Supreme Court Case: United States Vs. Lopez

United States v. Lopez was the first United States Supreme Court case since the

New Deal to set limits to Congress's power under the Commerce Clause of the

United States Constitution. The issue of the case was that It exceeded to the power of Congress which had no say over it because the case had nothing to do with commerce or any sort of economic activity.

The case United States v. Lopez involved Alfonzo Lopez Jr., Supreme Court

Justice William H. Rehnquist, and Congress. Unites States v. Lopez was about a

12th grader named Alfonzo Lopez Jr. He went to Edison High School in San

Antonio, Texas. On March 10, 1992 he came to school with a concealed weapon.

The weapon was a 38 caliber revolver which included 5 bullets. The school had heard some

The Court essentially concluded that in no way that the carrying of handguns is a commercial activity or even related to any sort of economic enterprise, even under the most extravagant situations. Which means majority of the opinion from the government's arguments was rejected because crime negatively impacted education..

The Supreme Court ruled that to let Congress make that a law you would have to make an intrusion which could be used in about everything even if it is nothing to do with commerce. Which would give Congress too much power. Also, since the Constitution clearly creates Congress as a body with enumerated powers, this could not be so. So the Supreme Court decided to reject the law.

Even though, the dissenting opinion from Justice Bryer who said that Congress had the power to regulate anything After that they "reasonably believed" could affect commerce (saying then that they could regulate the carrying of handguns at schools because it would presumably lead to violence which would have an effect on the economy which would effect interstate commerce)[5].

Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist stated that “ To uphold