The General Welfare Clause Is Not a Blank Check
If you ask somebody what constitutionally authorizes the federal government to take various actions to address the coronavirus, you generally won’t even get a direct answer. People will tell you, “This is an emergency, the government has to act.” Of...
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Which Hamilton Are You Talking About?
We often hear people referred to as “Hamiltonians.” But that term always makes me wonder, which Hamilton do you mean? I recently had the opportunity to speak to a class at the West Virginia University School of Law. The subject was the constitutionality of...
Thomas Jefferson Rejects the Power of Congress to “Do Whatever Evil They Please”
Thomas Jefferson rejected the “anything and everything” view of the general welfare clause that so many hold today. Conventional wisdom holds that the Constitution’s “general welfare” clause authorizes the federal government to do...