It’s not about the usual hot button issues that make headlines but businesses of all kinds should be looking at the Supreme Court this week. It will be hearing a case brought by Wachovia Corp. to shut down unwelcome inquiries from bank regulators in Michigan, reports Bloomberg.

The case involves a national bank that is unhappy with the stricter regulations the state has put on its Michigan mortgage subsidiary. The context here is that the Bush administration has claimed that federal agencies can "pre-empt" state law because the Constitution makes federal law supreme. All kinds of areas have long had both state and federal regulation: States regulated what went on inside their borders and what the feds did not directly regulate. Now, the Wachovia case could add a whole new dimension of federal power.

Attorneys for Charlotte, N.C.-based bank are making apocalytic claims about what will happen with a patchwork of regulations if their client loses. Hmmm. Hard to see that we’ll be like Europe before the EU. All it will mean is that a whole raft of state regulations will continue in place. It won’t really expand regulation all that much.

And while this case is about constitutional law, the bank’s case seems more about getting what it sees as a better regulatory environment because of who controls the levers. If the ruling does away with state mortgage and other consumer-protection legislation, the onus will be well and truly on the federal government to make sure there are strong and strongly-enforced national standards in lots of areas. Using the pre-emption doctrine across the board to limit any kind of consumer-protection lawsuit, will only create real pressure for strong national regulaton. Band and other business might think about taking some care in what they wish for.