ABSTRACT
In 1990 Congress passed the Gun-Free Zones Act, which made it a federal offense for anyone to knowingly possess a firearm in a school zone. In 1992, Lopez was arrested for carrying a concealed handgun at a high school in San Antonio, Texas, and was subsequently charged with violating the act and ultimately indicted by a federal grand jury under Section 922(q) of the act. He challenged the indictment, contending that Section 922(q) was unconstitutional “as it is beyond the power of Congress to legislate control over public schools.”1 The Court agreed, finding that Section 922(q) exceeded Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.”2 In so ruling, the Court correctly reasserted the long-neglected
principle that congressional power under the Commerce Clause is limited in nature and clarified the appropriate inquiry for analyzing whether a particular activity falls within the scope of the clause. The decision marked a needed retreat from the Court’s prior grants of expanded congressional power.
