Which case held that parts of the Violence Against Women Act exceeded Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause?

• A. Katz v. United States (1967)
• B. Munn v. Illinois (1877)
• C. United States v. Morrison (2000)
• D. Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

Answer: (C)

The key idea is how far Congress can stretch the Commerce Clause to regulate non-economic conduct. United States v. Morrison shows that even a broad federal statute aimed at protecting victims—like the Violence Against Women Act’s civil remedy—can exceed Congress’s power if the core activity being regulated isn’t economic and doesn’t have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The Court emphasized that gender-motivated violence is a non-economic activity and cannot be linked to interstate commerce in the way required to justify federal regulation under Congress’s commerce authority. Therefore, the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act at issue were unconstitutional as an expansion of congressional power under the Commerce Clause. This aligns with the ongoing line of cases limiting the scope of the commerce power, clarifying that not all nationally scoped social problems can be addressed through federal regulation. Other listed cases involve different constitutional questions—privacy under the Fourth Amendment, state regulation of prices, or the death penalty—and aren’t about Congress’s power to regulate non-economic conduct through the Commerce Clause.