610
Souter, J., dissenting
"There is no general doctrine implied in the Federal Constitution that the two governments, national and state, are each to exercise its powers so as not to interfere with the free and full exercise of the powers of the other. . . . [I]t is clear that the Federal Government, when acting within a delegated power, may override countervailing state interests . . . . As long ago as [1925], the Court put to rest the contention that state concerns might constitutionally 'outweigh' the importance of an otherwise valid federal statute regulating commerce." 392 U. S., at 195-196 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
See also United States v. Darby, supra, at 114; Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U. S. 452, 460 (1991); United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U. S., at 147.
Nor is there any contrary authority in the reasoning of our cases imposing clear statement rules in some instances of legislation that would significantly alter the state-national balance. In the absence of a clear statement of congressional design, for example, we have refused to interpret ambiguous federal statutes to limit fundamental state legislative prerogatives, Gregory v. Ashcroft, supra, at 460-464, our understanding being that such prerogatives, through which "a State defines itself as a sovereign," are "powers with which Congress does not readily interfere," 501 U. S., at 460, 461. Likewise, when faced with two plausible interpretations of a federal criminal statute, we generally will take the alternative that does not force us to impute an intention to Congress to use its full commerce power to regulate conduct traditionally and ably regulated by the States. See United States v. Enmons, 410 U. S. 396, 411-412 (1973); United States v. Bass, 404 U. S. 336, 349-350 (1971); Rewis v. United States, 401 U. S. 808, 812 (1971).
These clear statement rules, however, are merely rules of
statutory interpretation, to be relied upon only when the
Page: Index Previous 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007