A Would-be Discussion on the Commerce Clause

The interview between Bill O’Reilly and Sen. Schumer, discussed in the previous post, turned briefly to a discussion of the Commerce Clause, about which Bill O’Reilly knew nothing (more evidence of the poor understanding most Americans have of the Constitution). The Commerce Clause, Mr. O’Reilly, is found in Article I section 8 of the Constitution. It gives Congress (note, Congress, not the President) the power to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several states.” It has been used by Congress to expand the power of the Federal Government far beyond what was originally intended by the framers.

In this interview, Schumer says Justice Thomas is far out of the mainstream because he believes that unless a product actually crosses state lines, Congress cannot regulate it under the Commerce Clause. “No one says that,” Schumer claims. Well, no one but Justice Thomas and the Constitution. I don’t want to go off on a tangent here so I’ll try to keep it short. Article I section 8 describes what are called the “enumerated powers.” While state governments have general powers (meaning they can do whatever is not prohibited by the Constitution, see Amendment X) the Federal Government has only those powers granted to it by the Constitution. Since the purpose of Article I section 8 is to place strict limitations on federal powers, it stands to reason that the section should be interpreted as tightly as possible. Therefore, Congress can only exercise the powers listed, and whatever implied powers are necessary to carry out those powers. So, Justice Thomas is justified in his opinion.

Let me illustrate it further. Let’s say I murdered my neighbor. While my crime is certainly a heinous crime, it is not a federal crime. The federal government would only become involved if I attempt to escape justice by crossing state lines (or if the murder was committed on federal property). If this is where we draw the line between state and federal jurisdiction for a crime such as murder, certainly it should be the same place we draw the line for the regulation of commerce.

It is immensely important to the health and welfare of our nation and us, the citizens, that we embrace federalism again. As I have said before, more power shifting to the states means more power shifting to the people, and that is the best way of protecting our rights and liberty.

–J.E. Heath
per-fidem.org

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