Opinion ID: 3011287
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Any Link is Too Attenuated

Text: As was said in Lopez, [i]n a sense any conduct in this interdependent world of ours has an ultimate commercial origin or consequence, but we have not yet said the commerce power may reach so far. If Congress attempts that extension, then at the least we must inquire whether 34 the exercise of national power seeks to intrude upon an area of traditional state concern. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 580 (Kennedy, J., concurring). Any supposed link between the proscribed conduct in FACE and interstate commerce, if one exists, would be so attenuated that it could be used to also justify a general federal police power. Even assuming that some of the surgical instruments, medications, furnishings and equipment were in interstate commerce at some point, such a connection is so nebulous that it provides no useful boundary under the Commerce Clause. According to Morrison, allowing such remote factors to govern constitutional limitations would allow Congress to completely obliterate the Constitution's distinction between national and local authority. Morrison, 120 S. Ct. at 1752. Persons seeking to block access to abortion clinics may be a national problem, but in that sense, rape, robbery and trespass present national concerns as well. Being a mere commonality of the several States does not justify federal regulation of these matters under the auspices of interstate commerce. The conduct at issue here -- blocking access to a building and verbally intimidating those who attempted to enter -- is a quintessentially local problem. Despite that obvious and inescapable fact, the federal government chose to use its resources where they were neither required nor appropriate. Because the prohibited activity has no commercial character and no jurisdictional element need be proved, the statute as drafted impermissibly extends federal jurisdiction over conduct that is purely and simply intrastate and has no relationship in any substantial manner to interstate commerce. Without a jurisdictional prerequisite, FACE leaves the federal government free to intrude into a state's sovereign duty to maintain order in any abortion clinicrelated disturbance, no matter how trivial. Contrary to the congressional findings, here there was no abdication of responsibility by state authorities. A state court had issued an injunction against obstructing entry to the clinic. On each of the three occasions when the conduct occurred, the local police intervened, arrested protesters, 35 and filed state criminal charges. All of the blockades were controlled by local authorities, including the last one, which caused the local police to seek assistance from neighboring municipalities. The only reported injuries were the result of one demonstrator kicking and head-butting a police officer. From the standpoint of local law enforcement personnel, the conduct that FACE addresses is not extraordinary, but is akin to disturbances following a high school game between bitter rivals, where fans demonstrate their loyalty in mass unruly gatherings. Celebrations by fans of Super Bowl champions frequently require intervention by city police to maintain order and protect property (some of it undoubtedly in interstate commerce). Near riots at rock concerts by performers who have traveled interstate are routinely controlled by local police forces. Many of the same arguments used to justify FACE could be used to federalize criminal conduct of this nature, despite the competence state authorities have demonstrated over the years. 1 It is difficult to understand why the federal government invoked FACE when local authorities had the situation well in hand. Duplication of state and federal injunctions wastes judicial resources and leads to uncertainty and confusion. Moreover, overlapping of enforcement authority is detrimental to the federal system and the liberties it secures. [C]itizens must have some means of knowing which of the two governments to hold accountable for the failure to perform a given function. `Federalism serves to assign political responsibility, not to obscure it.'  Lopez, 514 U.S. at 576-77 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (quoting FTC v. Ticor Title Ins. Co., 504 U.S. 621, 636 (1992)). When overlapping occurs, the lines drawn by federalism are blurred and the resultant inability to hold either branch of the government answerable to the citizens is more dangerous even than devolving too much authority to the remote central power. Id. at 577 (Kennedy, J., concurring). _________________________________________________________________ 1. Where state officials are unable to adequately control disturbances with their own resources, 42 U.S.C. S 10501 allows officials to petition the Attorney General for assistance from the federal law enforcement community. 36 FACE is a glaring example of the federalization of local criminal law that is fatally flawed in its implementation because it regulates activities with no commercial character. The statute contains no jurisdictional element which might cabin its operation within the confines of the Commerce Clause, and the congressional findings fail to provide the necessary justification for federal intrusion into local law enforcement.