James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, in the early years of aviation, with cities that first built airports, only later did States come. As late…”

“Mr. Speaker, in the early years of aviation, with cities that first built airports, only later did States come. As late as 1958, only seven States provided financial assistance and support for airport construction. It was in the 1940s, long before the State of Illinois ever got into the business of supporting airports, that the Chicago City Council looked into the crystal ball and saw that the future was aviation and had the foresight to buy orchard fields and an additional 7,000 acres to build O'Hare. On the matter of constitutionality, I just want to point out, and I was concerned about this, we inquired with the John Paul Stephens professor of law at Northwestern University, Professor Thomas Merrill, to get his opinion on the constitutionality. His view is that 'the Illinois Aeronautics Act was not protected by the Tenth Amendment. The Illinois Aeronautics Act is unique. Regulation aviation capacity cannot be deemed a core or traditional State function that might be protected by the Tenth Amendment. This legislation does not require the State of Illinois to proactively regulate its citizens, it merely prohibits the State of Illinois from interfering with the city of Chicago's ability to expand capacity at O'Hare.' Mr. Speaker, I think that clearly this legislation is within the authority of the Congress.”