The Dormant Commerce Clause and Geolocation: Some Background About Federalism

Let's begin with a few words about the Dormant Commerce Clause and how it interacts with federalism principles.

The U.S. Constitution presumptively preserves state authority to control what happens within state borders, especially state power to protect citizens and residents from what legislators or voters perceive as harms. This state "police power" to regulate "health, safety, and morals" is implicitly acknowledged by the Constitution's struc­­­ture of enumerated powers, and by the Tenth Amendment.[1]

The Constitution's preservation of the police power in the states ensures that "the facets of governing that touch...