Is Federal Infrastructure Spending Unconstitutional?
The federal government can fund infrastructure in just three specific categories.
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Under the Constitution, Regulating Marijuana is Mostly a State Concern
Congress may not constitutionally regulate or prohibit in-state growing, processing, or use of marijuana.
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Thomas Jefferson on the Misuse of the Commerce and General Welfare Clauses
Barely 8 months before he died, Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Virginia politician William Giles about the threat posed by the usurpation of states rights by a growing federal power. He identified federal powers claimed under the commerce and general welfare clauses as especially dangerous.
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Thomas Jefferson on Congressional Abuse of Commerce and Welfare
Even by 1825, Thomas Jefferson was fearful that the growing central powers of the federal government were encroaching upon those of the states.
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The Commerce Clause: Not a Micromanaging Tool
The misapplication of the commerce clause stems from a redefinition of the word “commerce.” Mike Maharrey explains.
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James Madison: Veto Message on the Internal Improvements Bill
March 3, 1817: As his last official act as President, Madison vetoes a bill that would provide federal funding for building roads and canals throughout the United States. The President finds no expressed congressional power to fund roads and canals in the Constitution, and he believes that the federal government should not encroach upon matters reserved to state governments.
DetailsThe Meaning of the Commerce Power and Congress’s and the Courts’ Use (And Abuse) Of It
Rob Natelson outlines the intended scope of the power, how he reached his conclusions, and how the Supreme Court has stretched the Commerce Power far beyond its intended scope.
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Federal “Tort-Reform” Bill Unconstitutional
Title V of the Republican bill to “repeal and replace Obamacare” – with its tort-reform provisions contains some of the same constitutional problems that led 27 states to challenge Obamacare.
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Commerce Power: “To Regulate,” not “Prohibit”
Today it is taken for granted that Congress’s power “to regulate . . . Commerce among the several States” includes the power to shut interstate markets down. That is why, for example, Congress is understood to have the power to ban the possession and use of marijuana, even though twenty states have expressed contrary preferences, either for the medicinal or recreational use of the drug. This Article argues that as a matter of constitutional history and theory both, this familiar assumption about congressional power is wrong.
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Obamacare and “Commerce:” Does A Include Not-A?
Rob Natelson on the eve of the Supreme Court’s decision over Obamacare’s individual mandate
DetailsNot Everything is “Interstate Commerce”
The states must stand up and say, “No! We will no longer sit back and allow you to push us around!”
DetailsTo “regulate” Commerce means more than to “make it regular”
It’s not just progressives who push myths about the Constitution…
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