Plaintiffs in a pending court case that could thrwart the future of Dulles Rail are arguing that a recent Supreme Court decision supports their position.
In their complaint before the U.S. Court for Virginia’s Eastern District, plaintiffs and Northern Virginia residents John Corr and John Grigsby argue that the use of Dulles Toll Road revenue to pay for rail to Dulles airport and other nearby projects constitutes an illegal tax levied by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the interstate authority that controls the toll road.
In a recent court filing, Corr and Grigsby compare Dulles Toll Road users to Carol Bond, a Pennsylvania woman found guilty of taking revenge on her best-friend-turned-husband’s-lover by spreading caustic chemicals on places the ex-friend would touch, like her door handles. According to the plaintiffs, both Bond and the toll road drivers have been subject to over-reachings of federal power.
In the case of Bond, the Supreme Court didn’t quite disagree. She was convicted under a federal anti-terrorism law making illegal the possession of chemicals for a non-peaceful purpose, instead of under less severe state laws prohibiting assault. On Thursday, the Supreme Court sent her case back to the 3rd Circuit U.S. Appeals Court, requiring it to address Bond’s claim that being tried under the federal law violated the 10th Amendment, which states that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved for the states.
Corr and Grigsby pounced, saying that the decision shows that they too can claim that compacts such as the one that established the airports authority’s powers do not have “some special license to override the Constitution’s other arrangements for, and limitations on, federal power.”
Lawyers for the airports authority reacted quickly, saying the Supreme Court’s decision in fact offers no support for the plaintiff’s “novel constitutional theories.” As opposed to the plaintiffs, Bond was convicted under the law she is challenging, and sentenced to six years in prison. Plaintiffs Corr and Grigsby are simply ticked off about having to pay tolls, they said.
The case is in the hands of Judge Anthony Trenga, who told lawyers on May 26 that he’d issue a decision “shortly.”
