Posted December 19, 2006

LOS ANGELES (CA) — The Claremont Institute won an important victory today when the United States Supreme Court decided, 5-4, to overturn a federal law that trampled on the right of states to regulate criminal and tort law.

The Court's majority opinion in Christy Brzonkala v. Antonio J. Morrison agreed with the amicus brief filed by the Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. The Center's Director, Dr. John Eastman, and former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III made the case for an originalist understanding of limited, enumerated federal powers.

The case concerned the constitutionality of Congress' "Violence Against Women Act." That law provided civil remedies for female victims of violence on the presumption that the states are not adequately protecting women from violence and that such violence affects "interstate commerce."

The Court agreed with the Institute that, under such an expansive definition, almost everything could affect commerce. The Court rightly rejected that view, leaving to the states the right to regulate for themselves.

The Claremont Institute is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1979 whose mission is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. The Institute formed the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm, in order to further its mission through strategic litigation.

Dr. John Eastman is professor of constitutional law at the Chapman University School of Law. He previously served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. His law degree is from the University of Chicago.