In the United States v. Lopez decision did the federal government or the state government ultimately have the power to create “Gun-Free School Zones”?
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Answer: United States v. Alfonso D. Lopez, Jr., 514 U.S. 549 (1995), was a landmark case of the United States Supreme Court concerning the Commerce Clause. It was the first case since 1937 in which the Court held that Congress had exceeded its power to legislate under the Commerce Clause.
The case arose from a San Antonio high school student's challenge to the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which banned possession of handguns near schools. In a majority decision joined by four other justices, Chief Justice William Rehnquist held that while Congress had broad lawmaking authority under the Commerce Clause, that power did not extend to the regulation of the carrying of handguns. In his dissent, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer argued that Congress could regulate handgun possession under the Commerce Clause because gun violence could have a significant effect on interstate commerce by impairing educational environments.
Though it did not reverse any past ruling about the meaning of the Commerce Clause, Lopez raised serious questions as to how far the Court might be willing to go in curbing Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause. The Court would later further limit congressional powers under the Commerce Clause in the United States v. Morrison (2000). After the Lopez decision, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 was amended to specifically only apply to guns that had been moved via interstate commerce.
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