Constitutions commerce clause, the supreme court, and. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the social science research. After providing a brief survey of american agriculture and its regulation between the world wars, this article describes the specific controversy over roscoe filburn s 1941 wheat crop. Filburn the right interpretation of the commerce clause. An activity does not need to have a direct effect on interstate commerce to fall within the commerce power, as long as the effect is substantial and economic. Filburn, in which the court upheld congresss power under the agricultural adjustment act to impose. Educating the public about an important supreme court case wickard v. In so doing, he ran afoul of the agricultural adjustment act, which limited the amount of wheat that farmers could grow on their own land. Justice jackson delivered the opinion of the court. In fact, it set the precedent for use of the commerce power for decades to come. The facts roscoe filburn, like many a farmer before him, grew wheat for consumption on his own farm.
Wheat farmer fine ruling goes against the grain wickard v. The united states supreme court had to decide in wickard v. Filburn whether congress could regulate purely instate activities like the private. Supreme court decision that recognized the power of the federal government to regulate. The case dramatically increased the federal governments regulatory power under the commerce clause. Wickard, secretary of agriculture of the united states and others. Filburn was a landmark supreme court of the united states case that was decided in 1942. The law, intended to stabilize wheat prices, was part of a system. Filburn represented merely one component of the new deal courts commerce clause jurisprudence. After providing a survey of american agriculture and its regulation between the world wars, this article describes the.
This way, filburn could use his own homegrown wheat to feed his livestock at a lower cost, and still benefit by selling his quota wheat on the market for a higher price. After providing a survey of american agriculture and its regulation between the world wars, this article describes the constitutional landmark that began as a controversy over roscoe filburn s 1941 wheat crop. This case pertained to the constitutional question of whether the united states government had the authority to a regulate production of agricultural goods if those goods were intended for personal consumption and b whether the federal government had the authority to regulate. Up until the 1990s, the court was highly deferential to congress use of the commerce power, allowing.