Throwback Thursday: US v Darby

In recent weeks, we’ve discussed cases where SCOTUS held Congress could only regulate local activity that had a “direct” effect on INTERstate commerce. But US v Darby (1941) changed that, where SCOTUS held Congress can regulate local activity if it merely has a substantial effect on interstate commerce – even if the local activity itself is NOT commerce. While this is an alarming expansion of Congress’ “power to regulate commerce,” that’s not all. The Act in question “also sets up an administrative procedure whereby those standards may from time to time be modified generally as to industries subject to the Act or within an industry in accordance with specified standards, by an administrator acting in collaboration with ‘Industry Committees’ appointed by him.” So, people appointed within the Executive Branch are “allowed” to make substantive changes to the law, and SCOTUS never questioned that blatant violation of the separation of powers.