Chie v. Keissney, SIR Eght, water and the me." 30 U. S., at 172.
U. 8. See QSte), amether seen hvelvtag a state ", -- 1 1 '- unsmop.
etr, the Court samled that "the businses of haying and semag esensedes
^ ' hastism," and that Sw) ism a
. . . is ast the perderummes of a .-
state emeere the market pinse emeldag sustomers it eveste itself etits guesi 4
a 1
l I i
l 31913 & 88-1961- OPINION 18 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
l tween " governmental" and " proprietary" In 1911,proved to be stable, however, would be something of an overdatame I
municipalTwenty-six wateryears supply "Is no part of the esse later, without any inter-U. S.107,172.
vening change in the applicable legal st=dards, the Court simply rejected its earlier position and decided that the pro-vision of a municipal water supply was imm municipal water works long had been operated fbr proot by Brisah v. Commissioner, 800 U. S., at private industry.At the same time that the Court was holding a 370-873.
==i'pel water supply to be kn=nne fhun federal taxes, it had held that a state-run commuter rauJustice system was no; im-Kelvering v. Powers, 298 U. S. 214 (1984).
mune.
l Black, in Neivering v. Gerhardt, 3041 U. S. 406, 4ff (1988),
c 9e-,
! was moved to observe "An kapued shisk taans insame at an adRear d a sestuperated transpor-l t :stian syntesa sad essepts insomme af theunmoger af assanie -
lysl water works system ammlAuts the unsertainty erested by lan).
the %ssentier and ises>essamlinF test" G Court shortly thereafter, in Noir York v. Undeed 38 ster, 326 i U. S. 572 (1946), namahnaaaly to conclude that the h%a l between " governmental" and "poristary" bir.: was se,weisney pro sense, and tehm en the charseter d a trader, so tr, at least,sethetastespowerdahefederei .-.rissemeerned." Id.,et ass. In powere, the Coms e,heid the applicassen d the sederelinesse ta to the hemme d treatees d a state operated semaneter reDreed; the reitersted that %e State esseet dwithdrew seere tore eine the semel . . c " soundese and te whish, by reemen their sesore, the falarel taxing power would a Stues esaselves to be the public basest."
I les v. Aspende, as4 U. S. 4se,461-4sg Osse).
l l
i i
- - - - _ _ _ _ - _ - .- - - . - - - . _a___-_-_____-_
) '
3-1918 & B-1961--OFINION 14 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
l stenable" sad mustbe =handanad see a, at ses(opinion -
of Frankfhrtar, J., joined by Rutledge, J.); id., at 586 (Stone, l I
C. J., concurring, joined by Reed, Murphy, and Burton, JJ.);
id., at sea-se6 (Douglas, J., dissenting, joined by Black, J.). ,
see also maschussets v. Unised scosse, 4ss U. s. 444,4s7, i and n.14 (1M8) (plurality opinion); Case v. Roudes, 327 U. s. ;
St,101 (194g). l Even during the heyday of the govw ~=1W
'-1 tas-inununity doctrine the diatiadan in int .
Court never awplainad the saaatit=Ha==1 basis fbr that dis-l tinction. In South Carolina, it expressed its concern that r aall== ital state inumanity firosa federal taxation would aBow the States to underndne the Federal Government's tax base l by expending into previously private sectors of e the -y.
see ise U. s., at 454-45s.' Although the need to r c aeste and naarnlistenses obviously da===adad that state im- j
, ummmats have same tutting prinsiple, the Court did not try to '
)
justit the pastimular sesult k seashed; k abspy asesinded ,
that a h beast 1 he ersum," id., at 4ss, ses peeseded to !
l Araw that Esc. The Coust's elskeratisme in lutar esses, such
( .
as the assentism,le Ohio A Belusrius M U,8,800, aos '
l (1980, that iwhen a state enters the murhat pinse sealdag i custosners it divests itself ofits quasi severeignty pro tanto," ,
l sound more ofipse disit than reasoned arpimaaHaa This in- !
shGity to give principled content to the distinction between !
" governmental" and r.it.etary," no less significantly than :
i its unworkabinty, led the Court to ahandan the distinction in l j
New York v. Uniisd Sinnen. t l
The distinction the Court diseerded as unworkable in the !
Amid of tax busnanity has proved no more fhsitfblin the Aeld f Nei- l of regulatory inumanity under the Na'ames Clause. t ther do any of the alternative standards that might be em- '
'Het esasern was esposinEy weighsy h Somek Carolues housase liquor l emes, the ob$est af the depuu le that sese, than h fr mr emo- !
Asurth of the Federal Goverumams's sevemens. See #sur Yest v. Uniel Sleess, 35 U. S. 871, IIE, n. 4 (1948) (% epimha).
i 1
l l
[
i l
l
__ n
)
(
s-1918 & 3-1961-OFINION 15 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
ployed to distingdah between protected and unprotected We rejected govern =antal ihnetions appear manageable.the p
- standardat tradition inImvIsland,andpropertyso. m i
most obvious defset of a historical approach to state immu-
~~ nity is that it prevents a court firam E _ ,---M*g changes
_- lii the historical functions of States, changes that have re-suited in a number of once-private funedens like education being assumed by the States and their subdivisions.' At the same thne, the only apparent virtue of a rigorous historical standard, namely, its promise of a reasonably objective meas-me for state i==nnity, is illusory. Reliance on history as an m
- = principle results in linedrawing of the most arbi-
-tal ihnetions trary sort; the genesis of state stretches over a historical condnuum from before the Revolu tion to the present, and courts would have to decide by flat a pattern of state involvement presisely how M '=";latory antharity to be dsessted."
hadtobe hrsederstresu t dumtien
'Indeed, the Numismer mesum eta parthubr sever ====a l esa to a annar etkhearismi maarsidesessant today4 assevidamely " tree-thmer' dumaha h efesa posessdept sugest kasvusha. 1tum, National zeges (cusse eased the pseetha " afputes
$sustime. Wpushs and U. S., as nuessism 851. A se an esemple et a trastismal
. --sesnt 80 years earlier, bewever, in Sheeneher v. United Sesess,147 U. S.
sie pass), the Cast pointed est that sky esammene orighaRy had been provided ast for resrestism but Amr gradag dennessie nahmale % esam sad that '9) the momery et anos new living, a prepashism to take private property iby smalmaat demain] for a pubile park . . . womid have been re-garded as a novel essreise of insislative pseer." Id., at 29 seat leveivement in a particular area dose "a not provide sevent an adequate stand-ress.
and Air state immenity. Idest af the Federal C..
lasary estivity originated isse them 30 years age with the New Deal, sad a good penism et k has deveisped wkhim the past tw arelistenst in applytag requistory standards te state estivision, mer esas it seest the senmeth of the States' interest ' ' temin being has immmumky tem indsrel eger-deshisms whhm. Akhough the Court's " ^ --
am-my han subdested panhelar state assivitise to Ambral tammten be-(
~ ~ ~ ^ < , - - - - - . _ _ . , _ _ _
I
- v ,
l l
' N.1913 & 3-1N1--OPINION to GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
A nenhistorical emndard for seleeths i===== govern-mentalihnetions is likely to be just as unworkable as is a his-l torismi standard, h goal d kleotifying "QW govern-mental ihmetions, for example, has been njected by tim Court in the Geld d gewonnent tort liabaity in part because the notion of a "QW gover====*ml ihnetion is unman-ageable. See Indien Tousp Co. v. United Staise,850 U. S. l 61, 64-68 (1956); see also I.d(sysite v. Louisiana Poiser &
Light Co., 435 U. 8. see, 488 (1978) (dissenting opinion). i Another possibGity would be to canone hansmity to "neces-sary" . --- 11 services, that is, services that would be
..ii ' "+ ply or not at aR unises the government l
provided them. Cf. FNat v. Stone Fruey Co.,250 U. S., at 172. The set of servlees that 8ts into this category, how-over, may won be nagilgible. The fhet that an um. 9-+-d i l marbst predness less of some servios than a State deems de-sirable does not mean that the State itself anest provide the ,
l
! serving h mest f ast at emess, the State esa innarest ent" by hking private trums to provide the servies er shipty by l
! j
. pievishg sunshEss to esisthg agpEars. R aise is open to how won equipped esets me ta make this khd of i '
about the worthes of esanomie asetets.
We believe, however, that there is a more Amdama=*=I problem at work here, a problem that explains why the Court was never able to provide a basis for the govern-masatal/ proprietary dimindian in the intergovernmen- i emuse these estivities "he[w] hose treetlematy withim ($sderal tashg]
power tross the haghming," Near York v. United Sesess,58 U. S., et ass mens, c. J., esesserts, Jeemed by need, unrphy, and nurten, JJ.), the Coun has est h het sequised Anderal tasse to have lang hisesriset recorde h ander to be sessilve. The hennes tem at issue la Peuere, empre, teak seest less them e desade hafue the tas yeare Asr which k wes sha5enged, whAs the Guderal tan whees appusetha wee gheid in Near Yest v. United ;
meIns teak eesst in 195 and wee rumshdad less them two yeare laser. See
' Beleerder v. Possere. Es U. S., et m; Rahastrow, The Boulpresel Rule of GoverummamaalTen" '. 1 Legal Myth,11 Fed. Bar J. 8, 84, n.116 ,
0808).
l
3-1913 & EB-1s51-OPINION 17 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AtJTH.
\ tal tLx immunity cases and why an attempt to draw similar J:.Ah with respect to federal regulatory authority under National League of Cities is unlikely to succeed re-gardless of how the distinctions are phrased. De problem is that neither the govermnentauproprietary distinction nor any other that purports to separate out important govern-mentalihnetionsh essence can beoffaithful to the our federal role system is of federalism in a democratic society.
that within the realm of authority left open to them under the Constitution, the States must be equally fkee to engage in any activity that their citizens choose for.the common wes!,
' no matter how unorthodox or nan ====ary anyone Anyelse--in-eluding the jhi i = state involvement to be.
rule of state immunity that looks to the %.0lW," "inte-gral," or "necessary" nature of governmental ihnetions inev-
'-"ad federalj.f i f to make decisions Itablyinvites an:=
about which state policies it ihvora and wideh ones it dislikes.
"no seismos of governmost . . . le the seismes of asperi-g ansat," Anderson v. Denn,6 Wheat. SN, SBB (1m1), and the States esmoot serve as laharutories Air sosial and ===aad superhasmt, see Nasr semes InCm u Edstusena, m U. S.
' set, s11 (1sse (arandels, J., ensameing), if they must pay an added price when they meet the changing needs of their citi-aanry by taking up fbnetions that an earlier day and a difer-est society left in private hands. In the words of Justice '
Blaelc "here is not, and there cannot be, any unchanging line of demarcation between . -
essential and non essential
- ^ 1ihnetions governmaatal ihnetions. Many of today have at some thne in the past been non-govern-t provides that, mental. b genius of our . -
within the sphere of -- 2 c'---4 action, the y pk acting not through the eaurts but through their elected Eve the power to deter-legislative ..,.c-wt mine as conditions d====d, what services and ihnetions i
f 4
i I
- y6-c
i l
3-1913 & B-1961--OPINION I
18 GARCIA a SAN AITIONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
the public welfare requires." Nelvering v. Gerhardt, 304 U. S., at 427 (concurring opinion).
We therefore now ruket, as ==aaand in principle and un-l weekable in y.--Ses, a rule of state inununity fhun federal l
regulation that turns on a judicial appraisal of whether a par.
ticular govermnental ihnetion is " integral" or Naditional."
Any such rule leads to incanaistant resulta at the same time that it disserves principles of democratic self-governance, and it breeds k-:="=g precisely because it is divorced l than those principles. If there are to be limits on the Fed-eral Government's power to interfere with state **=*'-:-r l
as undoubtedly there ar>we must look 6ewhere to $nd them. We accordingly return to the underlying issue that confhmted this Court in National League (CE
- man-i t ner in which the Constitution insulates States fhun the reach
! of Congress' power under the Comunerte Clause.
IR -
' Ins samtral tbsme af National Lespue (Cleise was that the States oesupy a spesial positism in ear esastitutismal sys-tema sad that the asupe af CongreasP authority under the Comunsree Clause amast reSest that position. Of esores, the Canumeree Clause by its specise language does not provide any speciallimitation on Congress' actions with respect to the States. See KKOC v. Wyoming, 460 U. S. 226, 248 (1983)
(a 4 opinion). It is equally true, however, that the text of the ce provides the beginning rather than the Anal answer to every inquiry into questions of federalism, flor 'Tblehind the words of the constitutional provisions are
- r'"- which thnit and control" Monaco v. Mississippi, Set U. S. 318, att (1984). National Imague y Citise re-seeted the general conviction that the Constitution precludes l
' "the National Govermnant [thun] devour (ing] the essentials
- of state nevereignty." Marriend v. wide, see U. S., at sos (dissenting opinion). In order to be finithibl to the underly-i
~
sm-e--a m.----m---_ -- - - - - - - - - - - -
l-
! B-1913 4 82-1961--OPINION
! 19 i
GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
ing federal premises of the Constitution, comts must look for f the " postulates which limit and control."
What has proved problematic is not the perception that the Constitution's federal structure imposes limitations on the Commerce Clause, but rather the nature and content of those M=%%. One approach to de8ning the limits on Con-gross' authority to regulate the States under the Commerce Clause is to identify certain underlying alamants of political sovereignty that are deemed essential to the States' "sepe-rate and independent existence." Lane County v. Oropon, 7 Wall. 71, 76 (1869). This approach obviously underlay the Court's use of the " traditional governmental fbnetion" con-eept in National League of Citise. It also has led to the sep-arate requirement that the chaBenged federal statute "ad-dress matters that are indisputably ' attribute (s) of state sovereignty.'" Nodel,452 U. S., at ses, quoting National In National League of League q(Cities,426 U. S., at 845.
Citise itself, der example, the Court aaneindad that decisions by a State ennearning the wages and hours of its 426 employoos are an'" undoubted attrepute of state savuuignty."
U. S., at 845. ' Inn ophdon did not expisin wbst aspects of sash deshiens =ada thma soeb an" undoubted attreets," and the Court shnee then has runarted en the aneartain seope of the eeneopt. See KROC v. Wyonsing, 400 U. 8., at 238, n.11. The point of the inquiry, however, has remained to single out particular features of a State's internal governance that are deemed to be intrinsic parts of state sovereignty.
We doubt that eaurts ultimately can kientify principled constitutional limitations on the scope of Congress' Com-merce Clause powers over the States merely by rulying on a In part, this is be-priori de8aitions of state sovereignty.
cause of the elusiveness of objective criteria for "funda-mental" alamants of state sov-...Jy, a problem we have witnessed in the search for " traditional governmental fune-tions." There is, however, a more fbadamental: reason: the
.: *._, itself.
c sovereignty of the States is limited by the '---
1
(
1 1
, - - - - - ._ - . __ - _ - _ - - - - . _ - _ - _ _ - . _ __ _ __ ___ _ _b
I . ;
)
l l
M-1913 & SE-1951--OPINION l
80 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
A variety of sovereign powers, for example, are withdrawn fkom the States by Article I, i10. Section 8 of the same Ar-tiele works an equaDy sharp contreetion of state sovereignty by authorizing Congress to exercise a wide range oflegisla-tive powers and (in 4.ction with the Supremacy Clause See of Article VI) to displace contrary state legislation.
Ecdel,452 U. S., at 290-292. By r#4iig for fmal review l
of questions of federallaw in this Court, Article III entails the sovereign power of the States' judiciaries to make author-itative deternda=Hana of law. See Martin v. Hunter's Les-aw,1 Wheat. 304 (1816). Finally, the deiroloped application, through the Fourteenth Amendment, of the greater part of the BH1 c( Rights to the States limits the sovereign authority that States otherwise would possess to legislate with respect to their citisens and to conduct their own afkirs.
f The States W i=My do "retai[n] a signifleant meas-we etsevereism antharity." ssoC v. wyomig,4eo U. S.,
'at 35 (Feirst47., essamthsk They besi however, only to the extsat that the Constitutism has not evested them of
~
thstr powers sad transhrzed those powers to the Federal Inthewords ofJessesMammento the Masabers 'af the 'Ftut Congress: "Interkremes.with the power of the States was no 4.M eriterion of the power of Congress.
If the power was not given, Congress could not exercise it; if given, they might exercise it, al-though it abould interfere with the laws, or even the Con-stitution of the States." 2 Annals of Cong. 1897(1791).
Justies Field made the same point in the course of his defense of state autonomy in his dissenting opinion in Baltimore &
Ohio R. Co. v. Rough,149 U. S. 368, 401 (1898), a defense quoted with approvat in Krie R. Co. v. Tompkins,804 U. S.
64, 78-79 (1988):
TI']he Constitution of the United States . . . recog-nisse and preserves the autonomy and independence of the States-independence in their legislative and inde-pendence in their judicial departments. [ Federal](s]u- P v -~<-e-- - . , . - . - - - - - . . , - , - _ , . . - . , _ . _ _ . , , , , - - - , - , -
I W-1913 & SE-1961-OPINION 21 GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
i, /"= over either the legislative '-% except orasthe to judicial mat- action of the States is in no esse p -
ters by the Constitution specifically authorised or dele-Any interference with gated to the United States.
either, except as thus p JM is an invasion of the au-thority of the State and, to that extent, a denial of its independence."
As a result, to say that the C-:= M+, assumes the con-tinned role of the States is to my little about the nature of that role. Only veently, this Cout+:e; t+i that the pur-e'-==1 inunanity Is:e;- !==i in National pose of the w=_ '
League of Cities is not to preserve "a sacred pw.h of state autonomy." KKOC v. Wyoming, 400 U. S., at 286. With rare exceptions, like the guarantee, in Article IV, 53, of state territorialintegrity, the Constitution does not carve out express ala===ts of scate sovereignty that Congress may not employ its delegated powers to displace. James Wilson re-minded the Pennsylvania ratitring convention in 1787: "It is tsus, indeed, sir, althsegh it luusuppose the ashtence of
( ^=. ist this chamention does est suppose state .
thema to be the sole power to bHussiosted.*~ f Deintes in the Sevesel State Conventions en thei Adaption' ef'the Federal c==**=&= 439 (J. Emot $$ ed. 315)(Emelir The power 4 is a " power to be respeeted" as of the Federal C.. -
well, and the fleet that the States remain sovereign a to all powers not vested in Congress or denied them by the Con-stitution offers no guidance about where the fkontier between state and federal power lies. of In state short,sovereignty we have no license to when 4
employ Avestanding +:=g"-: author = ity under the h=arce measuring +:=;. ::" ==1 Clause.
When we look for the States' "4% y and inviolable sov-i areignty," h Federalist No. 39, p." =1 286 (B. Wright scheme rather ed.1961)
(J. Madison), in the shape of the +
l than in predeterudned notions of sovereign power, a different namasure of state sovereignty emerges. Apart hem the limi-1 i
Q
5 I .
5-1913 & 88-1961--OPINION St GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
tation on federal authority inherent in the delegated nature of Congress' Article I powers, the principal manna chosen by the Framers to ensure the role of the States in the federal system lies in the structure of the Federal Government itself. .
It is no novelty to observe that the composition of the Fed-eral Government was designed in large part to protect the States fhun overreaching by Congress.n h Framers thus t
gave the States a role in the selection both of the Executive l
i and the Le1-Mye Branches of the Fedars! Government.
! h States were vested with indimet influence over the House of Representatives and the Presidency by their con-trol of electoral q==1hh and their role in presidential elections. U. S. Const., Art. I, 5 2, and Art. II, 51. by were given more direct inonanaa in the Senate, where each State meeived equal apramantah and each Senator was to be selected by the legislature of his State. Art. I, 5 8. h signineance attached to the States' equal repramantah in the Senate is underscored by the prohibition of any constitu-tismal W evesting a semen d equal .u
^=h without the State's consent. Art. V. .
Se esteet, to which the streeters of the Federal Govern-mest Itasif was reEsd on to i===Ime= the interesta of the l
States is evident in the views of the Framers. Jones Madi-son explained that the Federal Govermnent "will pertake suf- ~
l Sciently of the spirit (of the States), to be AL+ *+i to in-l
' vade the rights of the individual States, or the parogatives of their governments." h Federalist No. 46, p. 332 (B.
Wright ed.1961). Emilady, James Wilson observed that "it was a favorite object in the Convention" to provide for the My of the States against federal ess. etat and that
= See, s. p., J. Chaper, Julicial Review and the National Poutical Proe-ens 175-1M (1900); Wechsler, De Polities! Sdeguards d Federallma: De Reis of the States la the C "'=- and Selection dthe National Govern-meat,54 Cohan. L Rev. 543 (1964); La Pierre, The Political Safeguards d FederaumaRedux:14 ..
'Isumanity and the States as Agents d the Nation, 80 Wash. U. L. 4. m (1982).
. )
i g-1913 & 88-1961-OPINION 28 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
the structure of theu=han Federal Government placed particular reli- itself served th end. 2 EHiot, at 488-489.
anee on the equal 1., x=tation of the States in the Senate, which he saw as "at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sov=.I.4y mmaining He fur-in the individua The Federalist No. 62, p. 408 (B. Wright ed.1961).
ther noted that "the residuary sovereignty of the States [is]
implied and secund by that principle of representationin The one branch of the [ federal] legislature" (+=f
- added). See also Federalist No. 48, p. 815 (B. Wright ed.1961). In short, K'Cullock v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 816, 435 (1819).
the Framers chose to rely on a federal system in which spe-cial astraints on federal power over the States inhered prin-cipaDy in the worldngs of the National Gover authority. State sovereign interests, then, are more prop-l erly protected by procedural safeguards inha l g asitetseas as anneralpower.
The seistiveness of the daderal poEtient promiss k preserv-ing the States' locarents is apparent een tod4r h the course
- etfederallegislaticac On the one head, the States have been l able to direct a substantial r r,.f = of frieral revenues into their own treasuries in the fbra of general and program-speciSe grants in aid. The federal role in assisting state and local governments is a %g-+==*ne one; Congress provided
- federalland grants to finance state governments ham the be-l ginning of the Republic, and direct cash In the past granta were awarded quarter-as early as 1887 under the Hatch Act."
century alone, federal grants to States and localities have
=See, e. p., A. Bewitt, Managing Federenun: Stadies in Intergovern-Break, Finaal Federalissa la the United asental Relations 3-18 0 484);
States:De First 300 Years, Evolution and Outlools,inThe Future of Fed-eralinea in the ISO 0s, pp. SS-54 Galy 19s1).
eo S
3-1918 & 88-1961-OPINION 34 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
grown fhun $7 bEBon to 896 bGHon." As a result, federal grants now account for about one.6fth of state and local gov-enunent .54A-." The States have obtained federal fbading for such services as poHee and fim protection, educa-tion, pubHe health and hospitals, parks and merention, and sanitation." Moreover, at the same thne that the States have exercised their infhunca to obtain federal support, they have been able to exempt thavnaalves from a wide variety of obligations imposed by Congress under the Caninavte Clause. For example, the Federal Power Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Labor. Management Reporting and Diselosure Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Employee Retirement Insurance Security Act, and the Sher-man Act aB contain express or implied exemptions for States and their subdivisions." The fhet that some federal statutes
- A. Rowlet, empre, at as Bureen of the Conses, U. 8. Dept. d Com.
seen, Susan af the Censsa, Fedual EW ly.Reen dur. Fineal Year Ism, p. S Oste (Causes, FederelEuyamdhmes),Blvdelse efGevern.
unset Asessan and Repests, Messi Serviso-8 mesa d0eveseenset Fl.
massist operetsses, Dept, of the nemenF, reemet Amw mates: Flsen!
Year am p.100Sase.ag.h> :.- vp w w , -. ,
"Advissy Commissism en Emeergsverumsatal Esistians, Egslosant Features of Fiscal Federalism 130,1st (1980.
"See, e p., the Federal Fire Prevention and Centrol Act of 1M4, 88 Stat.1886, as an=adad,15 U. S. C. 92301 et seg.; the Urban Park and Reeression Recovery Act of 1M8, St Stat. 3538,16 U. S. C. 63501 et seg.;
1 the Elementary and Seeendary Edesation Act of 1986,79 Stat. 27, as l
M. 30 U. S. C.18f01 at seg.; the Water Pelleties Centrol Act, et Stat.1185, as ===== dad M U. S. C. 51261 se seg.; the Public Henkh Serv- l les Act, M Stat. M as ===== dad, a U. S. C. I 301 si seg.; the Safe Drink-lag Water Act, N Stat.1810, as assended, d U. S. C. lacot at seg.; the Omnibus Crime Centrol and Sede Streets Act of 1988, R Stat.1M, as M 42 U. 5. C. I 8701 et seg.; the Heuming and Community Develop.
mest Act of sm, as Stat. Oss, as ==. =d d a U. S. C. I sa01 st ase.; and the Juvenile Justim and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1M4, N Stat.
1100, as ===== dad 42 U. S. C. 5 5001 se seg. See also Census, Federal Ex.
psaditures, at S-15.
- See 14 U. S. C. Iste(f); te U. S. C. 518B(2); 29 U. S. C. I400(e); 29 U. S. C. 50Es(5); 29 U. S. C. H 1000(bX1), loostar); and Perser v. svown, 317 U. S. 341 (1948).
I t
--* * - - - , - - - - - - , -~ , , , _ _. _ _ _ . ,
t 5-1918 & B-1961-OPINION 25 GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
sneh as the FLSA extend general obligation the States in the federal system has served to minimiss the -
burdens that the States bear under the Com l Government have taken place since 1789, not the least of which has been the substitution of 4popular election of Sens-tors by the adoption ofNonetheless, the Seventeenth .6 States in the federal political process."
against this background, *
- # =dwe areimposes scheme convinced on that the funda-m neal limitation that the =
rammerce Clause to protect the " States as States" is one the Any substantive re-of process rather than one of result.straint on the ex its ic" "-= in the procedural nature of this be tilings la the antional poiltient praeses rather than to dictate
" 250CsWyoutenp, a asaared peerimse of stata ==saammy.
i 400 U. S., at seg.Inneer as the peessat esses are esmeerned go me thether them to state that we parasive usthhg in the
^'== and =d=8===-wage regatrossenta of the FLSA, u m-applied to SAMTA, that is destreetive of state sovereignty or
- etcJ provision. SAMTA faces
=
violative of any nothing more than the same s' ' -- =-wage and overtime ob- 1
.c'_"
"Even se regude the FLSA, Censrese laserparated spedal esassening evernme par kr new enamesesse end areeshting perso l
whea st essended the FLSA in IM4 la order to U. s. C. Iarmo. Osasrese eine deemmed to impose say abus sense sad issal .___
are not saadest to alv6 servies laws. See 3 U. 8. C. IS 00"See, s. p., Chaper, empre, et 13-178;887, Eeden, 800-488Petties, Money, and atste Seversissty: The Jedidel Rele,19 Caisse. L. Rev.
(1M9).
l 1
&1918 & &l961-OPINION 38 GARCIA a SAN AN'!T)NIO METRO. TRANSIT A1JTH.
ligations that hundreds of thonnamia of other employers, pub-lie as well as private, have to meet.
In these cases, the status of public mass transit simply un-derscores the extent to which the structural protections of
% _the Constitution insulate the States hom federally imposed l burdens. When Congress.first subjected state mass. transit i
systema to FLSA obligations in 1966, and when it expanded l those % 9 == in 11rI4, it simultaneously provided exten-l alve fhading for state and local mass transit ti-wgh UMTA.
l
' In the two h== since its enactment, UMTA has provided over 822 billion in mass transit aid to States and localities."
In 1988 alone, UMTA A 4:ng amounted to 88.7 bGlion.8' As noted above, SAMTA and its immediate y.+f+::_- r have re-ceived a substantial amount of UMTA funding, MMg over l $12 million during SAMTA's first two fiscal years alone. In aboet, Congress has not simply placed a Ananetal burden on the aboulders of States and localities that operate amass-tran-j dt syntama, but has provided =h=*=esar esistarvaEng 8-1 mancist assistanee as wee, ===i=*- that may lasse individ-an1 mass transit systems better of than they wenid have ,
been had Congress never intervened at at la tile arus. Con-l gross' tr==t===t at puhue mass transit reindbress our convic- '
tion that the natianal politica1 process sy=tamathily protecta States kom the risk of having their functions in that area handicapped by Commerce Clause regulation."
See os, met of T. , *= and Related Aguuim Approprm. l tiens Aar lam: Hearings bedure a *=w== et the House ce== on L ,.' " , 97th Cong., 3d Sess., p. SOS (ISBr) (aneal years ine6-ISW; Census, Federal Expenditures 15 (Seent year 1988).
- Comens, Federal Eup==%res 15.
- Our referenses to Ultra are not ansaat to iseply that requistion under the Commeree Clames immat be :-
, - *d by enantervelling flannetal bessets under the Spending Clause. De -;;"- "= st the FLSA to '
SAlfrA would be -1 even had Congrees met provtled federal !
ihadhag seder Ultra.
t i
1
, I 1
1 )
I f.*
' B-1MS & SE-1961-OPINION i
27 I GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
[ IV This analysis makes clear that Congress' action in affording SAMTA employees the protections of the wage and hour pro-visions of the FLSA contravened no aSrmative limit on Con-gress' power under the Ca===ree Clause. The judgment of the District Court therefore must be reversed.
Of comee, we continue to .ew '= that the States occupy a spoeial and speciae position in our +-- Ji M=1 system and that the scope of Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause must reGeet that position. But the principal and basic limit on the federal commerce power is that inherent in all M=_
_ - ' ==1 =*= $= built in restraints that our sys-tem provides through state y.# 'i+= in federal govern- -
mental action. 'Ibe politient process ensures that laws that 1=*M. In the i
unduly burden the States wD1 not be pr .
1hetual setting of these esses the laternal safeguards of the l
politiemi proeses have performed as infandant.
l '!hsee esses de not require as to identity or dudas what af-Srssative Emdts the esmatitutismal strustere might 4mpose on t subsent astian sSesting the Semens under ther Comunerce Clause. See Coyis v. 048ahoms, SE1 U. 8. SID (1911).
We ames and assept Justise Femakheter% ebservatism in New York v. United Sestse, 838 U. 8. 872, 55 (1948):
l "The process of C:- Jui'==1 adjudiention does not thrive on 4 4 up horrible poembGities that never I
' happen in the real world and devising hh sufR-eiently comprehensive in detaH to cover the remotest contingency. Nor need we go beyond what is required for a reasoned disposition of the kind of controversy now before the Court."
Though the separate concurrence providing the fifth vote In National Leopus of Cities was "not untroubled by eartain l~ possible imr a .:w" of the % d6 U. S., at 856, the Court in that case attempted to sticulate sannative limits i
j i
--_____-~__._
- _ _ _ _ - . ~ - .. .- .-. . _ _ . .- . . _ .
i :
m-1913 & 3-lal-OPINION
! 3 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH. i r==am Clause power in terms of core govern-on the mentalihnetions and fhadamental attributes of state sover-eignty. But the model of democratic M=tammaking the M, in our view, the solici-
' Court there Mantiend z-4 _ f tude of the natianal polities 1 process fbr the continued vitality Attempts by other courts since then to draw of the States.
l guidance fhma this model have proved it both impracticable and M =ny barren. In sun,in National League of Cid-ies the Coat tried to repair what did not need repair.
We have
!' We do not lightly overrule recent precedent."
not hesitated, however, when it has become apparent that a prior decision has departedc===ce fhun a Clause.
proper understandmg See of
==7:"S power under the Due United States v. Der 6y,312 U. S.100,116-117 (IN1).
respect for the reach of ==5::"=a power within the fed-eral system mandates that we do ao now. ,
National Lespue qf Citise v. Uwry, 436 U. S. 888 (1976), is everrelse. The judgeset of the District Court is reversed, sua esse esses are umseded to that murt ihr ihrther pro.
esedags esamistems with this eplaise.
Itis se ordered.
we.~ . . . . , : t. . . 1 i
'1
- 1 4
l l
l l '
I i
' - aset see unned sessa v. seen, at U. s. m, as-er (irrs).
l l
1 i
- PT+N-m..m_.,_,
i SUPREME COURTOFTHE UNITED STATES we m-wis wo m-tut JOE G. GARCIA, APPELLANT 85-1913 m SAN ANTONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY ET AL.
RAYMOND J. DONOVAN, SECRETARY OF LABOR, APPELLANT x3 m-1951 s- -
! SAN ANIONIO METROPOLITAN'IRANEIT "c AUFEORITY rr AL.-
ON APPEALS Fs0M Tsz UNITsD STATS 3 D:.T~sICT CCtatT FOR Tsz warranN DWrRICr OF TsIAS trennery is,1su)
Jurncs O' CONN 0s, with whom JUrrscs P0wzLL and Jus-Tscs RanNQUWF join, diamenting.
The Coat today surveys the battle scene of federalism and sounds a retreat. Like Jurnes PowsLL, I would prefer to hold the Said and, at the very least, render a little aid to the wanadad I join Jurnes PowsLL's opinion. I also write with the separately to note my Amdamaned "- y:- "is Court.
ansjority's views of federalism and the duty of th The Court overrules Nanonal League q(Cities v. Usery, 438 U. S. 838 (1M6), on the grounds that it is not "IbithAd to the role of federalism in a demoerstic society." Ande, at 17.
"The essence of our federal system," the Court 6, "is that within the realm of authority left open to thern under the Constitution, the States nest be equally fhe to engage in any activity that their citinens choose for the comunon weal..." IWd. N? :! Leorus of Cines is held to be incanaista=* with this narrow view of federalism beennae it
~ ' ~
n
t .
i i
3-1918 & 8B-1961-DISSENT I
1 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
' attempts to protect only those ihnvl== ental aspects of state sovereignty that an essendal to the States' separate and t -' ; r 'st ad=+ , rather than protecting all state activi-l ties " equally."
! In my view, federalism cannot be reduced to the week "ee-l sence" distiBed by the majority today. 'Ibere is more to fed-eraHam than the natum of the constraints that can he im- ,
posed on the States in "the realm of authority left open to The centralissos of federalism, l them by the c m==tientia= "
! of course, is whether any realm is left open to the States by whether any area remains in which a State the C+- J- #--
may act bee of federsiinterferenee. "The issue . . . is whether the federal system has any (spel substanee, any core of er 2ui' -4 right that courts wSI enforce." C. Blacx, The true "es-Perspeedves in C: ^24 "=3 Law 30 (1968).
sence" of federaHam is that the States as Sistas have legiti-mate interesta which the NationalTsunger Government v. Bar- is bound to respost eventhoughitslaws are ris, del U. S. N,de G N1). E ~sio^esensived and se aumesity emitivated by the Framers of ear Comstitution is to massin asemmingAd, this Court essest abesate its asundtu-tismal resymmeAmty.,ts eversee the Federal Goverumment's
=r a=a
m with its duty to respeet the legitisante lateresta of the States.
Due to the emergenee of an lategrated and industrialised national economy, this Court has been required to aummine and review a breathtaldng expansion of the powers of Con-gross. In doing so the Court correctly pereelved that the Framers of our Constitution i=*mulad Congues to have sufB-eient power to addmes national prehlems. But the Framers were noti.g.:
'+1 The r===ritatia= is ==i==*ad by an array of int ==tiana KKOC v. Wyonsing, 400 U. S. 236, 385-366 (1988) (PowsLI., J., dissendag). Just as surely as the Framers envisioned a National Government espable of solving national prehiems, they also envisioned a repohue whose vitauty was assured by the disksion of power not only
i .
O l:
4 3-1913 & SS-1961-DISSENT
! 3 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
among the branches of the Federal Government, but also be-tween the Federal Govermaant and the States. FERC v.
Mississippi, 456 U. S. 742,190 (1982) (O'CONNOR, J., dis-senting). In the 18th century these latmatiana did not con-l Alet beeanse technology had not yet converted every local i
problem into a national one. A candlet has now emerged, and the Court today retrenta rather than rMla the Con-stitution's dual conearns for federalism and an efective com-meses power.
! We would do well to reen11 the ^^ 't # -4 basis for fed-eralism and the d.wi,r-t of the enannerce power which has come to displees it. The text of the Cc 2n= does l not doene the precise scope of state authority other than to i
specify, in the Tenth A=aad==at, that the powers not dele-l gated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the States. In the view of the Framers, however, this did l not lasse state authority weak er defenseless; the powers I
to the United States, after au, were "few and do.
" The Federaust No. 45, p. SIS U. Ceehe ed.1981).
The FranssW esammames hsEsses that the sphase d state ae-l '
tivity was to be a algulasset ans, as Juersca FoumsA's opin-les sleasty demsestrates, anos at WM ~ The glades wun to retain authority over those losal emessras of greatest role-vanes and huportance to the people. De Federalist No.17,
' pp.106-108 (J. Cooks ed.1961). His division of authority, according to undiaan, would produce ef5elent government and protect the rights of the people:
"In a single republic, at the power samndered by the people, is =h=d**=d to the ad=ialmation of a singla
. m: and usurpations are guarded against by a division of the goversnent into distinct and separato de-i I partments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people, is Srst divided be-i I
tween two distinct governments, and then the portion eBotted to each, subdivided among distinet and asparate
-n. Henee a double security arises to the
(
i l
i !
l S-1913 & E-1M1--DISSENT l
4 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
The different governments will /
i' rights of the people. ;
eentmal each other; at the anme thne that each will '
be comtmaled by itself." The Federalist No. 51, i
pp. 350-851 (J. Cooke ed.1961). l j
I See Nagel, Federalism u a F=wlammatal Value: National I League of Cities in Perspective,1981 S. Ct. Rev. 81, 88.
of course, one of thea saw and deaned" powers delegated 1 to the National Congress was the power "To .-@ Com- i
- me'se with fbruign Nations, and among the several States,
, and with the Indian Tribes " U. 8. Coast., Art. I, 98, el 3.
The Framers perceived the interstata comuneres power to be hapartant ist lindted, and expected that it would be used
! prhnerny if m.: exetesively to amove interstata taria and to ,
regulate meritime afBdre and : . 9 mercantue enter-l-
prise. See Abel, 'No Comunerne Clause in the Constitu- )
l tional Convention and b Contmaporary e-+, as Minn.
j L. Rev. dat (IN1). This perception of a narrow enemmerce
! that the sem-l pesar le haysetent est heawee it esasemed today.
ausne pseur should be se i Escher, t espleins why the Fnmare meM begeve the Con-
! samassa assured signismet semes autherty men as t be- .
li showed a range af powess, helmeng the esmumens power, on the Congress. In an era when heerstate esmesses repre- i
! aseted a tiny fraction of econonde astivity and most goods l and services were prodoned and ~====ad cloes to home, the l i
laterstate comuneres power left a breed range of activities !
l I beyond the reach of Cangass.
' In the decades einee rattaestion of the Cc M=. Inter-Industri- ;
state h activity has standDy awp== dad I alisatlan, soupled with advanees in transportation and com- l
- h. has created a national economy in which '
virtanDy every estivity seenrring within the borders of a ,
Staea plays a part. ' tim expansion and Integration of the l_
3 national economy brought with it a coordinate avp===la= in
! the esope of national problems. This Court has been increas.
3"= of the eonumerce power of ingly generous in as ist i !
1 l
i .
! i I !
4 l >
l
! 3 1913 & 3-1961--DISSENT 5
GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
Congress, prknarGy to assure that the National Govermnent l would be able to deal with national M prM.
I Most signissantly, the Court in NIER v. Jones & ImupMin ,
Steel Corp.,301 U. S.1 (1987), and United Sieges v. Derh, 312 U. S.100 (1941), raketed its previous interpretations of l the comunerte power which had stynded New Deal legisls-l tion. Jones & LampMin and Derk embreeed the notion that Congne can ngulate intrastata activities that aSect inter-I
- state annunem as surely as it een regulata interstate com-men dimetly. Subsequent decisions indiente that Con-gass, in order to regulate an eetivity, needs only a rational basis ihr a Anding that the activity asects interstate com-
! meree. See Heart qf Astonia Notel, Inc. v. United States, l 379 U. S. 341, 358 (1964). Even if a g#= ladividual's activity has no pareeptible laterstate esset, it can be reached by Caugnas through agulation d that eissa of activity in esassel as Isms as that edess, eenidend as a whala, adbets interstate esamens. . Fry v. psiesd semess, est U. 8. 542 i (1985); Pens v. United semess, 408 U. 5.148 QFft).
- temidaseal to thin esponsism of the essensses power, Con-gress has been given an shiuty it lashed prior to the emer-genee of an integrated national eeanomy. Beemose virtually every sense activity, inn virtually every activity of a private l
' individual, arguably asects" interstate commerce, Congna
' enn now supplant the States hem the signiSeant sphere of ae-tivities envisioned for them by the Fransers. It is in this i eentext that roesnt changes in the woridags of Cangam,
! seek as the direct election of Senaten and the expanded in8aanes of national laterest groups, see ente, at 9, n. 9 (PowsLL, J., dissenting), become relevant. h changes may weR have lessened the weight Congress gives to the le-
!, githmate interests of States as States. As a result, there is now a mat risk that Congress win gT3 erase the diSm-sian of power between state and nation on which the Framers based their finith in the ofBeisney and vitality of our Republic.
1 i .
1 1
\ \
i l
I i
i j
Q
l .' . )
- l 1
i l
S-1918 & M-1951--DISSENT 4 GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
It would be erroneous, however, to conclude that the Su-presno Ceart was bHad to the thrust to federalism when it expanded the comuneres power. h Coat based the expan-sion on the authority d Congnes, through the Neesseary and Proper Clause, "to resort to aR means for the exereise of a srented power which are appropriata and plainly adapted to the perndtead and? Unidad Sesses v. Derer ,8MPrs, at 124.
It is threagh this reasoning that an intrastate activity "aSeet-ing" laterstate comuneres een he reached through the com-naeres power. Thus, in Umded Sistes v. Wrightwood Dairy Co.,315 U. S.110,119 (1942), the Court stated:
"h coanneres power is not aa=M in its exercise to the.wM=- d annumeres among the states. It ex-tends to those activities intrastate which so asset inter-state enamneree, er the exertion d the power of Con-af thema appropriate
'~ ^,grues overit, as to uneke mesma h b W 'a W 4 6 &
.tive essention af the greeted power to madeep inter-einen sammeans.
see seenseek v. serviend, 4
.=
r w heng,gae, m ;..? s u. & & - ~ ~.-.
I Unidad States v. Wrip&duoed Dairy Co. was heavDy relied upon by Wichord v. Filhws,817 U. S.111,124 (1942), and the reasoning of these esses underlies every recent decision concerning the reach of Ccagress to activities afecting inter-state emanares. See, s. p., Fry v. Unidad Sdedes, supra, at 547; Peres v. Unidad Sdedes, empra, at 151-152; KesW q(Ad-l lenda Model, Inc. v. United Stedes, supra, at 256-280.
It is worth reenEing the cited peessee in McCullock v.
Maryland, 4 Wheet. 316, 421 (1819), that lies at the soares of the recent awpaaalaa of the comuneroe power. "Let the and be legitheate, let it be within the scope of the canathneian," '
Chief Justies MarshaR sold, "and aR means which are appro-priate, which are plainly adapted to that end, wideh are not prahiha d, but eensist with the letter and spirid of the eon-seitution, ar. - A si 4" (unphesis added). h spirid
i <
I s-1913 & SS-1M1-DtSSENT 7
GARCIA a SAN AN'1DNIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
of the Tenth A=madmant, of course, is that the States wSI retain their integrity in a system inTry which
- v. Unitedthe laws of n
the United States are never ah supreme.
Sisses, supra, at 547, n. 7.
It is not enough that the "end be legithnate"; the means to that and chosen by Congress must not contravene the spirit
- of the Constitution. Thus many of this Court's h ac-
[ knowledge that the means by which national power is exer-l eised must take into aeoount eonearns jbr state antanomy.
See, e. p., Fry v. United States, supra, at 547, n. 7; New York v. Unidad Stasse, ass U. S. 572, 586-587 (1946) (Stone, 1
C.
supru, at 37.
J., concurring); NIAR v. Jones & LampAlin Sis
- power must be considered in the light of our dual system of
. M and may not be extended so as to enahrace ef-insta pinterstate amannares so lmdirect and resnote that to embsess thess, in view of on esuples assisty, weeld eSneta-
\ aRy abuterste the estination between what is assisual and what is Isamt sad ereste a emmpistely sentraused govern-ment"); Senda Cous Fruit habhqr Co. v. NERS,808 U. S.
See mise Esadsler, Constitutismal In-
, 455, des-4ff 0958).
6,.re'=.19 Mieh L. Rev.100B,1065 (1981)("The ques-tion, always, is whether the exercise of power only by taking into account, so thr as they r interpreted overare relevant, all of the vaines to which the C_ _"=For example, Congress might re-
- t% expression").
tionaDy conclude that the loention a State chooses for its espital may asset laterstate eonumeree, but the Court has ,
suggested that Congress would nevertheles '
sated power would underudne the state sovereignty in in the Tenth Ammad= mat-ShnGarly, Congress in the exereine of its 589, ses (1911).
taxing loan and spending powers enn penteet inder ,
8
..-,---.,%.w- m _ , , - - - . - . - - - .-- , - - - - - - - - - - - - _
) .
- ; 1 l
l l
4 3-1913 & 3-1961-D1SSENT
/ f 8 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH. l converting quasi-puhue state savings and loan manaci= Harm '
I into federal ammaal=Haan, the Court has held that it contra.
venes the reserved powers d the States beeanse the conver-I sian is not a reasonably neessaary exercise of power to reach the desired end. Rapirins Federal Savings & Loen Associa-tion v. Cleary, 298 U. S. 315 (1986). De operative lan-l guage of these esses varies, but the underlying principle is i consistant: state autonomy is a relevant $setor in assessing ,
' the means by which Congress exercises its powers. '
Die principle requires the Coert to enforse adBrmative lhnits on iederal regulation of the States to eoesplement the l
' judicially crafted awpe==iaa of the interstate commerce power. National Leerus gCities v. Usery represented an
, attempt to deone such ihnits. The Court today redeets No.
i fional League (Cities and washes its hands of an esorts to ,
potest the states. In the process, the Court opines that un- l warrameed Andsral ensmashmenta en state authority are and ;
we nunshe "herible pouAdhise that never happen in the ,
nel weeld'" Astr, at 21, quoting New Fest u. Unidad '
% myra, et M (ephdem of Freaksister, J.). Daru is L- - l maple sesosa to begeve to the austrary. "
De bot two h have essa an unpreendested growth
- l. of federal regulatory activity, as the majority itself selmowl. l l edges. Ande, at 15, n.10. In 1964, one could stG1 speak of a l
! " burden of parouselon on those invaring national interven-l tion" in asserting that " National action has . . . always been l r _2:f- as eseeptionalin our peuty, an intrusion to be justi. ;
i and by seem necessity, the special rather than the ordinary ease."
Weehener, De Poutical Saissuards of FederaHam: ,
ne male of the states in the Composition and selection of i l the National Government, 54 Cohna. L. Rev. 543,544-545 I
(1964).
Today, as federallegislation and ooercive grant pro- i grams have espanded to embrace in==narable activities that
, were ones viewed as leemt, the burden of parouselon has 1
surely shifted, and the extraordinary has beeone ordinary. l i
See Engdahl, Sense and N- About State Inununity,2 1
i i
I I i
~
o .
ss 51918 & Ss-1951-DISSENT 9
GARCIA a SAN ANIONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
For example, re-Constitutional r===aatary 98 (1986).
cently the Federal Government has, with this Court's bless-ing, undertaken to tell the States the age at which they enn retire their law enfbreement odBeers, and the sgb+a-y standards, preesdures, and even the agenda which their utDi.
I See KROC v.
- ties ==i==laan umst consider and ibilow.
Wyoneing, 400 U. S. 238 (1988); FERC v. Mississippi, 466 t
N poutient process has not protected U.8.742(ISEB).
i against theee escramah-+= on state metivitia, even though they directly hopinge on a State's abGity to make and enfbree ha laws. With the ah== dan =ame of National League of Cit-iss, aR that stands between the runeining essentials d Li;+1 en- of state severeignty and Congress is the letter's l posity tr self-restraint.
i De psehlsms of tularslism la en lategrated ==*i==,1 econ-l any see espehle of nuo respenstle resolutism them holding lt l
that the States as States retah no sessus apart tem that whink Caugress chasses Se 1st thus retain. H e proper russistism, I suggest, Mas in weidhg s8ste naamammy as a heter in the hainnen when hearpreting the means by wideh Congress enn exercise its authority on the States M a=1 States.
It is inanm*Imat, in assessing the validity of e:=j :
sgA* of a State parenant to the comunerce power, to ask only whether the same .g9% would be valid if enforced That seasoning, ==hadiad in the against a private party.
madority opinico, is inanamiasmat with the spirit of our Con-stitution. It remnains relevant that a Siete is being regu-lated, as National Leopus q( Cities and every resent case have recognised. See KKOC v. Wyonsing, supre; Transpor-estion Union v. Long Island R. Co., 455 U. S. 678, 884 (ISEB);Nodel v. Viryinis Surface Mining A Asel. Asen.,462 U. S. 384, 2B7-288 (1981); National League q( Cities, 496 r==*it='h is conoorned, a U. S., at 841-846. As br as the Cf.
State should not be equated with any private litigant.
Nevado v. Nell, 440 U. 8. 410, 438 (1m) (BLacumvN, J.,
dissenting) (criticising the abGity of a state court to treat a f
l g -.
\
- l 5-1918 & E-1N1--DISSENT 10 GARCIA s SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
Instead, sister State no di5erently than a private litigant).
the autonomy of a State is an essential-paamat of federal-leen. If state autonomy is ignored in aesseeing the sneens by whieb Congress regulates mattare aSecting comunera, then Amierallem becomes irrelevant simply beesuse the set of activities remaining beyond the zwech of such a comunerce power W well be negligible." Anfa, at 16.
It has been difBeak for this Court to eraft bright lines de-Aning the seeps of the state autonomy y.M by Nadional Leopus (Cidies. Seek difBeuky is to be expected whenever .
eh ennearns as important as federalism and the ef-Re- l Asetiveness of the assumerse power some into conduct.
g udless of the diSeulty, it is sad wm runnin the duty of this Laert to reconeus thsee eenearns in the analinstamos. That the Court shuns the task today by appealing to the "eemenee efiederallem" enn provide eennt condert to those who beBeve car Anderal system requires something more then a unitary, eentrolleed . n - I would not shirk the duty ae-l hassledged by Needenal Lesym gf Cnies and its preseny,
! - and I shese Joencs Emesquare beust that this Court wSI na thus aseen assues its esmetituelemel neepenedduty.
IseapestAmity desamt. .
e
"" Nv--.w_m,
i-i i .
4 I
i l
l SUPREME COURT OFTHE UNITEDSTATES i
Nes. 5-1913 AND N-1961 i
JOE G. GARCIA, APPELLANT a
s-lets l EAN ANTONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY rr AL.
. RAYMOND J. DONOVAN, EECRETARY OF 1
( LABOR, APPELLANT m
8B-1961 F
SAN ANTONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY rr AL.
ON AFFsALS Frost TER tDirr D rrATz3 DurnUCT COURT
! romTus warra N mrraser Or TaxAs I (Febrewy it,19081 i
Jueru:s RanNguerr, diesenting.
I join both Jtnrries PowsLL's and Jurrics O' CONN 0s's thoughted dissents. Jurrsca P0wsLL's referemos to the
' "halassing tast" approved in Nanonal League (Che is not identient with the language la that ease, wldsk .:::c' :s that Congress sound not est under its essamerne power to in-8'inge en eartain ihadamental aspects d state sovereignty
! that are aussatial to "the States' asperata and independent esistamos."
Nor is either test, or Juerica O' CONN 0s's
- soggested apprensk, presisely eengruset with Jurrscs BLacsafUN's visWe in 1976, when he spoke d a halmasing approach which did not outlaw federal power la areas "where the inderal interest is demonstrably greater." But under f
any one of thsee appreeshes the judgment in this ease abould 4
( be aermed, sad I de not think it larmabent en those of us in I
l t
1 3-1918 4 5-1981--DISSENT 2 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AttTIL dissent to spou out ihrther the one points of a principle that
' win, I am oonadent, in thne again comunand the support of a esprity at this court.
.n 1 > . .n- .
t o
e i
i t
S
- - - - ~ , - _ _ - - . , - - -- , _ - _ _ _ _ _ ..-,_.____.____-._.__.e. _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _
)
i
- 1 l
l! f( -
l l
i t
i i
P j
i i SUPREME COURTOFTHE UNITED STATES I Nes. 3 -191s m e m -1sst i i JOE G. GARCIA, APPELLANT ,
l B-1913 E
' SAN AN'IONIO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT l i
AUTHORITY rr AI.
BAT 3000lDJ. DONOVAN, EECRETARY OF
...a y AyyggAgyy l
B-1951 l
BAN ANIU900 METROPOLITAN TRANEIT AUI'50RITY er Ah cer AyrsAta ysons Tus unrrso prats 3 DWrs3Cr 00WtT romTus warrsaw narraser or TaxAs
[Fehnery n, lees) l Jurrscs PowsLt., with whosa Tus (,h, Joynes, Jus- '
' Tscs REEN4Wer, and Jurncs OTAetwon join, dissenting.
De Court today, la its H desision, overrules National ,
j l Lespus ( Cteins v. Usery, as U. 8. SBB (19N), a esse in '
which we hebt that Congrees ineked authority to hnpose the
.a_ _
= d the Fair Labor Standards Ast on state and leas! . Bessene I believe this decision substan.
l tinRy alters the Andaral systeen esabodied in the Constitution, l I dissent.
' I
! Dare are, d scarse, nunsreas esasspies over the history
' d this Court in which prior decisions have been rW and overruled. Dare have been few senes, however, in
' which the prinsiple d adore deems and the rationale d roosat i
I I
.-.-_4,_.,,_ __
. ~ . - - _ - - -
4
) ,
l
)-
r s-1918 4 m 1m1-DiaSENT I
2 GARCIA a SAN ANIONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH. !
l l decisions were ignored as abruptly as we now wkness.' The
' reasoning d the Court in N5"r! Inspue q(Che, and the i prinsiple applied there, have been reitarated onesistently l over the past eight years. Since its decision in IFF6, Na-
! Womal Inspw (CiNm has been cited and quoted in opinions l . Nodel v. Vir-joined by every member d the present Court. l pinia A1-- Mining & Reel. Amen., a U. S. 284,287-298 l (1981); United T,z:;2"m Union v. Long Island R. Co.,
m U. 8. 878, 084-406 (ISER); FRAC v. Mississippi, 466 l
~
, U. S. 742, 784-767 (1982). Less than three years ago, in
====h= Court reafBrmed 4
Long Island R. Co., supes, a _
l the principles d Nanonal Leopus q(Cities but isund them ;
j inappuenbie to the regulation of a raGread heav0y engaged in interstate enamneree. n Court stated.- ,
) "he key prong of the National Leopus (Cines test ap.
i to this ease is the third ens troposted and re- ,
l ts BedsG, whiIk esamines whether 'the l senses' esupuanse wth the hderal law weeld dheetly l hupser their sh0hy to strustum integral aparations m l
i h mens d tiednismal sever ==e ad assuses."
U. S., at W.
l De Court in that ease recognised that the test "may at l thnes be a difBeuk one," i6id., but it was considered in that unanknous decision as settled esostitutional doctrine.
i As resently as June 1,1982 the Ave Justions who -:= 29 the as$orky in this ease also were the majority in FKRC v.
Mississipp(. In that ease, the Court said:
"In NaNonst zeepw y Ces, empre, ser mample, the Court made einer that the State's .,9"= of its rela-tisaship wth ha employeesis an wh*-1 attribute of l
i
'#seheel Layw ycase, amewhg same shoogen le the empeakien Un- l of the Court, had evervuled Neryfend v. Fdres, SIR U. 5.15098). 1
- , h Nasional Learme (Cedse, the redseene af Fires had met home rupees. ;
i eer essepted by ser enheequest desisieme. i f
n
--~a
. . . V l Q .
31913 & 5-1sst-DISSENT t 8
GARCIA s SAN AN'IONio METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
state sevenignty.' as U. s., at se. Yd, by holding i
%misspaired' Ca4femis v. Tayder, SEB U. S. 858 0957), '
which upheld a sederal labor regulation as applied to state raitreed employees, es U. S., at 854, n.18, No-dional Lespue q(Che e' f t.' that not all aspects d a State's sovereign authority are inu==ne Assa Anderal - i contreL" 438 U. S., at 'l64, n. SB.
na Court went en to say that even where the require.
f unesta d the Nadional League (Che standard are met, "Tthere are situations in winsh the nature d the Anderal lutarest advanced may be seek that k justi8es state sabado.
sien.'" IWd., geoting Nodel, supes, a U. S., at MB n. 29.
ne joint siderni/ state sym m d nguistion in rsaC was sash a " situation," but there was as hint la the Court's opin-las that NationalImerus (Cidiso-er its besie standard-was selgest to the hermities dissevered today.
Ahhsugh the destrine is ast rigl4r appund to esmetits- .
tismal gasselsme, *amy departese tems the destrine d adore !
desisse demands spedst er meses s munimy,
- U. S. - , - OSSE See aims Cruyen v. Esansdy, as U. 5. Grf, eb-GB a. N 06 Wesvuus,'J., emuser-ring). In the presamt emne, the eve Justises who ausspose l the medarity tedey partisipated k Nationel lentus (Che and the esses rendoradas it.' ne stabany dfadisial deel. ,
sien, and with k respect ist the authorky d this Court, are '
not served by the presipitems everruling d smitiple preee.
desta that we witness in this ease.'
usenos acmens, as mer es. s.ber h m c t dass sur dess.
slum in Needsnel Lesyme (Celiss, has joked es Court h resenshg its Undse v.Leur ledend 2. Co., des prhalples. Ass Undeed..- ,
U. S. fis 08M), sad FRAC v. AHesessippi, 408 U. S. 74, m OsM)
(00ssosos, J., essumshg h part). a
'As ses asummamanner asned, seen deedsde misessnes s saamel min.
ties tre the very assure of sur N
- IAs, %ss Ylows as the Reis of Stem Desisis," 4 Va L. Rev. 55, Oss GMS).
(
l
.e ** = .
i t
as-tets a as-1sst-DISSENT 4 GAnctA s SAN AN'!ONIO BEETRO. TRANSIT AITFE.
Whatever eSect the Court's decision may have in weaken-ing the appliestion d store deciese, it is likely to be less l haportat than what the Court has done to the Constitution Itaalf- A unique destare of the United States is thefederal I
l wW try the Constitution and eystem of govermnent s l
kaplicit in the very name d air'ienstryi' Despite some senesseting in Comt's opinion to the mesept. of hderalism, today's decision e5ectively redness the Tenth Am==d=aat to naeaningless rhetorie when Congress acts pursuant to the l
Comuneree Clease. The Court holds that the Fair Labor Standards Act ["FLBA"] " contravened no astraative limit
- on Congress' power under the Comaneree Clause" to deter-
- seine the wage rates and hours of employinent of all stata and
, losal mapioyen. Ante, at rr. In rWeeting the treditional view of our federsl eystem, the Court states:
" Apart toen the tultation a hderal entharity inherent
~
ha the delegated natum d Cesynes' Astialesl gewere, the prhudpol meses chosen by the Femmes to emeure the sets d the states k the hemel spetsen Ese in the sfrue.
. dure d the Federal Govuuseast . . . .
fleelf.* Asses, et 81-22
^
(amphedsadde4, /! 1 Toleave no doubt aboutits m, the Court renounces ;
i its deeinion in National Leopue q( Cidise beennes it "inev-i-4-e sederet jadisiary to make decisions itabir invites an about which state policies its hvers and which ones it dis-likes." Anie, at 17. In other words, the estant to which the States may exercise their authority, when Congrees purporta to act under the Comunsree Clanes, henceforth is to be deter-mined Aem thne to thne by politient decisions made by mem-
.. :", desisions the Coat says wG1 bars of the sedere!
not he soldest to jadisial rwiew. I note that it does not !
seem to have occurred St.y rqeets toohneet the Court 300 years that is-an unelected as-of the jarity of 8ve Jg7 In understanding of the aa==H+=Hamat status of Anderallem.
doing so, there is only a single passing reilerense to the Tenth Ah* Nor is so much as a dictum of any court cited 1
~ ~ * , wem w--v, -a-,--m-,~-. ,n, ,n, _ _ _ _ _ ,m.e _ _ _ _ _
-,- m .o,,- - w, n
. . (: ,
l .' 1 i
l '( -
i as-tsss a as-tssa-DISSENT 5
GanCIAs SAN ANTONIO MrfRO. TRANSIT AUTH. :
h suppent d the view that the sole d the States in tlme fled-eral systema may depend upon the grace d eisetad finderal d-
{
asimis, rather than on the em asinterpreted by this Court.
In my opinion that fbilows, Part II addresses the Court's j
1 aritisisens d National Lespue ( Ceise. Part III reviews r brisity the understanding diedsenilsa that ensured the rati-Bestion d time Constitutism and the estaat to whish this Court, antB today, has assognised that the States retain a signement measure d severeignty in our finderal system.
Part IV essaiders the applienholty d the FLSA to the in-disputably losal servies provided by an arhan transit system.
l 4
II De Court ends that the test d 8 tate humedty approved l h National Esqpas (Caise sad its pregany is amerkable and umssued h prhalple. In Aneng the test to he ummerk-l #effensiZampus t
skin,theCourthsghsby i
(casseadsubesquentamass. In testehrts to dates semes lassumity see unusend h the Court seesm% departe tema estated esmandbuthant values l .
sad ignores the nas d misw h ese system at ,
i J I A Mash d the Court's opinion is devoted to arguing that it is dlSeult to de8ne a priori " traditional governmental fhne- '
tions." Nationsi Lespue (Caiss neither engaged in, nor regadred, sash a taalL* .he Coast h and aa=t==an, ,
'in #esional zmarm eremin, we seenv 4 to the sphere w stase er .~
w ._- " % e ames wensh 's, assara hesens of esuren, M to entie wth preshism. But the immary of prodse ed.
sahms k ses reely andered h heerprehs and applyks the esseret prv.
Thhas at sur em Not suprtdagly, easeeme, to Cost's .
A !
senempt to esmesserene me hipsmesar et dessansa h enkelpanL e ehe eks pestium etdwhiss samher at me essess.a ,,,
amahan. amee shastr weasses v. s ass m'seeswds afsment s w,c l
an, ins., ess F. mi en (cAtu, esw. dened, as v. s. ris asse; prends 1
1 I ( .
,I q . .. . . . . . .
x-
U 31913 & B-1961-D(SSENT 8 GARCIA a SAN AN"t0NIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
as standards %.T.M sovr"=1 fhnetion(s]," "punly histories!" ihmetions, "' uniquely' girrernmental ihnetions,"
and "'naamanary' ar *=1 services." Ande, at 10.-11, 15, 16. But nowhere does it mention that National Leopue g Cities adopted a hanLe type d balancing test fbr de-tenmining whether Ceaunaroe Clause enactments transgress aa==+i+=+ia==1 ti=l+=*ia== hnposed 'ay the federal nature of Tids ondesion is noteworthy, our system of government.
since the author of today's opinion joined National League of Cities and concurred separately to point out that the Court's opinion in that case " adopt (s) a balancing approach (that]
does not outlaw federal power in areas . . . where the federal interest is demana** ably greater and where state . . . complf-anoe with haposed federal standards would be essential."
as U. s., at ass (BLAesuvN, J., concurring).
In reading National Leopus q(Cities to embrace a balane-lug appenesh, Jumca BLACsMUN quita correct $ eited the part at the spimism that venSreed Fry v. United Stater, #1 U. S. Se N The Comes sashule resarmhg Fry ex-the seriousness dthe probles addressed by pihith at issue h that seen, against the essets theAndmal of esmpEsase en State severeigmay. SB U. E., et W-as8.
Our sabesquent desisions also adopted this appneeh of s/ the sorte s Cesy, 888 F. M SS (CAS), esrt. demisd. 484 U. 8. 902 (1drT). A an=har d eshare are met property aantysed under the prinsiples d Neeismal lampus (Cdelse, notwithstameng sense d the imagunge d the leder esorts. K. p., Undesd Sesess v. Asse, MS F. M 10s5 (Cas 1Ms) sad Nytud Squipasse Corp. v. Cey ( Ahren, 854 F. ad 11st (CAA last).
ussener, naher then mesedly amatyder the esse law, the Cent shaply asse vertsen ensdems thanskt te he pr a a dlaer theunpreensted shed esses, by easte in.
terymeng Neessant tesyne (Cenes. Amar, as s.10.homew
- thatparessier eisse at isses; they ed est make hinsket ,._ _- ^" easdoms er ed not.
, tMagnishenmelygassendastreadamel .---
Nevens the esassesred the sense em W mmens, t was est emnet ser the Cawt to esmainde that there is me "orgamidag prinsiple" among them. See emes, at 10.
l
]
. . O Y
E1918 & SB-1951-DISSENT 7
GARCIA a 8AN AN'!ON10 METRO. TRANSIT AIT1'E.
weighing the respective interests d the States and finderal
~* In KROC v. Wyoniina, 400 U. S. 236 (1988),
.m isr azataple, the Court stated that att)to principle of fnunu-mity artienlated in National Leopus (Cities is a fhl doctrine . . . whose ulthnate purpose is not to create a secred provines d state autonomy, but to ensure that the unique benoots of a federal systen . . . not be lost through undne federni taterference in eartain ears state ihnetions." Id., at 236. See also Rods! v. Virginia Surface Mining & Rec.
lowestion Asen., 452 U. S. 264 (1981). In overruling No-tional Leopus ( Cities, the Court incorrectly characterises the stode of analysis a=tahHahad therein and developed in subsequent cases.'
'la umkrtsking usek % we have esasidered, en the one head, the strength d the hearelisterest la the shsEsmesiingleinden sad the km.
past d ammapahg the States tua its sessh. Osmeral to ear inquky late es hemmi hemmst h how shady the absAssed esden hghetes to een,
( tual esasuus d the Omensrae Omsse, sk., the da assisual '
emnsmy and two trade asung the senese. San
.g %, 4s0 v.s.ssa,sesenema, A ammerhuk aussen,atemmassa,usand mesmyseestism messa s zagr fassed Amtme' su. k.MR s sis, ses Osam cCameress hug see esadsded est hearersesshdem dseArend inhar servisse is aussenary to prevent dereptisms k vest reE survies essen-tini to the assismal === assay."); FEAC v. Mississippi, des U. 8. T4t, 757 08W, (9t is eSemit to esassive d a aere Nie eisesse distantste esse-morse than elsserie emergy . . . ."). Emmerty, we have essnidsred whether esempting States tem Asesrel segulatism would underosimo the gesis d the hdsret program. See Fry v. Usted Ainder,4R1 U. 8. 542 OM5). See also Redst, a U. R., at M f==an==al sehen shing stand.
ards assessary to hamre esapstitism smung Steens deus ast moderasine atsass' easte is makesh sesseste herestate sinneseds). on the other head, we have else essessed the tWary dans to the Staeus if tread to ess .
SeeNeennel4 segue (
ply with hderal Commeree Ossos enastasses.
CNiss,488 U. S., at 946-51.
'la adetism, reusase en the Court's esseltime la the tas bassenty Asid is mispisemL Altheagh the Csert has skandemed the " govern-
,., E t aseudse h this asid, see Nar rat s posted 30sess, EB U. 8. Mt (1948),it has est tahan the dresde appressh drolyhg selsly en the streetsre of the inderal severunset to protest the States' iss.
j
(
n- )
l l
E-1913 & 88-1961-DISSENT 8 GARc!A a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
Moreover, the statute at issue in this esse, the FLSA, is the htical statute that was at issue in National League of Cities. Although Jtwncs BI.ACEMUN's conCMTeoce noted that he was "not untroubled by eartain possible implications d the Court's opinion" in National League of Cities, it also stated that "the result with respect to the statute under chal.
lange here (the FLSA)is necessarily corveet." 426 U. S., at 866 (==ph==ia added). His opinion for the Court today does i
not discuss the statute, uor ident'.fy any changed circum-stances that warrant the conclusion today that National League of Cities is necesesrily wrong.
B Today's opinion does not explain how the States' role in the electoral process guarantees that particular exercises d the Comunsree Cisuse power wiR noc infHnge on residual State amesismay.' Membora d Congress are einsted tous the verises States, but ease la eSee they see ===h-s d the mammy tem ammaha. see masseetnesen v. Unsed snake,' ar tK s. 444 efestihgesmetito-095 Hmm,headuttienaque%M thedense,wedhimet somet headertee of tduel essen emsely " iemV adept the v6ew usemy would think ashe, that the hieral ._ --
we protect whetner rishte the sietes sesy he=.
' late ha he ephden, the coat enggeste that efter eR there may be some "edhneathe Bedte the h1 structure might impose os federe! ac-team esseths the states muser the commeree cimem." Ante, et rt. De i
, court senarte that S the hetual settleg of these enese the laternel afe-guarde af the pettleel pressee have perdermed Nar does se letsaded." INd. De k identify
, cours dose met espiada the basis he this judgment.
- the strammetenese in wedek the "poussent priesse" may ha and "sanastin unite" are to be imposed. Presumehtr, eash tutte are te be detenmined by the Jadisiel Bransk even theagh k is "enelected." Today's opinion, however, hes Weetal the wendog eiendent and sessuto no other atend-ord that would enable a eaurt te deterndee when there hee been a ma ties of the "pedtieel process." he court's hikwe to specify the "eGkse-I the Medte" en $mderal power, er when and how these huite are to be dew, may web be ear'*ined by the traseparent het that say seek
, esteempt weeld be sel$est te ,seeleely the emme oldestione en which k rolles to warmle Needonel Leopes (Cdeim.
i i
--w-eew--c-,---- - - - . -_-., ,, , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,, _ _ _ _ ,, _ . , _ _ , , , _ _ _ . _ . . _ . _ _ , _ ,
l .
- V )
j.'
i
! y' .
2 as-1sts a es-1s51-DISSENT 9
GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO.TRANSTT AITTE.
Anderal
. M
- Although the States putMpte in the Electoral CoDege, this is hardly a reason to view the Presi-dont as a ,,r r-+4ve d the States' interest against fed-
- We noted recently "the hydraulic pres- '
eral eneroachment.
sure inherent within each d the separate Brunehan to exceed the outer Ibnits d its power . . . ." E x'. d m and NasureHassion Service v. CAndAs, est U. S. 919, The Court ofers no reason to think that this pres-(1988).
i sure will not operate when Congress seeks to invoke its pow-ars under the Comunerce Clanes, notwithstanding the elec-termt role d the statas.'
I
( 'Ome een hanRy imagine this Court anyhg that besmuse Congress is
( ess, esse d hdividuais, bdivhhst rightsYet, genremseed by the BER d Rights
' the peakien adopted me emptr preessted by the pelMest preessa.
today b indsthsdshable is prinsiple. The Temak Amaakment also is an assunshi part d the 35 d Elden. Ese iW, at - .
'As see than h ear hisesry, ths her that the seressure d the hdsral
, gususamset smAsad to puussut to hates mW huse had a emmewhat, l ( mese pueslied, ethundt est a ame indsel, basis. Pachuser Weehsler, l whose sammal ankh h sees pnpased ths inser udspeed ny the Ceut to.
en saammyshes tot skyty de est assord
- do,sumamend tes umbessent namy. Websteresses"Nasimmt schahas . . .
aisses been ngarded as samspahmal h ear psey, an headse to be jus.
tease by same =====*y, the syndal naher than the audhary esm."
Weekener, The Pettisol Seasysseds d Fodsenumm:1he Reis d the Stasas k the Campeakien and Seleasian d the Nedsani Gover=====t, 54 Colems.
L. Eer. 5ss,544 0954). Not emir is the premise d this view einerty at edes wkh the preMmesism d useissal nha Isr6== ever the past 30 years, but =a veriser d sossemel and pakssal shauge in this esmary have ==.
thod to make Cosgram partissierty insenster to mese and lessi vaines."
^ ' malmai==9 [ACIR], Reguistory Advisory Comum% en ' ' --
The adoption Federabsur Pelhy, Freeses, Impost sad Rediras se uses).
I dihe snessesmah Amsmensat (pewidhe he einst einsehn d seassers),
j the washemise d petniset parties sa the lssel level, and the rise d satismal media, umass ether thhes, have made Cemenes bessehstr less repre, l assemeeve d Sasse and lensi heerens, sad asse lanty to he nspensive to Id., at 88-41. As ese the demands d verless assismal-shearver aspinhed "As Amsten and memhem dthe Besse emisp h.
dependsat emmennessies amms smurs sash as eeners, businessman, b.
huus, ese and the peer, ensk dwhich senerelty supports 1
(
f1
E-1M8 & M-1N1-DISSENT 10 GARCIA s 8AN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
h Court apparently thinks that the States' success at obtaining federal fbads for various projects and exemptions thun the obligations of some federal statutes is indic=Hve of the " effectiveness of the federal political process in pre-l serving the States' interests. . . ." Anie, at 28-24." But i
such political success is not mlevant to the question whether the political preessses are the proper means of enforcing con-stitutional limitations.u 'Be finct that Congnes generally entain asthmai innhei, their :=dawy to u.tify with ame inter.t.
and the poshions of state ed5emis is rodeoed." Eaden, "FederaHas in the Courts: Aguada hr the 19eos,"la ACIR, he Future of FedersHan in the
'30s, at M 0981).
See aise Enden, Pouties, Mamey, and mate Sevenignty: N Jm5elal Rele,79 Colum. L. Rev. 847 OM9) (ehenges la pontient practices and the breadth of ==ei===4 laitiatives mean that the pontient branches "smay no longer be as wee esited as they case were to the task of safeguaribag the seis of the states k the asesrel systsen and protesdag the $sedamental
' wAms of heeraBumf) and ACIR, Ragsheery Fedssetsus, sayss, at 3-N
,lessiassenwsestrkhhdothesnisee sassaspe n s smustothe asens mer en past t= W ami, seen r one wan te issare the assuseus puebisme well the Osnt% posthe h tareas of esmetstatiemal asser
- rhe, ene wesu namh serises gasseems as se as beamus passad States and leesaties by the hderal goverumsat is relevant to the seastita-tissauty of estameng t'm Clemas emnetments to the States. See emes, at IB-N,38. His Court has mover held, however, that the mere I esbursement of Gunds by the Anderal government wahMahms a gjght to sentret estivities that besset tems seek hemis. See Femaharst State Scheel v. KeMerness, 451 U. 8.1,17-18 0901). Regardless of the will-tagesse of the federal goversmaat to provide Anderst aid, the h1 l questian rummates the same: whether the deleral statute vielstes the sover-A===d===*
sign powers reserved to the States by the Tenth "Apparently he an edIset to reassure the States, the Court identi$es l several mudar reatutes that thus tr have not been made applisable to State gover====e= the Federal Power Ast,14 U. 8. C. 54(f); the Labor Man-assenet Reistlems Ast,9 U. 8. C. 515(th the laboe. Management Re-
- ' Sassey parting and Dissiesure Ast, N U. 8. C. 54W(e); the C . - ,
and Esalth Ast W U. 8. C. I M(5); the Reployee Retirement tasarenes Sesarity Ast, m U. 8. C. H 1000(EE), lace (bX1); and the Sherman Act,15 U. 5. C.11, at seg.; see Perser v. Dressa,317 U. 8. M10NS). Ante, at 1
- . ( .. '
l
'k 51213 & E1361-DISSENT 11 T
GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO MI. RO. TRANSIT AUI'H.
"=21 limits onits power to reach does not transgress a= l State activities does not make judicial review any less neces-sary to rectify the esses in wideh it does do so." h States' ,
rda b e system d govemment in matter d conni.iWM
- - "h powers not delegated to
-- - law, not dlegislative graes. l=^-w nor rohibited byitto the Uiited States by the C{=the wly, or to the are reserved to the States, people." U. S. Const., Amend.10. Mars troubling than the reasoning is the result dits holding, i. e., that federal politi-Clause, are the sole est odnetals, invoidag the t'a====
l judges d the limits d their own power. At
' lids resul system. See, e. p., 'Ihe Federalist No. 'is (mmh =).
least since Mar 6ery v. Madsson it has been the settled prov-Jans d tha inderal jedielery "to say what the law is" 1 with i
seepest to me e d sees et causress.creneh Is't, aft h preteeths the Bates teen thderal oversesehkg, the Cent's epWes eb as esplemetien er W the teach-SL 'Ine Ceart does aut sug% gest that this restrakt wE samt dedeneshere. Indeed,kis assept the Court's span hvitados to erge Congrees to estead these and other statutes to apply to the States and their losel enhevieleen.
=nis Court has asser beams ahmested respoeshahr er assmedag the ammmeinmainmenty of shaEsmeed asties as the greemd that assened panies theeredssRy teral presses.
are shie to leek out he thstr eun istanets thro seneser assumiset as to therent strustent protestism l
Staise, STE U. 8. E Omf), thus ens be sende here. In these emnes, the Pnnidset signed W that uma.a his autherty with aspect to ear-tais appshtanents em sad* 88thusU.assembtr 4 was no S., at SG-Set esonara a.12. 'Dn of this Court that the law vlaisted the Caus enertheless held the laws - besmuse they lettaged l en preshisatiet authority, the Pasident's esassat asM De l Court done ast adhues this poht; aar does it she any authority he its eso.
trary view.
(
-w - . , - ---- - _ -
) .
&1918 & SE-1961-DISSENT 12 GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
ing of the most famous case in our history."
III A
In our federal system, the States have a major role that As con-cannot be ps=MM by the national government.
temi m writings and the debates at the raa'i4 con-
~ ventions make clear, the States' r=h*= of the Consti-tution was r f=M e on this sh=hg of federalism.
Indeed, the Tenth Amendmant was adopted speciscally to ensure that the importent nie prannimad the States by the proponents of the C= J20cn was realised.
Much of the initial opposition to the Caes was rooted in the fear that the national government would be too powerAs and eventuaHy would eHminata the States as viable political entities. ' Ibis conearn was voiced repeatedly until propensets of the r=*it=&= made assurances that a bGl of powers in rights, kudoess a provision expunitty new Con-the States, weald be masag the $rst business of ~
grass, saammal Adamas argued, Ar azampis, that if the sev-eral States were to be joined haime entire Nutina, oder one Legisisture, the Powers of which shaR extsai tii every Sub-jeet of Legislation, and its Laws be supreme & eentroul the whole, the Idea of Sovereignty in these States must be lost."
"The Coat states that the decision la Netwas! Learw (Cities "in-vite (el an unelected Auleraljodiciary to make decisions about which state poikias a hvers and which eens ks ennes." Curisedy, ^= fbne- the Court then suggests that under the appuestion of the " traditional" _-t Ames,at17,skingJustionBrandele'shansasobserva-asede-4 -1""
tism la New Sense les Co. v. Leshmann, 35 U. 8. Set, 311 (1932) (Broadsis, J., dessating). Apparently the Court beteves that when "an uselected federaljedelary" sunkes deeisises as to whether a particular ihmetion
" the States no knger may engage in is one he the federal er state ,_ _ .
Ames, at 17. The Court does not ex-1 "seelal and seenende -# " " Ry at the unsrey of the deleral govern-plaim hearleaving the Staess yhtaameat, wkhout ressures to jadis ,
te-# - and serve as worstories." i I
I I
i I
)
i
L;,
d f(
E1918 & SB-is61-DISSENT 18 GARCIA a 5AN AN'19NIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
l Letter hem hmnal Adams to Richard Henry Lee (Dec. 3, 1787), ,.y. :-* in Anti-Federalists versus Federalists 159 Likewise, George Mason feared that (J. Lewis ed.1967).
"the general government being parag==t to, and in every l
I respect more powerfbl than the state governmaata, the latter Address in the Ratifying must give way to the former."
Convention of Virginia (June 4-12,1788),
,.y. f* in Anti-Federalista versus Federalists, supra, at 208-209.
Antifederalists raised these concerns in abnost every State ratifying convention." See generaDy 1-4, Debates in the Several State ConranHaas on the Adoption of the Federal Cc ' - F= (J. EHiot 2d. od.1864). As a result, eight States voted for the CN caly after proposing amend-ments to be adopted afterr=+hh
- Alleight of thesein-cinded among their s = ='=R = nome venian of what later beesmo the Tenth Amand-mat. IWd. So strong was the essenen that the proposed eh was seriously de-destive without a spesMe blR et rights, inshuhg a ,,..L" =
reserving powers to the States, that in order to sesure the votes Air rh the FederaustareventuaEy an=aadad See Sekwarts, 'Ibe that aash provisions wees maananary.
En et alsbes: A Desumsmeary-Instory, se and paseim It was thus ganars!!y agreed that enesideration of a (IF11).
bel of rights would be among the Arut business of the new 482-437 Congress. See generaHy 1 Annals of Congress (June 8,1789) (rusnarks of James Madison). Accordingly, the 10 == mad =mata that we know as the BD1 of Rights were "Oppsuseas d the Constitutism were partianiorly dahinus of the Feder.
allses' einha that the States retained powers not delagsted to the United States ta the shoemas of an espress prwision se prwkung. For essapie, Jamnes Winthrop wrote that SR is a snare bileey . . . that wtat rights are act ghes see reserved." Letters of Agrippa, repruuled in Schwarts,'line an et Bishes: A Desumsmeery BIstery. Sle, au 09'11).
=Indeed, the virghes 1ssisiseure emme very elsee te witpauinn rets.
aestima et the Censdanism met the adopdse et a MB af rights See that hi-steded, ameag other things, the substmase af the Tuath Ah 8shworts, The BE et Eights, supes, at 15-105 and pearun.
(-
b .
&1913 & E1961-DISSENT 14 GARCIA a SAN AN'IONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
proposed and adopted early in the orst session of the First Congress. Schwartz, h B01 of Rights, supra, 988-1167.
Dis history, which the Court simply ignores, documents the integral role of the Tenth Ammad= mat in our constitu-i tional theory. It exposes a weH, I believe,the fhndamental l character of the Court's errer today. Far hem being "un-I "
' sound in r@, awe, at 18, judicial enfbreement of the Tenth Amandment is essential to maintaining the federal sys-tem so carefhuy designed by the Framers and adopted in the C= & _ B The Framers had deonite ideas about the nature of the Constitution's division of authority between the federal and l
state governments In h Federalist No. 39, for example, i Madison explained this division by drawing a series of con-tassts between the attributes of a "na*ianal" government and I
these of the governesset to be estabushed by the Constito-tiseL WhEn a astional tem of goversensat weeM peesses an j m asprumany ever aR persons and thbes," the isrm of goverumiset esotempleted by the Constitution instead con-sisted ofM er nundelpal autherlties DrMak] tras estinct
==d indarandan+ W of the sopiumsey, no more subject within their respective spheres to the general authority than the general authority is subject to them, within its own sphere." h Federalist No. 39, p. 256 (J. Cooke ed.1961).
Under the Constitution, the sphere of the proposed govern-ment extended to jei.?&n of"certain enumerated objects, only, . . . leav[ing) to the several States a Mu-y and in-violable sovereignty over an othat Weets." IMd.
Madison elaborated on the content of these separate spheres of sov-ey in h Federalist No. 45:
"The powers delegated by the proposed Cw Ji Gon to the Federal Government are few and defined. %c which are to remain in the State Governmenta are nu-merous and indefhdte. b former wfD be exercised principany on external objoets, as war, posee, negotfa-
i
)
q .
s-1sts a as-1ssi-DIssurr 15 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANsTr AUTH.
tion, and foreign commerce; . . . . De parars reserved to the several States wG1 extend to aR the oldeets, which, in the ordinary course d afkirs, conearn the Hves, Hbertier, and properties d the people; and the in- ,
tarnel order, hnprovement, and prosperity dthe State."
Id., at 818.
Madison eensidered that the operations d the finderal gov-erunant would be "most extensive ad important in times of war and danger; those d the State Governments in times of As a resnit d this division of psees and wei.". IWd.a generaDy would be more im-parera, the State t portant than the federal -_ " IWd.
De Framers beBeved that the separate sphere d sover-signty reserved to the States would ensure that the States would serve as an sesettve " counterpoise" to the power of the tdoral sevenument. %s States would serve this essen-uginisole bessene they would allsest and nutsh thalsgsity d
' thsh seissen. De nets.er sash leyeny,.the Founders thought, were hand h the shgests pseder to semes estern-
~
mast; -Furassmple,EsssAtensagendthattheStatesW
= her.1 an~ense pomonal hemuser and emEks' essenms to
- = which the sensibGity d inerklusis is more hamediately awake . . . ." De Federalist No.17, p.191. Das, he maintained that the people would porosive the States as "the humaAlata and abost visible gnardian d His and property," a het which "contrDates more than any other cir==t- to hapressing upon the minds d the people h, esteem and m,orence tarards the . "" IW4. Madison took the esmo position, explaining that "the people wG1 be I more huolarly and udnetely convernant" with the business d etste . -
^
.and"with the msunhars dthsee, wGla greater proportion d the people have the ties d personal ae-quah*- and fHeadship, and d badly and party attach-mants . . . ." he Federalist No. 46, p. 316. IJhs EsmH-ton, Madioen saw the Statas' involvesment in the everyday concerns d the people as the source d their citisses' loyalty.
(.
e--. -v--
5-1913 & 88-1961-DISSENT 16 GARCIA a SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
IWd. See also Nagel, Federalism as a Fundamental Value:
National League of Che in F.Mye,1981 Sup. Ct. Rev.
81 (1981).
Dus, the harm to the States that results fhun federal overreaching under the Commerce Clause is not simply a matter of doDars and cents. National League ofChe,426 U. S., at 846-861. Norisit a matter dthe wisdom or foHy deartainpolicy h CL ants, at 17. Rather, by usurp.
lag functions traditionaHy performed by the States, federal ov..A under the Commerce Clause undermines the constitutionaHy mandatad belance of power between the States and the federal government, a balance designed to protect our fh=lamental liberties.
C h ==aarnl=Ha= of the powers d the States that can re-suit ihan the Comt's decision is prediented on the Comunerte Clause as a power % legated to the United States" by the e *=Ha= h reisvant leagnage states: T,angress shah have pseur . . . to regelste comunsree with Ameign antions and asaseg the several states and with tbs Inann tribes."
Art. I,18. Section eight h a soors of powes, listing the authority to lay taxes, borrow money on the credit of the United States, pay its debts, and provide for the common de-innee and the general welfare 6tfore its brief reference to "canmarce." It is clear fhun the debates leading up to the l
adoption of the Constitution that the =nmacee to be regu-j lated was that which the states themselves lacked the practi-i enl espeb0ity to regulate. See, s. g.,1 M. Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (rev. ed.1987);
l De Federalist Nos. 7,11,22,42,45. See alsoKKOC v. Wy-I oming, 460 U. S. 236, 265 (1988) (Powru., J., dissenting).
l Indeed, the language of the clause itself focuses on activities that only a naHaamt government could regulate: aa= =arce with fbreign nations and Indian tribes and "amony" the sev-eral states.
'-# s_,
)
5 1
((
g_1313 & at-1961-DISSENT 17 GARCIA s SAN AN'!ON10 METRO. TRANSIT AUTE.
To be sure, this Coat has construed the P-mares Clause to m-+=#= unanticipated changes over the past two cen-i turies. As these ebangu have w...d, the Coat has had to decide whether the federal goversnent has neceded its ,
authority by regulating activities beyond the espabGity of a ainsie state to r,+9 or beyond :,a federal interuts that outweighed the authority and interests d the Rata.
In a doing, however, the Coat properly has been mindful of the essential: ele d the States in our federal system.
'the opinion for the Court in National League q(Cities was l fhithfbl to history in its understanding of federalism. N l
Court observed that "our iederal system d v-- -dim-l poses delbdte lhnits upon the authority d Congress to regu-late the activities of States as States by means d the com-moros power." 488 U. S., at 848. 'lha Tenth A-admant was invahed to prevent Congress ikom exercising its " power "
.h a Siehism that the Statosf hanyll toihmetion kaSularetsystem,"yertheirN.,'sg85-80, abGity pesting Fry v. Unied3esess, ett U. 8, se, sers. Toms)).
This Cent has ressasised repeate4 that state sover-alguer is a a=4==me=1 esmpsonst et ear spatussd govem-4 meet. Mars than a century age, h Iane coussy v. Oropos, t
7 WaB. 71 (1888), the Coat stated that the ch au- of the States, and, sr;- --i "the =====i7 within their proper spheres, the independent 4 ;j of the States." It aamaladad, as Madison did, that this authority
==*aadad to "anarly the whole ebsrge ofinterior i,9++
. . .; to [the States] and to the people aH powers not expressly delegated to the natianal # 1 are reserved." Id., at
'lu. Roosatly, in Comuneneity CW Co. v. City qfBoedder,4li5 U. S. 40, M (198E), the Court .5- - ' -i that the state action --= .
^'= thena the antitrust laws was bened on state sovereignty. Sadisrly, in United T, W--Mm
- Union v. Ient aiendl R. Co.,4li5 U. S. 678, 888 (198E), al-though Anding the RaDway Iaher Act appucable to a state-owned rearned, the -al=== Court was carefbl to say that
.e* .
Y"%
I :
E-1918 & SB-1961-DISSENT 18 GARCIA s 8AN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
the States possess com preserved sovereign Powers.
Again, in Federvi Regulatory Commission v. Mississippi, 456 U. S. 74,752(1982),in det A the Widhnality of the Public Utility Regulatory Poucies Act, the Court ex-pucitly cemsidered whether the Act impinged on state sover-eignty in violat'.on of the Tenth Amendm nt bee repre-sent only a flew of the many esses in which the Court has recognised not only the unie, but the M^m, of state sovereignty. See also, s. g., United Sisies v. Fry, suprn; Metcaff & Eddy v. Mitchell, 289 U. S. 514 (1996); Coyle v.
Oklahoma, 221 U. S. 559 (1911). As Justice Frankfbrter noted, the States are not merely a fheter in the " shifting eco-nonde m. ^ " of our enantry, Kevoce v, Cooper,886 U.S.77,95(1949) Gustice Frankfbrter, m.-4, but constiente a "eoordinate ala==at in the system antahMahad by the Frammes der governing on Federal Usism.*< Nadional ~
Imene grcues, sapes, at se.. . ,. ' T D .. ~.
- In emetrost, Seh today propounds s vlour ef fuleral- ,
i ism that pays only lip service to the reie of the States. Al-I though it says that the States 5---ri=hly do 'retai(n]
I a signineant measure of sovereign anthority,'" ende, at 20 (quoting KKOC v. Wyoming, 480 U. S. 228, 289 (Powz1.L, J., dissenting)), it fhils to recognise the broad, yet specific areas of sovereignty that the Framers haandad the States to retain. Indeed, the Comt barely acimowledges that the Tenth Amendment exists.8 'Ihat Amendment states explic-itly that ith powers not n' Tad to the United States . . .
are reserved to the States." U. S. Const., Amend.10. The Court reensts this language to say that the States retain their sovereign powers "only to the extent that the Constitution "He Court's opinion mentions the Tuath ih only esos, when it restates the geestina put to the parties $ne reargument la this ease. See made, at 8.
(
l
i
. . k.I i
.e 1
a 4 T m.au a m-tssi-oissawr 1 19 I
GARCIA s SAN ANTONIO METRO. TRANSIT AM. L J has not divested them of their original powers anxi trans.
llarred those powers to the Federal Government." Ands, at i
- 30. Thisc?-&E snotadistinctionwithoutadifference; l rather, it reflects the Court's s+f=^*d view that Con- l gross is too under the N==arce Clause to assene a State's traditianal sovereign power, and to do ao withoct judicial Indeed, the Court's view of federal-review of its action.
ism appsers to reisgate the States to precisely the trivial role that ,t::*= of the Constitution feared they would oeenpy."
In National Leopus q(Cities, we spoke of fire preventian i polies pW'da". sanitation, and public health3asin" typical of
[the services] performed by state and local sm-: ---
discharging their dual ihnetions of ad=ial=#-ing the publie law and ihrnishing public serviens." 438 U. S., at 851. Not
'emW see these activities remaste tous any normal essesyt of
'hterstate-mther see alme astivities that epitsunise See ther a=====im.ef Weemaserudit self governesset..
', supra, si In easybseidag the need to pusteet treesional j
' geves==ame=I esanedans, we M==anand the khedstdestivities i
' angaged in by state and least generumments that asset the Dese are servlees that people everyday Eves of citisans. <
are in a position to understand and evalaste, and in a democ- l racy, have the right to oversee." We IC:s that "it is I l
' As the andet arges, "the shWtr of the 15]tetes to enlet their role h the 8 sahame is dependent selety open thsh edBasthemsee as in. -
" " 3rief of Tweedy-Fear States as Asseus l' streassene of 4._
Curies 80. See aise Briefetthe Natismallmges of Olies et al as Asseeme Curies (s brief en behalf et every maler orgaminatism representing the een- l earms of State and lesel severummede).
- 1he Fremare reengehad that the most assenho demeersey essere at N where peopme with Arut head kaswledge oflesel lonelievelsof .--
prehhes have more ready senses to puhue adhieb respeestdo Sir deaths wth them. K. p., The Faheauet No. rF, at WF; No. 45, at me. This is as tree imhy m it was when the commeaths wee adspeed. Farisspation is bety to he mere toquest, and essreiend at mero "-- dement
,then stages of a
^3 sethtty at the loest level, er la vagional .
l l
l I
! e l
l
' ~ ' '
..__)
l ,
l l
B-1918 & B-1961-DISSENT 2 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
fbnetions such as these which governments are created to provide . . ." and that the states and local governments are l better able than the naHanal government to perform them. l' 496 U. S., at 861.
The Court maintains that the standard approved in No-tional Leaps of Citise "disserves r'='r' of damaeratic self govermnent." Ante, at 18. In reaching this conclusion, the Court looks myopically only to persons elected to poei- l It disregards entirely the tions in the federal government. i hr more efective role of damaeratic self-government at the One must compare realistically the state and loesi levels.
operation of the state and local govenunents with that of the i Federallegislation is draf ted primarily federn1 government. l by the stam of the congressional committees. In view of the ,
hundreds of bEs introduced at each session of Congress and i the 40 of many of them, it is virtually impossible for l even the most e=Han legislators to be truly smiliar with many of the statutes enacted. Federal d. -=sts and agendse ==ta====% are authertsed to write regulations.
oftem these are mare kupartans than the test of the statutes. ,
Au fs tres of the originellagialeMan, these are drafted largely by stmK personesL Se shinistration and esteemment of Aderal laws and sigulations waamamme% me largey in the hands of staf and elv0 servies empiones. Base employees may hsve little or no ' ,# i".ga of the States and localitie:s L&"y,1the privertion dpoopie ae.
atthe state and asesrelievels.
senay involved than the total psynistien tends "- thetocitisen be srester, the lower the level er ._ ". and this, d esures, better m participatisaldeal." ACIR, OtissaPartielpationia the Aseerienn Federe!
Systemt N (1M9).
Mararver, we have wen ===d is resset years the rise et ====nes spe.
eint laterest groups that engage la ed lobbylag, and make These sub.
stantial esmpaign eestrBiutions to some mesabere d Congress.
steupe are theaght to have W Centrary inenemosto theinCourt's the shaping view, a and en.
assasset er eartain types et larialati=
"poutlant preesss" that Ametimes la this way is ==Mhaly to andsgeerd the nevereign rights et states sad leematies. see myrs, n. 9.
I l -
. c.
1 .. . .
r . .
,l ,
(
fT -
i as.tsis a as-1851-DISSENT t
s1 nant ra a as ANTONIO METRO.TRAN8Ff AUTH.
i l that wSt be assetad by the statutes and gi-h for wideh l they are .a-:= %- In any enee, they hardly are as acces-l '
sible and responsive as those who oeenpy analogous positions "a -
in State and local In drawing this contrast, I haply no criticism of these fed-eral employees or the adReials who ars =W-W in charge.
De guest an@rity are aaandanda== and fhithfbl.to their duties. My point is shaply that mambs of the f= man =
sederal baresserney are not elected, know less about the services traditionaDy rendered by States and loestities, and
-4 of sneh services, me inevitably less . ; Me to .: J.'
then are state legislatures, city conneGs, boards of super-visors, and W.ste and local aa==i==ta==, boards, and agen-It is at these state and loest levels-not in Washington cies.
as the Court so adstakenly N 'M "demaerati c self-government"is best ava-pnaar IV
. Thequedo~'M[iT%"a,Nis'n ee M issiasten-hszaset of a sien af thsFLSAtnthe wasss a on ellrewasttressikspelmuskW. ' hold-i e state serenisseraThe coure%
f .
ing does ihr more than shaply answer this question in the i l- negative. In ovemding Nations! Leopus qf C#6ss, today's opinion apparently anthorises federal control, under the sus-piens of the Comuneres Cisnes, over theHus, terms fbrand conditions of employment of aR state and loen! sunployees.
purposes of federal regulation, the Court raketa the distine-tion between pubile and private employers that had been drawn estufbIly in National Issyne (Cities. De Court's action redleets a serious misunderetsading, if not an outright
.,': "=. of the hietary of our enantry and the intantina of the Fruners of the t'am eienesen =
- Se episies dthe Ceut kn Naidsmallmyne " is to(CdWes asshes einer that inspose "dsdatte l the very assense da Suderal systems d ._ _
i Musies apes the authority of Censruss to requiste the estivities d the
! s, e
" " ' ~ - - -
-w ,,_m._ , _ . , . ,. _
D7M'P'--m%%_ ._ __
I 1
a-ists & a-test--DISSENT St GARCIA s SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
I return now to the balancing test approved in National League q(Cities and accepted in Nodel, Long Island R. Co.,
and FKRC v. Mianissippi. See supra, n. 5 and oats, at
. The Court does not find436 in U.
thisS., case at 866that the " federal interest is da=anahsbly greater."
(BI.AcxMUN, J., mm M. No such finding could have The Anan-been made, for the state interest is compelling.
cial impact on States and localities of displacing their control i over wages, hours, e,Q r +h, pensions, and labor relations with their employees could have serious, as well as unanticipated, essets on state and loemt planning, budgeting, and the levying af taxes.* As we said in NW=al League of Citier, federal control of the terms and conditions of employ-ment of State - A.y::: also inevitably " displaces state poli-cies regarising the inanner in which (States) will structure de- {
livery of those somm,sl services that citizens require."
Id., at 847.
'lheCeutethatsanddpsloy 3 of anintra-ety unas transa system h nhthetT asw ha the Eh of our constry. It neverthmiens is a elesale essespisItis of the type of serviss treetionsRy provided by 1ssel'goversusset. .
localby deedtion. R is huEsthguishelde ha prhodple from the traditional services of providing and maintaining streets, pahtie ilshting, traf5e control, water, and sewerage sys-te eithana are more %niHarly and MAy conversant.'" The States as States by means of the esammeros power." See also the Court's opinion in Fry v. Uniesi Sesess, 421 U. 8. H2, H7 a. 7 OM5)." As U. 8.15, as1 (Dougins, J., %) Essenses of the FIAA to the States emuid "Garigt the escal poucy of the Id.,stases at SaB. and threason their assamassy in the rusuistion af health and h *
- In Imay ladend A. Co. the smaaksees Court reeegnised that "[this
^=1 fbmetions and treatismal an.
Ceart's emphasis en treetional . _
poets of stase a=d4=== sovereignty gamernay >===, bem Arteral was not memet regulation? 485 U. S., to tmpose a stac at SS.
e-
.. )
- . ( .'
.s b .
3-1913 & 88-1961-DISSENT l 25 GARCIA a SAN AN'!ONIO METRO. TRANSIT AUTH.
Federalist, No. 46, p. 316. State and local anWalm of course must be inthnstely fh=nime with these services and sensitive to their quauty as wellas cost. Such od5cials also know that their constituents and the press respond to the adequacy, flair LLib. and cost of these services. It is this kind of state and local control and E-+e.hnay that the Framers understood would insure the vitality and preservation of the federal system that the C=-J dk explicitly %sie. See National Leaps of Cities, supm, at 847-852.
V l
AW=h the Court's opinion p yesta to recognize that the Statcs retain some sovmign power, it does not identify even a single aspect of state authority that would remain when the Commeros Clause is invoked to justify federal regnistion. In Aferviend v. wirts, see U. s. Im (1ses),
everrated byNetionsIIaspe (Cities and today resikmed, C. the Court sustained an a*madaa of the FLSA to eartain hoe-pitals, h, and schools. Although the Court's opin-inn in wires was esapersesvely narrow, Justsee nagins, in dismant, wrote presciently that the Court's reamig of the Comuneree Cisuse would enshie "the National Governasnt
- [to) devour the ===aaHah of state sovereignty, though that Id.,at som44y is ettested by the Tenth A==adn=nt."
206. Today's dacidaa makes Justice Douglas's fear once again a realistic one.
As I view the Court's decision today as rWeeting the basic precepts of ocr federal system and limiting the constitutional role of judicial review, I dissent.
9
(
4 .
=.
~'" - - _ _ _ _ _