The Constitution Up in Smoke

The Declaration says that the government enjoys only those “just powers” delegated to them by the people. Through the Constitution, the American people gave certain limited powers to the national government and reserved the rest to the states or the people. Yet Congress, with the Supreme Court’s help, has dramatically expanded its power to regulate Americans’ lives through a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause. In this episode, Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together Casey Mattox and Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett tell us about Wickard v. Filburn and Gonzales v. Raich, which transformed the Commerce Clause into a national problem-solving clause.