United States v. Lopez

United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Alfonso Lopez, a 12th-grade student, was convicted under the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 for carrying a concealed handgun into his San Antonio high school. The law banned firearm possession in school zones. Lopez appealed, arguing that Congress exceeded its Commerce Clause authority by criminalizing conduct that had no connection to interstate commerce.

Significance

Chief Justice Rehnquist’s 5-4 opinion struck down the law, marking the first time in nearly 60 years that the Court had invalidated a federal law for exceeding Commerce Clause power. The Court held that the gun possession had no substantial effect on interstate commerce and that Congress could not use the Commerce Clause to regulate non-economic activity. Lopez was the first decision in the Rehnquist Court’s ‘New Federalism’ revival, which sought to impose meaningful limits on federal power under the Commerce Clause.

Category

US Federal Case Law