Congress' Power to Legislate Control Over Hate Crimes: Selected Legal Theories

Wallace, Paul Starett, Jr.

Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.

关键词: Congress;    Hate crimes;    Congressional powers;    Criminal justice;   

RP-ID  :  RS22335
RP-ID  :  RS22335 2005-11-28

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Congress has no power under the commerce clause over “noneconomic, violent criminal conduct” that does not cross state lines said Chief Justice William Rehnquist in United States v. Morrison. Congress, however, enjoys additional legislative powers under the spending clauses and the legislative clauses of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Extensive, if something less than all encompassing, national legislation may be possible under the confluence of authority conveyed by the commerce clause, spending clause, and the legislative clauses of the constitution’s Reconstruction Amendments, provided the limitations of the First, Sixth and Tenth Amendments are observed.