Protecting Navigation and the Commerce Clause in 2025

Mike Jacob, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

As featured in the Journal of Commerce, February 2, 2025 

For 200 years, the Gibbons v. Ogden ruling has upheld the federal government’s authority over interstate commerce, ensuring states cannot impose restrictions on maritime navigation. As the Supreme Court made clear, “All America understands, and has uniformly understood, the word ‘commerce’ to comprehend navigation.”

Now, that precedent may face a test. In 2023, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) began considering indirect regulations on ship propulsion systems, potentially penalizing ports that do not “route cleaner ships” or require “new, cleaner vessel designs.” Meanwhile, California regulators are discussing additional measures targeting emissions from oceangoing vessels.

If the state or AQMD imposes these restrictions, it would mark the first direct legal challenge to Gibbons in modern history. As the article notes, “After 200 years of building the world’s greatest economy on the settled Commerce Clause jurisprudence of Gibbons, no one has been reckless enough to try to upend it.”

To read the full article courtesy of the Journal of Commerce, please click the button below.