Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority v. Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise, Inc.

Today the Court strikes down yet another innovative and otherwise lawful governmental experiment in the name of separation of powers. To reach this result, the majority must strain to bring state enactments within the ambit of a doctrine hitherto applicable only to the Federal Government and strain again to extend the doctrine even though both Congress and the Executive argue for the constitutionality of *278the arrangement which the Court invalidates. These efforts are untenable because they violate the “‘cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of [a]…