+1 for the excellent quote that is on point.

What if they legislate that π=3 or that climate change doesn't exist?

@gerrit I suppose it wouldn't matter much unless they legislate to do something (or refrain from doing something) based on those ideas. How the courts might intervene would depend on the content of that legislation.

@gerrit So mathematicians simply use another symbol when the need the "real" pi value, like $\pi_R$.

@Polygnome or switch to Tau 😀

Wouldn't Congress trying to legislate something that's reserved to the states be an example of an unconstitutional law?

OTOH, the broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause gives Congress extreme latitude.

Judging by what I was served in the US, I guess the ban on coffee consumption was already enacted

@slebetman: Which would become equal to exactly 2, making it half of pi.

@Barmar Almost nothing is reserved to the states in practice except the internal operations of state and local government, and even that is not entirely free of federal legislation.

@ohwilleke I thought the idea of federalism is that anything that isn't interstate is controlled by the individual states. I know that has been eroded by liberal interpretation of the commerce clause and federal subsidies tied to states enacting federal policies, but I think it's still the default.

@Barmar The interstate commerce power, the spending power, the tax power, the enforcement of civil rights power, national defense authority, and election regulation authority, combined, gobble up almost all exclusive state legislative authority, in practice, and most things are subject to the rational basis test, notwithstanding the theory that you correctly articulate.

The interstate commerce power, in particular, is extremely broad, and has been interpreted to include, for instance, marijuana that was grown in, sold in, and never left a given state.

@RyanM Indeed, that's the subject of this recent question: law.stackexchange.com/questions/61593/…

@ohwilleke Of course, Congress can pick and choose when to "gobble". IIRC, McConnell invoked state authority over elections as the reason for Congress not addressing election security.

@Nat Nope: the legislation says nothing about tau. And since tau is not defined as half of pi we can still use the real definition of circumference over radius