744
Thomas, J., dissenting
"an extraordinary power in a federalist system," and "a power that we must assume Congress does not exercise lightly." 501 U. S., at 460. Thus, we require that " 'Congress should make its intention "clear and manifest" if it intends to pre-empt the historic powers of the States.' " Id., at 461 (quoting Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, 491 U. S. 58, 65 (1989)). It is obvious that land use—the subject of petitioner's zoning code—is an area traditionally regulated by the States rather than by Congress, and that land-use regulation is one of the historic powers of the States. As we have stated, "zoning laws and their provisions . . . are peculiarly within the province of state and local legislative authorities." Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 508, n. 18 (1975). See also Hess v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, 513 U. S. 30, 44 (1994) ("[R]egulation of land use [is] a function traditionally performed by local governments"); FERC v. Mississippi, 456 U. S. 742, 768, n. 30 (1982) ("[R]egulation of land use is perhaps the quintessential state activity"); Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U. S. 1, 13 (1974) (Marshall, J., dissenting) ("I am in full agreement with the majority that zoning . . . may indeed be the most essential function performed by local government"). Accordingly, even if it might be sensible in other contexts to construe exemptions narrowly, that principle has no application in this case.
B
I turn now to the substance of the majority's analysis, the focus of which is "maximum occupancy restrictions" and "family composition rules." The first of these two terms has the sole function of serving as a label for a category of zoning rules simply invented by the majority: rules that "cap the number of occupants per dwelling, typically in relation to available floor space or the number and type of rooms," that "ordinarily apply uniformly to all residents of all dwelling units," and that have the "purpose . . . to protect health and safety by preventing dwelling overcrowding." Ante, at
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