n the federal government. In the United States Vs. E.C. Knight Co. , the Supreme Court found that the federal government could not use the commerce clause to regulate “production”, “mining” or “manufacturing” because all of these existed prior to the actual existence of commerce. This was a tremendous loss of revenue to the federal government, as the taxation of such items was no longer permitted. This is not to say, however, that the Supreme Court’s restriction of federalism was detrimental to business. In fact, as can be seen by the decision in Knight, the Court was protective of the rights and privileges of private industry. This age of the conservative court would last until the 1930’s when a shift in Court jurisprudence would begin to be seen .In the 1930’s, an era marked by the Great Depression, the New Deal, and Franklin Roosevelt’s infamous court- packing plan, the Supreme Court set off on a path of nearly complete deference to the federal government. While it was initially unyielding in its defense of states rights, even going as far as to declare the National Recovery Act and the Agricultural Act unconstitutional , the Court’s last stand on the issue of states’ rights was taken in 1935 in the case of the United States v. Schechter Poultry Corporation . In Schechter the majority opinion espoused the belief that, “extraordinary conditions may call for extraordinary remedies. But, the argument necessarily stops short of an attempt to justify action which lies outside the sphere of constitutional authority. Extraordinary conditions neither create nor enlarge constitutional powers.” This case, however, was to be the Court’s waterloo.In the elections of 1936 which followed close on the heels of the Schechter decision, Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected in a landslide victory which allowed him to announce his infamous court-packing scheme...
