No. 99-1178
In The

Supreme Court of the United States
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County
Petitioner,
v.
United States Army Corps of Engineers et al,
Respondents.
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States

Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Brief of Amicus Curiae The Claremont Institute

Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence

In Support of Petitioner
John C. Eastman

The Claremont Institute

Center for Constitu- tional Jurisprudence
250 W. First St., Suite 330

Claremont, CA 91711

(909) 621-6825
Edwin Meese III
Counsel of Record
214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.

Washington, D.C. 20002

(202) 546-4400

QUESTION PRESENTED

1.	Whether the federal government exceeds its constitutional authority to "Regulate Commerce Among the States" when it exercises what is essentially a police power to assert regulatory jurisdiction over isolated intrastate waters solely because those waters serve as habitat for migratory birds.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

QUESTION PRESENTED	i

TABLE OF CONTENTS	ii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES	iii

INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE	1

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT	3

ARGUMENT	5

I.	In Interpreting the Clean Water Act to Cover Waters Utilized by Migratory Birds, the Corps Has Ignored the Principle of Enumerated Powers, a Principle Which the Founders Believed to Be Essential to Liberty.	5

II.	The Migratory Bird Rule Is Neither a Regulation of Commerce Nor a Necessary and Proper Means of Giving Effect to a Regulation of Commerce.	11

A.	As originally conceived, Congress's power under the Commerce Clause was limited to the regulation of interstate trade.	11

B.	Even under the expanded view of the Com
merce Clause taken in this court's modern-era precedents, the migratory bird rule exceeds the outer limits of the power afforded to Congress	17

C.	The aggregation principle of Wickard v. Filburn should be repudiated, in order to remove from Congress and the regulatory agencies the remotely colorable claim to uncon stitutional assertions of power that it provides.	23

CONCLUSION	25

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Cases	Page

A.L.A. Schecter Poultry Corp. v. United States,
295 U.S. 495 (1935)	13, 15, 18

Alden v. Maine, 119 S. CT. 2240 (1999)	3, 21

Arizona v. Evans, 514 U.S. 1 (1995)	8

Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlin,
473 U.S. 234 (1985)	8

Bailey v. Holland, 126 F.2d 317 (4th Cir. 1942)	16

Baldwin v. Fish and Game Comm'n of Mont.,
436 U.S. 371 (1978)	14

Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U.S. 121 (1959)	5

Bowman v. Railway Co., 125 U.S. 465 (1888)	13

Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 120 S. Ct. 2446 (2000)	2

Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419 (1827)	13

Brzonkala v. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, 169 F.3d 820, 840 (4th Cir. 1999),
aff'd sub nom, United States v. Morrison,
120 S. Ct. 1740 (2000)	22

California Democratic Party v. Jones,
120 S. Ct. 2402 (2000)	2

Camps Newfound/Owatonna v. Town of Harrison,
Maine, 520 U.S. 564 (1997)	16

Cargill, Inc. v. United States, 516 U.S. 955 (1995)	23

Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936)	10, 14, 23

College Sav. Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary
Educ. Expense Bd., 119 S. CT. 2219 (1999)	3, 21

Corfield v. Coryell,
6 F. Cas. 546 (C.C.E.D.Pa. 1823)	12

Escanaba & Lake Michigan Transp. Co.
v. City of Chicago, 107 U.S. 678 (1883)	21

FERC v. Mississippi, 456 U.S. 742 (1982)	9

Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd.
v. College Sav. Bank, 119 S.Ct. 2199 (1999)	3, 21

Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transpor-
tation Authority, 469 U.S. 528 (1985)	6, 8, 9, 14

Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824)	10, 12-17

Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452 (1991)	4, 8-9

Hoffman Homes, Inc. v. EPA,
999 F.2d 256 (7th Cir. 1993)	11

In re Rahrer, 140 U.S. 545 (1891)	13

Kidd v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1 (1888)	13, 16

Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U.S. 100 (1890)	13

Leslie Salt Co. v. United States, 55 F.3d 1388 (9th Cir.),
cert. denied sub nom., Cargill, Inc. v.
United States, 516 U.S. 955 (1995)	23

Miller v. City of New York, 109 U.S. 385(1883)	20

Missouri v. Illinois., 180 U.S. 208 (1901)	22

Mobile Co. v. Kimball, 102 U.S. 691 (1880)	13

M'Culloch v. Maryland,
17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819)	7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 23

N. L. R. B. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.,
301 U.S. 1 (1937)	17-18

New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992)	3-5

Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environ-
mental Quality of Ore., 511 U.S. 93 (1994)	15

Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978)	15

Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997)	3, 21

Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida,
517 U.S. 44 (1996)	3, 4, 21

Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County
v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
191 F.3d 845 (7th Cir. 1999)	11, 18

South Carolina v. Georgia, 93 U.S. 4 (1876)	20

South Covington & C. St. R. Co. v. City of Covington,
235 U.S. 537 (1915)	20

The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. (10 Wall.) 557 (1870)	20

The License Cases, 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504 (1847)	13

United States v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co.,
312 U.S. 592 (1941)	20

United States v. E. C. Knight Co.,
156 U.S. 1 (1895)	10, 13, 14, 16

United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995)	passim

United States v. Morrison, 120 S. Ct. 1740 (2000)	passim

United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc.,
474 U.S. 121 (1985)	20

United States v. Wilson, 133 F.3d 251 (4th Cir. 1997)	23

Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U.S. 503 (1893)	22

West Virginia ex rel. Dyer v. Sims,
341 U.S. 22 (1951)	22

Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942)	23-25

Constitional Provisions, Statutes, and Regulations

33 C.F.R. § 328.3(a)(3)	20

33 U.S.C. § 1311	20

33 U.S.C. § 1362(7)	20

Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.	4, 17-20

Declaration of Independence	6

U.S. Const. Art. I, Sec. 1	8

U.S. Const. Art. I, Sec. 8	8

U.S. Const. Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 3	passim

U.S. Const. Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 18	passim

U.S. Const. Art. I, Sec. 10, cl. 3	22

U.S. Const. Amend. X	3, 4, 8

U.S. Const. Amend. XI	3, 4

Miscellaneous

B. Ackerman, Liberating Abstraction,
59 U. Chi. L. Rev. 317 (1992)	24

R. Berger, Federalism: The Founders'
Design (1987)	24

R. Bork, The Tempting of America: The Political
Seduction of the Law (1990)	24

Letter from Tench Coxe to the Virginia Commissioners
at Annapolis (Sept. 13, 1786), reprinted in
3 The Founders' Constitution 473-74
(P. Kurland & R. Lerner eds., 1987)	5

R. Epstein, Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against
Employment Discrimination Laws 139 (1992)	24

The Federalist No. 22 (Hamilton)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	5

The Federalist No. 28 (Hamilton) (J. Cooke ed. 1961)	9

The Federalist No. 33 (Hamilton)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	9

The Federalist No. 39 (Madison)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	7

The Federalist No. 42 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961)	5

The Federalist No. 45 (Madison)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	7, 9

The Federalist No. 47 (Madison)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	6

The Federalist No. 51 (Madison)
(C. Rossiter & C. Kesler eds., 1999)	6, 9

L. Graglia, United States v. Lopez: Judicial Review Under
The Commerce Clause, 74 Tex. L. Rev. 719 (1996)	24

G. Gunther & K. Sullivan, Constitutional Law
(13th ed. 1997)	25

C. Sunstein, Congress, Constitutional Moments, and the
Cost-Benefit State, 48 Stan. L. Rev. 247 (1996)	24

L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law,
Vol. 1 (3d ed. 2000)	24

James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention,
(Dec. 4, 1787), reprinted in 1 The Founders'
Constitution 62 (P. Kurland & R. Lerner eds., 1987)	7

James Wilson, Speech at the Pennsylvania Ratifying
Convention (Nov. 26, 1787), reprinted in
2 J. Wilson, The Works of James Wilson 770
(Robert Green McCloskey ed., 1967)	6

No. 99-1178
In The

Supreme Court of the United States
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County
Petitioner,
v.
United States Army Corps of Engineers et al,
Respondents.
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States