>the Commerce Clause refers to the role of the US federal government in regulating interstate commerce (from the original constitution), right? when was it reinterpreted in a relatively progressive way? what were the political forces and struggles behind that reinterpretation? This was the struggle around the New Deal. To deal with depression, the government needed to do things like OK labor unions and generally regulate the economy. The old commcer clause and equal protection jurisprudence didn't allow this. The standard, not wholly accurate, story is that after the Court zapped the National Recovery Administration, Roosevelt threatened to "pack the court" by getting more Justices on it. That was shot down, but in response to popular outrage a key swing justice, Owen Roberts "switched" and started voting to uphold New Deal Programs in cases like West Coast Hotel, Carolene Products, and Jones & Laughlin Steel. --jks
