It was the rest of the law I was describing as window dressing not the ruling. As for Scalia he’s about 35 years behind the curve. 55 MPH speed limit was the end of state sovereignty.
You bring up a good point and one I have been ringing an alarm on for some years. Such laws as the 55 mile-an-hour speed limit had one limitation: the states did not have to abide by it, but they would lose federal funding for roads.
All these federal agencies can dictate to the states because they have the power to cut off federal funding for roads, housing, food stamps, welfare, health care, etc., etc.
The problem inherent there is that the federal govt. is taking too much $$$ out of our local communities so that we cannot provide the services we need by raising local taxes - Taxed Enough Already!
In the end it all comes back to the same issue: a federal govt that is run-away with all freedom and liberties.