Chickens, Wheat, And The Commerce Clause

A chicken counter, a wheat field, and a school-zone arrest shouldn’t define the reach of federal power—but they do. We unpack how a few pivotal cases turned the Commerce Clause from a narrow trade rule into the engine of modern regulation, and where the Court has since tried to tap the brakes without stalling the system. We start with Schechter Poultry’s unanimous stand against federal micromanagement of a local butcher, then pivot to Wickard v. Filburn, where the justices embraced the aggre...