Commandeering is an act of
appropriation by the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
or
police
The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
whereby they take possession of the property of a member of the public.
In the United States
In United States law, it also refers to federal government actions which would force a state government to take some action that it otherwise would not take. The US Supreme Court has held that commandeering violates principles designed to prevent either the state or federal governments from becoming too powerful.
Writing for the majority in 1997 for ''
Printz v. United States'', Justice
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
said, "
e Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program." States derive their protection from commandeering from the
Tenth Amendment.
Distinction from preemption
The Congress may enact federal law that supersedes or ''
preempts'' state law. The distinction between ''commandeering'' and ''preemption'' was at issue in ''
Murphy v. NCAA'', a case involving sports betting.
In the case of
marijuana legalization
The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...
, federal law ''preempts'' laws in those states that have authorized its use. The federal government has chosen not to enforce provisions of federal law that apply to otherwise law-abiding adult use in those states. If the Department of Justice were to challenge these state laws, a likely legal objection would be that this is ''commandeering''.
Challenges to state-level marijuana legalizations in federal court have been unsuccessful for this reason.
See also
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Federalism in the United States
Federalism in the United States is the constitutional division of power between U.S. state governments and the federal government of the United States. Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War ...
References
External links
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American legal terminology
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