State of South Dakota v. Elizabeth H. Dole, Secretary, United States Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., in Her Official Capacity

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

The State of South Dakota appeals the dismissal of its complaint challenging the constitutionality of a 1984 amendment to the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982. 23 U.S.C. § 158. The challenged amendment was enacted under Congress’s spending power, U.S. Const, art. I, § 8, cl. 1, and was intended to encourage states to raise their minimum drinking age to twenty-one. Finding no constitutional impediment to Congress’s action, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of South Dakota’s complaint.

I. Background

The law challenged by South Dakota was enacted by Congress…