U.S. v. Bates: Constitutional Law Case on Interstate Commerce and Federalism

About the Hypothetical Case

This hypothetical case serves as the basis of a series of assignments for this course on constitutional law. These assignments include a discussion board and two papers designed to lead you through both the logic of Supreme Court decision making and the competing ideas associated with constitutional policy making. The constitutional issue concerns the scope of Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce found in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.  Issues of federalism arising under the Tenth Amendment are also relevant in Bates. The sequence of assignments begins with a discussion board in Lesson 4. The papers assigned in Lessons 11and 13 will assume that, based on the course reading assignments, you have an understanding of the constitutional issues associated with national and state governments responsibilities concerning the regulation of commerce. Likewise, you will need to assemble an understanding of issues concerning federalism. You should be prepared to look ahead in the assignments to ensure that you can adequately and intelligently address the issues they raise. As in any college level course, you should also do whatever additional research and reading that’s necessary to address the issues raised in the assignments.  

In the face of the animosity towards gays and lesbians in the aftermath of the continuing conflict in the states over gay marriage, Congress passed and President signed into law a provision outlawing private acts of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Public Accommodations Equal Access Act forbids discrimination regarding sexual orientation in hotels, motels, restaurants, and eating establishments of all kinds, as well as in bars, barber shops, gasoline stations, and entertainment establishments. Excluded from the law’s coverage are private membership clubs, boarding houses with five or fewer rooms to rent, and other facilities closed to the public. Because of doubts about whether the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits this type of discrimination by private parties, Congress relied upon the Commerce Clause to justify the law (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3).

The Equal Access Act applies to any of the entities listed in the paragraph above whose operations affect interstate commerce. For the law’s purposes, interstate commerce means travel, trade, traffic, transportation, or communication among the several states. Accordingly, the law presumes that all hotels, motels, inns, and the like, operating in the contemporary American economy, affect interstate commerce at least to some degree. Establishments serving food and/or beverages affect interstate commerce within the meaning of the law if they serve or offer to serve interstate travelers or if a substantial portion of the food or beverages served have moved in interstate commerce. Gasoline stations selling any goods that have moved in interstate commerce are also covered by the law as are entertainment facilities presenting films, exhibitions, teams, etc., that move in interstate commerce.

Read the Bates case. Then imagine you are a justice on the Supreme Court and are participating in one of the Court's weekly conferences in which the justices discuss the cases on their agenda.

Q1. What comments would you make about the Bates case? For example, in your view what are the key and significant issues raised in the case?

Q2. What facts associated with the background to this controversy, such as it's legislative history, seem particularly salient?

Q3. Are there any particular aspects of the rulings made by the district court and court of appeals that lend insight into how the Supreme Court should address the problems raised in the case?