Regarding the proposed anti-trans-fats law for New York City’s restaurants:

Mr. Bookman said he expected the limit to be particularly disruptive to some of the nation’s largest restaurant chains, like McDonald’s, which use trans fats in highly standardized recipes that could not easily be changed for New York City.

He said a legal challenge might be made on the grounds that the local restriction violates federal rules on interstate commerce, since some of the chains prepare their French fries and other menu items in other states, using trans fats in the process, before freezing them and shipping them to restaurants in New York.

“I don’t believe New York City has the authority” to interfere with the interstate food chain, Mr. Bookman said.

That’s total bull. The proposed regulation might violate libertarian principles, but in no way does it usurp the federal role in interstate commerce. A state is perfectly free under its police powers to ban the sale of trans fats within its borders. If Bookman were correct, a state couldn’t ban anything at all.