gov unit 1

McCulloch vs. Maryland Facts of the Case

• Congress created a National Bank

• It is not in the constitution that Congress can do that

• State legislature of Maryland taxes the Federal Bank

• McCulloch, the manager of the bank, refuses to pay

• McCulloch is arguing that the bank never had a right to exist in the first place

McCulloch vs. Maryland Clauses

• Necessary and Proper Clause

• Supremacy Clause

Necessary and Proper Clause

• Article I

• Congress’s powers include not only those expressly listed, but also the authority to use all means necessary and proper for executing those express powers. Under the Necessary and Proper Clause, congressional power encompasses all implied and incidental powers that are conducive to the beneficial exercise of an enumerated power.

• The enumerated power in this case being regulating commerce

Supremacy Clause

federal law prevails over conflicting state law

McCulloch v Maryland Decision

• Congress has a right under the Necessary and Proper Clause to create the Nat. Bank

• Maryland cannot tax the bank, which is a federal entity

• Federal Law is supreme over state law

McCulloch v Maryland Implication

• It creates the Implied Powers Doctrine

• Congress has power beyond what is stated in the constitution

United States vs. Lopez Facts of the Case

• Congress passed the Gun Force Zone Act, prohibiting people from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone.

• A student in Texas was convicted of breaking it

• He argued that Congress never had the right to pass the act

United States vs. Lopez Clauses

Commerce Clause

United States vs. Lopez Decision

• Carrying a gun does not qualify as economic activity or under the commerce clause

• Congress does not have the right to pass this law. The States handle this issue.

United States vs. Lopez Implication

• Narrows the definition of commerce.

• It Gives power to the states to make decisions and ignore federal laws.

• States feel better asserting their rights