Commerce Clause
How One Landmark Case Shaped the Commerce Clause
In some ways, John Marshall’s opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden expanded federal power using expansive definitions of various words in the Commerce Clause. But future courts ignored an important limiting principle he included in his opinion. The commerce clause...
Three Supreme Court Cases that Twisted the Commerce Clause
Despite the words that make up the commerce clause and necessary and proper clause remaining constant over the past two centuries, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of their meaning and reach has not. Over the years, the SCOTUS has used the clause to vastly expand...
Read the Commerce Clause in the Light cast by the other Parts of our Constitution
The parts of our federal Constitution are so interrelated that it is impossible to understand a single clause therein without considering all of the other provisions of our Constitution. Article I, §8, clause 3, US Constitution, states: “The Congress shall have Power...
Where were all the Constitution’s defenders when the feds raised the smoking age?
On December 20, President Trump signed legislation purporting to impose a single national age of 21 for selling tobacco products. Obviously, the measure reduces the freedom of millions of Americans who are legally adults in almost every other respect—including...