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How to Talk to A Liberal: Federalism Prevents the Abuse of Power

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One of the features of the Constitution designed to protect individuals from the abuse of power by government is the creation of federalism. Federalism is the sharing of sovereignty between the states and the national government, sovereignty being, “the ultimate authority to govern […],” (Patterson, 2008, p. 69). This structure of government was innovated for the purpose of creating a strong national government for the United States, while still providing restraints to enable the states to maintain some of their sovereignty. By dividing authority between these two entities, federalism creates a check and balance system between federal and state governments to prevent an abuse of power. According to Alexander Hamilton, “If [the people’s] rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress,” (Patterson, 2008, p. 71).

This feature of the Constitution has been the cause of much debate in several prominent Supreme Court cases over the past 5 years. For example, in 2012 the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona immigration law attempting to take federal law enforcement into the state’s hands, (Washington Post, 2012). Another example is found in the 2013 Supreme Court decision regarding California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage inside the state’s borders. The court refused to take up the case, thereby, “[leaving] in place a lower court’s decision that the ban is unconstitutional,” (Washington Post, 2013). Both of these controversies have opened up a national dialogue as to where states’ authority ends and federal authority begins.

References

Barnes, R. (2012, June 25). Supreme Court upholds key part of Arizona law for now, strikes down other provisions. Washington Post. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-on-arizona-immigration-law/2012/06/25/gJQA0Nrm1V_story.html.

Barnes, R. (2013, June 26). At Supreme Court, victories for gay marriage. Washington Post. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court/2013/06/26/f0039814-d9ab-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html.

Patterson, T. E. (2008). The American Democracy. New York City, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Can Obama Use the Commerce Clause to Implement his Agenda?

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There are two ways by which the Commerce Clause is interpreted: broad application and narrow. These application types are used based on the definition of commerce believed to be attached to Congress’s power to “regulate commerce,” (Art. 1, Sec 8.3). Those who believe that commerce should be defined as any “gainful activity” (Barnett, 2001, p. 4) tend to apply the broad application to the interpretation of the Commerce Clause. On the other hand, those who believe that commerce is defined as merely the transfer of goods and services gravitate toward the narrow application of this clause. Below is a brief argument as to why the broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause should not be used.

The primary reason why the broad interpretation of the commerce clause should not be used is because it falls outside the boundaries of the original intent of the Founders. Their intent was obviously to institute a limited government, and the notion that any “gainful activity” should have the opportunity of being regulated goes far beyond any reasonable definition of the word “limited.” Gainful activity could be applied to virtually anything—from production, to agriculture, to your child’s lemonade stand, all of which could affect interstate commerce in one way or another. If the broad interpretation of the commerce clause is to be used on such a widespread and regular basis, the U.S. should cease to refer to itself as a limited government.

In contrast, the narrow interpretation of the commerce clause reflects both the meaning of the language used at the time of the creation of the Constitution as well as the original intent of the Framers. Limited government is more appropriately reflected when the definition of commerce is also limited to the transfer of goods and services. Also referred to as “intercourse,” this definition specifies the type of interstate economic activity that Congress is allowed to regulate, rather than leaving the interpretation open to any interstate economic activity as is the case with the broad interpretation. For these reasons, I believe that the narrow interpretation is more in keeping with the original intent of the Framers when they created the Constitution.