Throwback Thursday: NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp

In NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp (1937), the case hinged on the National Labor Relations Act which gave the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) the power to punish “unfair labor practices [merely] affecting commerce.” Although SCOTUS allowed the NLRA to stand, and effectively expanded the reach of Congress, important sentiments were shared. SCOTUS held the scope of the power to regulate INTRAstate activity “must be considered in the light of our dual system of government, and may not be extended so as to . . . effectually obliterate the distinction between what is national and what is local and create a completely centralized government.” Yet 89 years later, our government seems pretty darn centralized, doesn’t it? The federal government meddles in virtually every aspect of our lives.