Brian Gallimore's Blog

A good question to ask any federal law-maker spewing off we need to ‘do something’ to fix whatever manufactured problem of the day is (the problem they themselves likely contributed to) is “Where in the US Constitution do you derive the authority to create this law?”  You will likely here one of two answers, “necessary and proper” or “interstate commerce”.  Both of these answers (if you can actually get an answer) are big red flags that the person answering the question is full of shit and has no business holding an office that requires a basic understanding of the US Constitution.  (like these two guys for example)  I’ll explain why for the first case here:

Background:

Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution is the most important part of the document.  It lists out what Congress has the power to do, known as ‘enumerated powers’.  The design was purposefully very restrictive on what powers were designated.  The last listed item is Clause 18, known as the ‘necessary and proper’ clause:

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

There is a very important word in that sentence that most people just ignore.

foregoing : (adjective)just mentioned or stated; preceding.

Congress has the power to make laws regarding the list of explicitly stated items in the same section and that’s it!  Every law passed that is not mentioned there, or elsewhere in the document (including amendments) is unconstitutional.