Wickard v. Filburn
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued May 4, 1942 Reargued October 13, 1942 Decided November 9, 1942
Full case name: Claude R. Wickard, Secretary of Agriculture, et al. v. Roscoe C. Filburn Citations: 317 U.S. 111; 63 S. Ct. 82; 87 L. Ed. 122; 1942 U.S. LEXIS 1046 Prior history: Injunction granted to plaintiff, Filburn v. Helke, 43 F. Supp. 1017 (S.D. Ohio 1942)
Holding
Production quotas under the Agricultural Adjustment Act were constitutionally applied to agricultural production that was consumed purely intrastate, because its effect upon interstate commerce placed it within the power of Congress to regulate under the Commerce Clause. Southern District of Ohio reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Harlan Fiske Stone Associate Justices: Owen Josephus Roberts, Hugo Black, Stanley Forman Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Frank Murphy, James F. Byrnes, Robert H. Jackson
Case opinions
Majority by: Jackson Joined by: unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. I, V; 7 U.S.C. § 1281, et. seq. (1941) (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), is a United States Supreme Court decision interpreting the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which permits the United States Congress to "regulate Commerce . . . among the several States." Image File history File links Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... Harlan Fiske Stone (October 11, 1872 – April 22, 1946) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the dean of Columbia Law School, Attorney General of the United States, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and later Chief Justice of the United States. ... Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court for fifteen years. ... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ... Stanley Forman Reed ( December 31, 1884 – April 2, 1980) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957. ... Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ... For the Australian rules footballer, see Frank Murphy (footballer). ... James Francis Byrnes (May 2, 1879 – April 9, 1972) was an American politician from the state of South Carolina. ... Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892–October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940–1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941–1954). ... The Bill of Rights in the National Archives The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. ... The Bill of Rights in the National Archives Amendment V (the Fifth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure. ... The Agricultural Adjustment Act (or AAA) (Public law 73-10 of May 12, 1933) restricted production during the New Deal by paying farmers to reduce crop area. ... // The United States Reports, the official reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, empowers the United States Congress To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Constitution of the United States of America Page one of the original copy of the Constitution. ... Type Bicameralism Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D, since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D, since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican...

Background of the case

During the New Deal, under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, the government imposed quotas on the production of a number of crops, including wheat. Roscoe Filburn was a farmer who produced wheat in excess of the amount permitted under the applicable production quota. He argued that, because the excess wheat was produced for his private consumption on his own farm, it never entered commerce at all, much less interstate commerce, and therefore was not a proper subject of federal regulation under the Commerce Clause. The New Deal was the name President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to the series of programs between 1933–1938 with the goal of relief, recovery and reform of the United States economy during the Great Depression. ... The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 was the result of the unconstitutionality of previous New Deal farm legislation and the success of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act passed in 1936. ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 For the indie rock group see: Wheat (band). ...

Amount of wheat at issue

Roscoe Filburn exceeded his production quota by 239 bushels.[1]

The Court's decision

The Supreme Court rejected this argument, holding that Filburn's wheat competed with wheat sold in interstate commerce. The Court reasoned that if Filburn had not used home-grown wheat, he would have had to buy wheat on the open market. The Court held that Congress's power to regulate commerce was not limited to the supply side of commerce, but that it could regulate demand as well. The Court also held that Congress could regulate wholly intrastate, non-commercial activity if such activity, viewed in the aggregate, would have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, even if the individual effects are trivial.

Wickard has often been seen as marking the end to any limits on Congress's commerce clause powers. One commentator has written: “In the wake of Jones & Laughlin and Wickard [v. Filburn], it has become clear that . . . Congress has authority to regulate virtually all private economic activity.”^[1] Holding Congress had the power, under the Commerce Clause, to regulate labor relations. ...

Subsequent jurisprudence

In the landmark 1995 case of United States v. Lopez, the first decision in six decades to invalidate a federal statute on the grounds that it exceeded the power of Congress under the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court described Filburn as "perhaps the most far reaching example of commerce clause authority over intrastate commerce." The Supreme Court majority that decided the 2005 case Gonzales v. Raich relied heavily on Filburn in upholding the power of the federal government to prosecute individuals who grow their own medicinal marijuana pursuant to state law. In Gonzales, the court held that, as with the home grown wheat at issue in Filburn, home grown marijuana is a legitimate subject of federal regulation because it competes with marijuana that moves in interstate commerce. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Holding Possession of a gun near a school is not an economic activity that has a substantial effect on interstate commerce. ... Look up Congress in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, empowers the United States Congress To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Constitution of the United States of America Page one of the original copy of the Constitution. ... Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, empowers the United States Congress To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Holding Congress may ban the use of marijuana even where states approve its use for medicinal purposes. ...

References

1. ^ Earl M. Maltz as quoted in footnote 223 of Jim Chen, "Filburn's Legacy," 52 Emory Law Journal 1719 (2003)

Further reading

• Jim Chen, "Filburn's Legacy," 52 Emory Law Journal 1719 (2003)
• Richard A. Epstein, How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution, Cato Institute, 2006

External links

• 317 U.S. 111 (Text of the opinion on Findlaw.com)
• Text of the opinion from Cornell University's Legal Information Institute
• oyez.org on the case (short)
• Roscoe Filburn and his wheat
• Emory Law Journal essay on Wickard v. Filburn