Special Interest Groups Legislation and the Judicial Function: The Dilemma of Glass-Steagall

This article examines and analyzes the Glass-Steagall Act (the Act), which separates commercial banking from investment banking and concludes that the most plausible explanation for the passage of the Act derives from a theory that recognizes the role of special interest groups in influencing legislative outcomes. It follows ineluctably from the application of this theory to the Glass-Steagall Act that judges, when called upon to interpret the Act, will face a virtually insurmountable burden due to the vast dichotomy between the ostensible legislative intent and the actual motivations of Congress