John Lukaszczyk

Who was involved?  Thomas Gibbons (Appellant) William Wirt and Daniel Webster were his attorneys  Aaron Ogden (Respondent) Thomas Addis Emmet and Thomas J. Oakley were his attorneys  John Marshall’s court heard the case The other justices were Washington, Johnson, Todd, Duvall, Story, and Thompson

What happened?  Gibbons was running a ferry service in interstate waters  Ogden got New York state to mandate that Gibbons was not allowed to use NY waters  Gibbon’s sanction came from Congress, so he sued Ogden, as his sanction came from a higher power than NY  Ogden argued that, since navigation is not trade, and therefore not interstate trade, Congress could not regulate it, but NY could

The Decision…  Gibbons won  Due to the Supremacy Clause, Congress’ law overpowered and invalidated New York’s law  The Commerce Clause was expanded by Marshall to include “navigation” as part of “commerce”

What is the importance?  This was the first time that the Commerce Clause was used in a Supreme Court decision  This decision began the use of a broad interpretation of interstate commerce for the Supreme Court  This is an example of a time when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal over state government