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Are Local Tow Truck Safety Ordinances Preempted by Federal Law? City of Columbus v. Ours Garage & Wrecker Service No. 01-419 Decided June 20 While the Supremes have ruled, in the preemption context, that the police powers of the state are of considerable importance (they cannot, for example, be preempted by federal law unless that intent is clearly stated), it's not so clear what kind of value the Justices place on local regulations. In Ours Garage, the Court considered a variant of this issue: if Congress assigns a particular power to a state, via federal statute, may the state, in turn, delegate this power to local governments? More specifically here, does the Interstate Commerce Act (and its subsequent amendments) allow Ohio to delegate tow-truck safety regulation to the city of Columbus? Writing for a 7-2 majority, Justice Ginsburg answered yes: in the absence of a clear statutory prohibition, states may share their powers however they see fit. (Bad news for Ours Garage and Wrecker Service, who hoped the federal law preempted pesky local regulations.) Delegation, she explains, is a "historic police power," and thus deserves a high level of Court protection. (Scalia, in dissent, says nonsense: there is nothing sacrosanct about the states' power over their political subdivisions.) A separate, and highly interesting question--is Columbus' tow truck licensing scheme really a safety regulation?--remains open on remand. Too bad: we'd like to have heard more about the "historic police power" and its connection to economic regulations.
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