Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority

E13963

Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority is a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held Congress can apply federal wage and hour laws to state and local governments under the Commerce Clause, significantly limiting Tenth Amendment-based constraints on federal power.


Statements (45)
Predicate Object
instanceOf U.S. Supreme Court case
federalism case
landmark decision
areaOfLaw constitutional law
federalism
labor and employment law
citation 469 U.S. 528
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted Commerce Clause
Tenth Amendment
courtTerm 1984 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court
decidedBy Supreme Court of the United States
decisionDate 1985-02-19
decisionType 5–4 decision
dissentingOpinionBy Justice Byron R. White
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
Justice Warren E. Burger
Justice William H. Rehnquist
docketNumber 82-1913
effectOnFederalismDoctrine narrowed Tenth Amendment-based limits on Congress’s Commerce Clause power
effectOnStates subjected state and local government employees to federal minimum wage and overtime requirements
fullName Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528 (1985)
geographicContext San Antonio, Texas
holding Congress may apply the Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage and hour provisions to employees of state and local governments under the Commerce Clause
the Tenth Amendment does not bar application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to a municipally owned and operated mass transit system
impact expanded congressional authority to regulate state and local governmental activities under the Commerce Clause
joinedMajority Justice John Paul Stevens
Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Justice Thurgood Marshall
Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
jurisdiction United States federal law
legalIssue Tenth Amendment limits on federal power
application of Fair Labor Standards Act to state and local governments
scope of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause
majorityOpinionBy Justice Harry A. Blackmun
overruledCase National League of Cities v. Usery
overruledPrecedent National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976)
pageInUnitedStatesReports 528
petitioner Joe G. Garcia
precedentStatus good law as to overruling National League of Cities v. Usery
relatedConcept political safeguards of federalism
state sovereign interests
respondent San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority
statuteInterpreted Fair Labor Standards Act
subjectMatter coverage of a municipally operated mass transit system under federal wage and hour law
volumeInUnitedStatesReports 469


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