Page "Charles Evans Hughes" Paragraph 20

The respective authority of federal and state governments under the Constitution's commerce clause had long been in dispute.

In Cooley v. Board of Wardens ( 1852 ) the Court headed by Roger B. Taney had allowed the states, in the absence of federal legislation, to control those aspects of commerce that did not require a single national policy.

However, more recent decisions, such as Weldon v. Missouri ( 1875 ), had curtailed the power of the states to tax or license out-of-state products or sales agents.

Influenced perhaps by his experience as a state governor, Hughes authored a series of decisions that upheld state laws that affected — and, it might be argued, infringed on — congressional authority over interstate commerce.

For example, invoking police power arguments, he upheld a Georgia statute requiring electric headlights on locomotives, including those engaged in interstate commerce.