|
US Congress can write laws that affect interstate commerce, and for many years, there were few limits to what they could define as interstate commerce. A few years ago, the Supreme Court threw out a law forbidding the possesion of guns near schools as not affecting interstate commerce, but it really has just meant that Congress goes to greater lengths to justify it's laws as affecting interstate commerce. Congress also has the power of the federal purse strings over the states, and can pass bills that say, in essence, "We want to promote safe highways, and so we will give federal highway funding to every state that has these speed limits and has the legal age for alcohol as 21 years old." Though Congress can't establish a national drinking age or speed limit, states need those federal $$ so much that Congress can effectively get states to do what it wants.
|