In 1994, Congress enacted the VAWA to combat inadequacies in the judicial system’s protection of women. In a 1998 decision, the Fourth Circuit held unconstitutional VAWA’s Section 13981, which creates a civil rights remedy allowing victims of gender-motivated violence to sue their attackers in Federal or State court. The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari to consider the constitutionality of this remedy. The article reviews the scope of violence against women; earlier legislative attempts to deal with violence against women; Congress’s authority to regulate intrastate activity, such as violence against women, which has a substantial effect on interstate commerce; Congress’s authority to regulate non-economic activity; federalism concerns; the scope of Congress’s authority to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment; discrimination in State legal systems and States’ denial of equal protection; and Congress’s choice of remedy in responding to the failings of State legal systems. Notes