Bond v. United States is a Tenth Amendment

Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791...

 case for the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 decided in late June 2011.

Background

The husband of Carol A. Bond of Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Lansdale is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 28 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Early in the 20th century, its industries included agricultural implement works, a canning factory, foundries, brickyards, a silk mill, and manufacturers of cigars, stoves, shirts, rope, iron drain pipe,...

 impregnated Myrlinda Haynes and Bond told Haynes "I am going to make your life a living hell." Federal postal inspector

Postal Inspector

Postal Inspector is a 1936 American film directed by Otto Brower.- Cast :*Ricardo Cortez as Inspector Bill Davis*Patricia Ellis as Connie Larrimore*Michael Loring as Charlie Davis*Bela Lugosi as Gregory Benez*Wallis Clark as Inspector Gil Pottle...

s videotaped Bond stealing mail and putting poison in the muffler of Haynes's car. Bond was indicted for stealing mail and for violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction...

of 1993. Her appeal argued that applying the chemical weapons treaty to her violated the Tenth Amendment. The Court of Appeals found Bond lacked standing to make a Tenth Amendment claim.

Decision

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court found that Bond had standing to argue that a federal statute enforcing the Chemical Weapons Convention in this instance intruded on areas of police power reserved to the states. Justice Kennedy reasoned that actions exceeding the federal government's enumerated powers undermine the sovereign interests of the states. Individuals seeking to challenge such actions are subject to Article III and prudential standing rules, but if the litigant is a party to an otherwise justiciable case or controversy, that litigant is not forbidden to object that her injury results from disregard of the federal structure of our government. The Court expressed no view on the merits of Bond's challenge to the federal statute and remanded the case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.