Opinion ID: 779919
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Nexus Between the Regulated Activity and Interstate Commerce

Text: 56 At the core of the Supreme Court's analysis in Lopez and Morrison was a justifiable if somewhat visceral skepticism about whether the activity being regulated could be sufficiently linked to interstate commerce. In short, the relationship was simply too attenuated — a test for but-for causation may have been satisfied, but it was a search for proximate causation that was ultimately needed. Indeed, both opinions quoted Justice Cardozo's graphic allusion to this dilemma of causation in his concurring opinion in Schechter Poultry : 57 There is a view of causation that would obliterate the distinction between what is national and what is local in the activities of commerce. Motion at the outer rim is communicated perceptibly, though minutely, to recording instruments at the center. A society such as ours `is an elastic medium which transmits all tremors throughout its territory; the only question is of their size.' 58 A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 554, 55 S.Ct. 837, 79 L.Ed. 1570 (1935) (Cardozo, J., concurring) (quoting United States v. A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp., 76 F.2d 617, 624 (2d Cir. 1935) (Hand, J. concurring)). 59 The Supreme Court's opinions in Lopez and Morrison make clear that the Court has ultimately been most concerned with the potential slipperiness of but-for reasoning. In a sense any conduct in this interdependent world of ours has an ultimate commercial origin or consequence, Justice Kennedy noted, but we have not yet said the commerce power may reach so far. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 580, 115 S.Ct. 1624 (Kennedy, J., concurring). Allowing Congress to regulate in areas with such an attenuated connection to interstate commerce would be unworkable if we are to maintain the Constitution's enumeration of powers, Morrison, 529 U.S. at 615, 120 S.Ct. 1740, and would ultimately threaten the distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 567-68, 115 S.Ct. 1624. In sum, the Court has simply been unwilling to pile inference upon inference in a manner that would bid fair to convert congressional authority under the Commerce Clause to a general police power of the sort retained by the States. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 567, 115 S.Ct. 1624. 60 The question is necessarily one of degree. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 567, 115 S.Ct. 1624 (quoting NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 37, 57 S.Ct. 615, 81 L.Ed. 893 (1937)). Whatever the precise formulations of the boundaries, however, we believe this case presents little worry of Congress overstepping its constitutional bounds. In essence, Whited argues that her minor theft from a local chiropractor has not even the most attenuated connection to interstate commerce. We disagree. If interstate commerce feels the pinch, it does not matter how local the operation which applies the squeeze. United States v. Women's Sportswear Mfg. Ass'n., 336 U.S. 460, 464, 69 S.Ct. 714, 93 L.Ed. 805 (1949). 61 In Wickard, the Court emphasized that although Filburn's own contribution to the demand for wheat may have been trivial by itself, that was not `enough to remove him from the scope of federal regulation where, as here, his contribution, taken together with that of many others similarly situated, is far from trivial,' Lopez, 514 U.S. at 556, 115 S.Ct. 1624 (quoting Wickard, 317 U.S. at 127-28, 63 S.Ct. 82). That long-standing principle of aggregation is directly applicable to our facts. Although the wheat Wickard himself produced could scarcely be considered to have a substantial effect on the national wheat industry, when considered in conjunction with all those similarly situated it is evident that homegrown wheat does impact interstate commerce. Similarly, although Whited's $34,000 theft may seem relatively inconsequential or even de minimis when viewed within the broader context of the trillion dollar health care industry, when replicated over and again the economic effects of such acts are indeed profound. 3 Bishop, 66 F.3d at 581. Thus, like the production of homegrown wheat in Wickard, theft or embezzlement in connection with health care is an economic activity that ... through repetition elsewhere, substantially affect[s] ... interstate commerce. 4 theft in connection with health care substantially affects interstate Lopez, 514 U.S. at 567, 115 S.Ct. 1624. This case is therefore clearly distinguishable from those cases in which the requisite connection to interstate commerce was found to be lacking. See, e.g., McGuire, 178 F.3d at 212 (Proof that [a] single bottle of orange juice was to have been used by a business that is ... concededly local in character ... is simply not sufficient to satisfy the nexus to interstate commerce). 62 Unlike the attenuated but-for relationships present in Lopez and Morrison, the relation between theft in connection with health care and interstate commerce is direct and present. At the very least, we will not second-guess Congress's reasonable determination on that score. 5 Bishop, 66 F.3d at 577.