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All of the powers that a municipality wields are limited in scope and specifically granted through the state charters and laws that actually created those citie

All of the powers that a municipality wields are limited in scope and specifically granted through the state charters and laws that actually created those cities. A city can’t usurp the power of the state that created it nor can it create new ones itself. Cities, especially compared to states and the federal government, are very limited and ephemeral legal entities that can be carved up, amalgamated, renamed, or dissolved at the pleasure of their state governments. My question would be, does the city have the right to demand this information from Uber? I don’t think that they do. I’d like to see this decided in court.

snagglegaggle 7y ago
This is true, but keep in mind the experience of many people is at odds with this. Municipalities de facto wield huge authority through their control of the police and tend to never be challenged. As an extreme but rather common example, there are still locales in the south US that couple religious functions with their public schools and other government offices. Sporadically someone with the knowledge and means will be able to challenge the local government up to the state level, but until that happens the local government can run roughshod over community members (if they don't just force them out).