Court of Fools: Episode 1

In this new series, I will be highlighting examples of ridiculousness from our court system.

Episode 1: Wickard v. Filburn

Robert H. Jackson authored the majority opinion

Year: 1942 
Majority: Robert H. Jackson 
Joined By: Harlan F. Stone
                 Owen J. Roberts
                 Hugo Black
                 Stanley F. Reed
                 Felix Frankfurter
                 William O. Douglass
                 Frank Murphy
                 James F. Byrnes 
Concurrence: None 
Dissent: None

During the Great Depression, the government imposed a limit on the number of acres that a farmer could use to grow wheat in order to prop up the market price. A farmer by the name of Roscoe Filburn was growing more than the allowed acreage. He argued that since he was only using the wheat for consumption on his farm as chicken feed, it never entered the market and could not be regulated as interstate commerce.

The Supreme Court disagreed and argued that if he did not grow that wheat himself, he would have to purchase it on the open market. As such, his non-action in the market had an effect on interstate commerce and was subject to regulation. The Court held that the action itself was not the determining factor in what constituted interstate commerce, but whether the activity "exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce".

The next time that you decide to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard, remember that the government has legal precedent to pass a law prohibiting it. If grow your own vegetables anyway and don't buy them at the supermarket, the government just might fine you and make you burn your garden. Thanks fools!

Note: While all of the justices signed on to this opinion, as the author of record, Jackson gets the jester's cap in this installment. It is also worth noting that all but two of the Justices in this case were nominated by F.D.R.

~Another Guy