Missouri v. Holland PDF

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Summary

Topics Covered: Missouri v. Holland; Municipal Law; Missouri sued to stop US from Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918; Bird Law; Background and court ruling; Supremacy Clause...

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Municipal Law: domestic law; the law of one state (ex. US Law, as opposed to IL) Missouri v. Holland 

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Facts: o Missouri sued to stop US from enforcing a Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 o SC: Missouri sued in equity (trying to get a court to order the defendant to some action or stop doing something) o Bird Law: congress passed this law b/c of a treaty  B/w US and UKsought to protect migratory bird that travel from US to Canada  Birds were a valuable food source, helped protect insects, too much hunting risked extinction  Treaty limited hunting b/w a specific season. Required both nations to pass laws/rules to enforce the treaty. Missouri is challenging constitutionality of the law (rules and laws) o Missouri argues: The law/rules, that govt passed, violate the 10th amendment of the US Constitution, violates state’s sovereignty Legal Issue: whether or not the statute passed, pursuant to a treaty, violates the US Constitution Court ruling the law/rules are constitutional o Controversial=has congress ever tried to regulate migratory bird hunting before? Passed a law in the past? yes but federal courts ruled that congress could not pass such a law b/c it violated 10th amendment (birds were owned by states) o Difference between laws? Previous laws were passed under Congress’ Art. 1 Constitutional Powers vs. this law, Migratory Bird Act, was passed to enforce a treaty Homes: treaty was signed and ratified to “protect national interest of the 1st magnitude” o Points that the interest in birds can only be protected by national action in concert with another power o Points that there is no language in the Constitution that prohibits the treaty Missouri argues: its interest in migratory birds/hunting, is protected by the 10 amendment o AKA, Constitution doesn’t give Congress the power to regulate the environment (power is reserved to the statescreates separate sovereign states) Homes: doesn’t see the 10th amendment as prohibiting Congress from carrying out its legitimate powers Why does the treaty bind a US state like Missouri?  Article 6 of the Constitution “The Supremacy Clause” o US treaties are the supreme law of the land and they bind states/regulate US states

Notes:  Treaties can give Congress the power to regulate that they wouldn’t normally have under Art. 1, but only if those treaties are signed/ratified for national interests  Supremacy Clausetreaties/laws passed pursuant to those treaties are binding supreme law in the states...