Opinion ID: 70257
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: congress' authority to pass the access act

Text: 8 Appellants assert that Congress lacked authority to pass the Access Act, and thus that the Act infringes on state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment provides: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. U.S. Const. amend. X. Therefore, Congress' valid exercise of authority delegated to it under the Constitution does not violate the Tenth Amendment. United States v. Lopez, 459 F.2d 949, 951 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 878, 93 S.Ct. 130, 34 L.Ed.2d 131 (1972). 5 9 Congress identified both the Commerce Clause and section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment as sources of its authority to pass the Access Act. Access Act, Sec. 2. Recently addressing a similar constitutional attack against the Access Act, the Fourth Circuit concluded that the Act is within Congress' Commerce Clause power. American Life League, Inc. v. Reno, 47 F.3d 642, 647 (4th Cir.1995). We agree with the Fourth Circuit that the Access Act is within Congress' Commerce power, and adopt the reasoning in Part III.A. of the American Life League decision on this issue. 10 However, we pause to discuss the effect on this case of the recent Supreme Court Commerce Clause decision, United States v. Lopez, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995). Decided after American Life League, Lopez struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act as exceeding Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause. Id. at ---- - ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1630-31. The Gun-Free School Zones Act made it a federal offense for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(q)(1)(A). In enacting the Gun-Free School Zones Act, Congress made no findings on whether the Act was within its Commerce Clause authority. In particular, no express legislative findings were made regarding the effects upon interstate commerce of gun possession in a school zone. --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1631. Although the Court noted that Congress normally is not required to make formal findings as to the substantial burdens that an activity has on interstate commerce, id., such findings assist the Court in evaluating whether the regulated activity substantially affects interstate commerce in cases where the effect on commerce is not obvious. Id. at ---- - ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1631-32. The Court held that the Gun-Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress' authority to regulate activities that substantially affect interstate commerce; [t]he Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession [of a firearm] be connected in any way to interstate commerce. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1626. 11 Unlike the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the Access Act does regulate commercial activity, the provision of reproductive health services. Moreover, as the Fourth Circuit noted, extensive legislative findings support Congress' conclusion that the Access Act regulates activity which substantially affects interstate commerce. American Life League, 47 F.3d at 647. Congress found that doctors and patients often travel across state lines to provide and receive services, id.; in other words, there is an interstate market with respect to both patients and doctors. In addition, the clinics receive supplies through interstate commerce. Id. Congress further found that violence, and physical obstruction of clinic entrances, threatened interstate commerce in the provision of reproductive health services. Id. Thus, in protecting the commercial activities of reproductive health providers, the Access Act protects and regulates commercial enterprises operating in interstate commerce. See Lopez, --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1630 (Where economic activity substantially affects interstate commerce, legislation regulating that activity will be sustained.). 6 Congress' findings are plausible and provide a rational basis for concluding that the Access Act regulates activity which substantially affects interstate commerce. Thus, the Access Act is a constitutional exercise of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause. Because the Access Act is within Congress' Commerce Clause power, it does not violate the Tenth Amendment. 7