WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has elected not to hear Ohio’s appeal of a decision overturning a state law regulating blocked railroad grade crossings, WFIN radio reports, leaving stand precedent that local regulation is preempted by federal regulation of interstate commerce.
Ohio’s Supreme Court had struck down the law, which prohibited railroads from blocking grade crossings for more than five minutes [see “Ohio Supreme Court strikes down blocked-crossing law,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 18, 2022]. The state asked the federal court to review that decision, with a group of state attorneys general also asking the Supreme Court to take the case, arguing that earlier rulings have misinterpreted federal law, which sets Surface Transportation Board authority to address matters of rates and practices but says nothing about safety [see “Kansas attorney general joins group asking Supreme Court to review …,” News Wire, Dec. 23, 2022.]
The Supreme Court last year asked the federal government to file a brief offering its view of the case, which court observers took as a sign that justices were at least considering accepting the appeal; the U.S. Solicitor General responded in November with a filing supporting the view that federal law blocks state action [see “U.S. solicitor general says federal law preempts state regulation …,” News Wire, Nov. 28, 2023].
States or local jurisdictions would now need action by Congress to address blocked-crossing issues. No current federal regulations exist on the matter.
Years ago the Supreme Court ruled against Arizona’s maximum train length law and state laws about minimum crew sizes (California), both supposedly related to safety.
Agree railroads should be federally regulated. It also works in reverse. A whole lot of what the uber-corrupt federal government regulates isn’t remotely within federal powers per the Constitution. Read the 10th Amendment.
Not happening. The average politician, bureaucrat, or judge hates the limits the Constitution puts on their absolute power.
“Blocked Crossings?”… How about answering this issue with “Infrastructure” ? If the taxpaying citizens feel they are suffering; then let the ‘Poilitical CLASS’ answer the citizen complaint by either providing a way ‘over’ or ‘under’ the offending problem ?
The problem isn’t the railroads which were there first. It’s governments inability to plan around them. But the so called “leaders” are never held responsible for their failures.