As widely expected, the Supreme Court has held in Gonzales v. Raich that the Commerce Clause authorizes Congress to criminalize the mere possession of marijuana, even where a state explicitly authorizes personal marijuana possession and use for medicinal purposes.

Does the decision signal the end of the Supreme Court’s federalism? Yes-and perhaps no. Justice Stevens’s majority opinion articulates a standard of judicial deference vis-a-vis Congress that is quite unprecedented in the Rehnquist Court’s federalism decisions. On a more hopeful note, Justice Scalia’s concurring opinion revamps the doctrinal analysis in a useful and sound manner. Federal authority to regulate in-state commerce, he says, does not come from the Commerce Clause but from the Necessary and Proper Clause; and the exercise of that power must be both necessary and proper. Justice Thomas’s dissent follows a very similar line of reasoning. Two justices down; only three more to go.