Carter V. Carter Coal Company - Majority Opinion

Majority Opinion

The Supreme Court ruled the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act unconstitutional by a 5-4 margin. The majority reasoned as follows:

a) Just because a commodity is manufactured or produced within a state and is intended for interstate commerce, does not mean that its “production or manufacturing is subject to federal regulation under the commerce clause.”

b) A commodity that is meant to be sold in interstate commerce is not considered to be part of interstate commerce “before the commencement of its movement from the state.”

c) “Mining is not interstate commerce.” It is a local business and is subject to local control and taxation.

d) "The word 'commerce' is equivalent to the phrase 'intercourse for the purposes of trade'”: the process of mining coal does not fit within this definition.

e) The labor board has powers over production, not commerce. This confirms the idea that production is a purely local activity.

f) If the production of coal by a single person does not have a direct effect on interstate commerce, then the production of coal by many people can also not have a direct effect on interstate commerce.

g) The evils that Congress sought to control are “all local evils over which the federal government has no legislative control."

h) “The federal regulatory power ceases when interstate commerce ends; and, the power does not attach until interstate commercial intercourse begins.”