​​​​​​It's generally understood that congress alone has the right to regulate Interstate commerce. The FARs and the RLA are federal laws. If every state could iset its own rules for flight crews, we'd have a giant mess. This is the kind of situation that commerce clause of the US Constitution is supposed to prevent. Right? That's what they taught us in aviation law 101. But, not so fast, turns out that there's more to this issue...

A quick Google search of US Commerce Clause shows that throughout our history there has been disagreement on how to interpret the commerce clause. Various Supreme Courts have at times expanded Congress's mandate while other Supreme Courts have sided with states rights an pulled back the power federal congress. It appears that the pendulum is swinging in the direction of states rights once again with this conservative congress. The airline industry was built on one interpretation of the commerce clause, but now it looks like everything has changed.

As organized labor, we need to look at how this court decision can advance our goals. For generations we've negotiatied under the RLA and were subject to FAR duty time limitations. Now, there's a new player in negotiations: state governments.