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Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Association

Supreme Court of the United States · 1981 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawCommerce ClauseTenth AmendmentFifth AmendmentDue ProcessTakingssurface miningcooperative federalism

Facts

The Surface Mining Act created an interim federal regulatory program and a permanent program under which States could submit their own plans meeting federal minimum standards or else be subject to a federal program. The challengers principally attacked Title V performance standards, including steep-slope reclamation requirements, certain mining-location restrictions, immediate cessation order procedures, and civil penalty procedures. The District Court held parts of the Act unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment, the Takings Clause, and the Due Process Clause, while rejecting the Commerce Clause challenge. The case reached the Supreme Court as a pre-enforcement facial challenge, not as an as-applied challenge to specific parcels or enforcement actions.

Issue

Whether, on a facial pre-enforcement challenge, the Surface Mining Act exceeded Congress's power under the Commerce Clause or violated the Tenth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment's Just Compensation Clause, or the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. More specifically, the Court considered whether the Act's regulation of surface coal mining, its cooperative federalism structure, its reclamation and location restrictions, and its summary enforcement provisions were unconstitutional on their face.

Rule

Congress may regulate intrastate activities under the Commerce Clause if it had a rational basis for finding that the activity affects interstate commerce and if the means chosen are reasonably adapted to a legitimate constitutional end. A Tenth Amendment challenge under National League of Cities requires, at minimum, that the statute regulate the States as States, address attributes of state sovereignty, and directly impair the States' ability to structure integral operations in areas of traditional governmental functions. On a facial takings challenge, the question is whether the mere enactment of the statute denies an owner economically viable use of land; takings claims ordinarily require an ad hoc factual inquiry tied to specific property. Summary administrative action without a prior hearing is consistent with due process in emergency situations when the statute provides sufficiently definite standards and prompt postdeprivation review.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Congress enacts the Quarry Runoff Control Act, regulating blasting and spoil-storage practices at privately owned stone quarries, including quarries that sell only within Tennessee. Congress finds that sediment and acid drainage from quarrying damage downstream waterways used in multistate shipping and recreation, and that inconsistent state standards let operators in some States undercut competitors elsewhere. A quarry association files a pre-enforcement facial challenge.

Which is the strongest argument for upholding the statute under the Commerce Clause?

Explanation. The majority applied a narrow review: courts defer if Congress had any rational basis for finding the regulated activity affects interstate commerce, then ask only whether the means chosen are reasonably adapted to a legitimate constitutional end. The fact that quarrying is local or tied to land use does not remove it from Commerce Clause reach when Congress rationally finds interstate effects.