United States v. Hemani · ¶80

Under our Constitution, “[t]he powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written.” Mar- bury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 176 (1803). It has now been 26 years since a party has received relief in this Court based on a Commerce Clause challenge. Such relief has also been hard to come by in the lower courts, as the decisions concerning § 922(g) show. This question merits a closer look in an appropriate case. For, like Judge Batchelder, “I . . . am unprepared to reduce the Supreme Court's Lopez decision to an anachronism to be noted in passing but ignored. Congress's enumerated powers, like Supreme Court opinions setting forth their limits, are, in my view, to be taken seriously.” Chesney, 86 F. 3d, at 580 (concurring opinion).

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