PSCI 3322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Fair Labor Standards Act, Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Civil Rights Cases
Document Summary
Facts: brady handgun violence prevention act required local chief law enforcement officers to perform background checks on prospective handgun purchasers until the. Attorney general establishes a federal system for this purpose. County sheriff printz and mack challenged the constitutionality of this interim provision of the brady bill on behalf of local officers. District court found background checks unconstitutional but ruled requirement was severable from voluntary background-check system. Response: no - state legislatures are not subject to federal direction. The court explained that congress may require the federal government to regulate commerce directly, the necessary and proper clause does not empower it to compel local officers to fulfill federal tasks for it even temporarily. Brady bill only reserved some duties for those local officers who voluntarily accepted them. Facts: probation officers sued their employer, state of maine, alleging that the state had violated the overtime provisions of the 1938 fair labor standards act.