Supreme Court Could Have Final Say on H.R. 1

Latest Polls (view all)

Where do you stand on the Transgender Issue now that the issue has gotten to the overt point of the open celebration of this lifestyle choice, dictated by certain direct and explicit actions.

91.07% I do not approve of behavior that has within its expressed tenants policies that harm children.

8.04% I do support the Trans Community in all its many facets because diversity is at a premium in today's society.

0.89% What is a "Children's Drag Queen Story Hour?"

Click Here to Vote
112 Vote(s)

View all Polls

Supreme Court Could Have Final Say on H.R. 1

Published: Tuesday, June 29th, 2021 @ 2:45 pm
By: John Locke Foundation ( More Entries )

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

If Congress manages to approve the sweeping federal election takeover envisioned in H.R. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court should respond. Nathan Lewin explains why in a Federalist column.

If Congress were to enact such a sweeping law - replacing election laws in all states - it would be doomed by a constitutional principle even the most liberal justices of the Supreme Court have recently endorsed.
Copyright law provides the most recent precedent for invalidating H.R. 1. In 2019, the Supreme Court heard a challenge to a 1990 law eliminating the sovereign-immunity defense states had invoked if they were sued for copyright infringement. A photographer whose videos had been used by North Carolina without his permission sued the state, claiming the 1990 law removed its claim that it could not be held accountable in court for infringement.
A unanimous Supreme Court - including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - found the 1990 law unconstitutional because it was too broad. Justice Elena Kagan's opinion in Allen v. Cooper, issued on March 23, 2020, said the law violated the "congruence and proportionality" principle by which the Supreme Court has uniformly measured congressional legislation. The law "swept too far," she said, and its "indiscriminate scope" was "out of proportion" to any problem Congress was seeking to address.
Unlike H.R. 1, the 1990 copyright law was the subject of a congressional report, which the court still found inadequate to sustain the law because it cited "just two examples of patent infringement suits against the States."
"Congruence and proportionality" mean a law cannot be indiscriminately broad unless there is evidence such sweeping coverage is necessary. Congress may not displace a large area of local legislation, but must selectively address specific ills shown through legislative hearings and committee findings.
This "congruence and proportionality" standard was also the basis for a ruling in 2000 upholding state immunity from lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act in Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett.

Go Back

Login to Leave a Comment

User-Fee Principle Should Guide Future N.C. Transportation Choices

John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics

Funnel Cakes for All: ‘Science’ Favors State Fairs

Our Members

ENCN Sign Up

BCN Home

Beaufort Observer

Portfolios

Current Events: A Historical Perspective

Current Weather

Latest Comments

Latest Polls

Featured Entries

Latest Entries

Supreme Court Could Have Final Say on H.R. 1 | Eastern NC Now

Supreme Court Could Have Final Say on H.R. 1

Leave a Guest Comment

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

Biden ghostwriter tapes reveal he was in la-la land as early as 2017 - the Manchurian candidate

Queen Garris And Disloyalty

NY election audit: more fraudulent votes cast in Mandani race than his margin of victory

Queen Garris - Déjà vu “All Over Again”

Trump Raves About Record-Setting Fireworks Display For America 250

Biden bucks - more on the Biden climate boondoggle that wasted our tax money

Anti-immigration protesters storm Glasgow, Scotland - "Scotland for the Scots"

Truth for our times: Suffering, Candy, the Gas-Station Drug & Old Temperance Pledge

Federal court strikes down Illinois law giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens at colleges

Arrogant Biden district judge tries to overrule SCOTUS on key illegal immigration issue

Democrat funder Act Blue phony contributor calls them out - $150,000 in fake contributions

Tillis waffles on Trump Atty Gen. nominee Blanche - will Tillis betray GOP once again?

Trump DOE moves to end Obama regs that treat races differently in school discipline

Congress moves to end ABA accreditation of law schools over ABA's DEI requirements

NJ Dems admit they have 6,600 foreigners on voter rolls - WHY WE NEED SAVE AMERICA ACT

Look what the casino lobby bought with its big spending against conservatives in GOP primary

American Socialists’ Billionaire Sugar Daddy Is Under DOJ Investigation

British Labour government tries to cover up illegal alien crime statistics

Illegal alien migrants behaving badly - migrants and crime NEWLY UPDATED

Beaufort County Hospital Back in the News

AI cameras searching for guns, Wyoming gun activists increasingly alarmed

Conservative Congressman Ralph Norman enters special US Senate primary in SC

Flock cameras, big brother is watching

woke judge fines teacher $200K+ for refusing to use student's "preferred pronouns"

Washington Times editorial: Special Counsel should probe Anthony Fauci

Between Trump election and inauguration, Biden DOE handed out $93 Billion in grants / loans

Poland's president vetoes bill creating same-sex unions, defends traditional marriage