Wickard v. Filburn

The Court held that Congress could limit wheat a farmer grew for his own use because such activity, in the aggregate, affects interstate commerce.

Overview

Roscoe Filburn, an Ohio farmer, grew more wheat than his allotment under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, intending to feed the excess to his own livestock and family, and was fined. A unanimous Court, in an opinion by Justice Robert Jackson, held that even if his own wheat never left the farm, homegrown wheat reduced demand for wheat purchased on the market, and the cumulative effect of many farmers doing the same substantially affected interstate commerce. The aggregation principle became the broadest statement of federal commerce power and later supported regulation of activities from civil rights to drug control, as in Gonzales v. Raich.