Effect of Provision on Federal Powers
Notwithstanding these federal inroads into powers otherwise reserved to the States, the Court has held that Congress could not itself undertake to punish a violation of state law; in United States v. Constantine, a grossly disproportionate excise tax imposed on retail liquor dealers carrying on business in violation of local law was held unconstitutional. More recently, the Court struck down a statute prohibiting possession of a gun at or near a school, rejecting an argument that possession of firearms in school zones can be punished under the Commerce Clause because it impairs the functioning of the national economy.
Acceptance of this rationale, the Court said, would eliminate ”any distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local,” would convert Congress‘ commerce power into ” a general police power of the sort retained by the States,” and would undermine the ”first principle” that the Federal Government is one of enumerated and limited powers. Supp.1 However, Congress does not contravene reserved state police powers when it levies an occupation tax on all persons engaged in the business of accepting wagers regardless of whether those persons are violating state law, and imposes severe penalties for failure to register and pay the tax.
