# Wickard v. Filburn **Status: stub — expand.** **Decided November 9, 1942 · unanimous · Jackson, J.** The high-water mark of the [[Commerce Clause]]. Roscoe Filburn grew 239 bushels of wheat over his Agricultural Adjustment Act quota and fed them to his own livestock — none entered any market, let alone an interstate one. The Court upheld the penalty anyway: wheat consumed on the farm "supplies a need of the man who grew it which would otherwise be reflected by purchases in the open market," and though one farmer's effect is trivial, the **aggregate** effect of all such farmers on interstate wheat prices is substantial. The aggregation principle is the holding that matters. It converts the commerce power from a rule about crossing state lines into a rule about economic effects, and it is the doctrinal basis for most modern federal regulation. Narrowed but not overruled: [[United States v. Lopez]] (1995) limited aggregation to **economic** activity, and [[Gonzales v. Raich]] (2005) reaffirmed Wickard for homegrown marijuana. ## See also - [[Commerce Clause]] · [[Gonzales v. Raich]] · [[Federalism Powers Crosswalk]]