Reno v. Condon, 528 U.S. 141, 11 (2000)

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11

Cite as: 528 U. S. 141 (2000)

Opinion of the Court

gage in certain activity must take administrative and sometimes legislative action to comply with federal standards regulating that activity is a commonplace that presents no constitutional defect." Ibid.

Like the statute at issue in Baker, the DPPA does not require the States in their sovereign capacity to regulate their own citizens. The DPPA regulates the States as the owners of data bases. It does not require the South Carolina Legislature to enact any laws or regulations, and it does not require state officials to assist in the enforcement of federal statutes regulating private individuals. We accordingly conclude that the DPPA is consistent with the constitutional principles enunciated in New York and Printz.

As a final matter, we turn to South Carolina's argument that the DPPA is unconstitutional because it regulates the States exclusively. The essence of South Carolina's argument is that Congress may only regulate the States by means of "generally applicable" laws, or laws that apply to individuals as well as States. But we need not address the question whether general applicability is a constitutional requirement for federal regulation of the States, because the DPPA is generally applicable. The DPPA regulates the universe of entities that participate as suppliers to the market for motor vehicle information—the States as initial suppliers of the information in interstate commerce and private resell-ers or redisclosers of that information in commerce.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore

Reversed.

151

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11

Last modified: October 4, 2007