States' Rights or Citizens Wronged: An Examination of Expansion of the Eleventh Amendment Bar in Recent Supreme Court Decisions

摘要

Federalism - a national government of preeminent but limited authority - is a central concept upon which our nation was founded. Although Congress' power to pass laws is limited by the United States Constitution, the United States Supreme Court (hereinafter 'the Supreme Court' or 'the Court') has for the last several decades and until recent decisions given expansive reach to this notion. For example, Congress' power to enact legislation under the Commerce Clause was interpreted broadly. Indeed, the Court's decision in Wickard vs Filburn seemed to leave little outside of the Commerce Clause reach. For many years, this view obtained in challenges to congressional actions under the Commerce Clause. However, the Court has in recent decisions forcefully declared that congressional authority under the Commerce Clause is not boundless.