Sen. Mike Lee explains how this one misinterpreted clause of the Constitution could make Congress' power unlimited (Video)

There's a big problem with that in that since 1937, as I explain in my book, the Supreme Court has interpreted one provision of the [Constitution] ... Article One Section 8 Clause 3, also known as the Commerce Clause -- the part that gives Congress the power to regulate commerce, or trade, between the states with foreign nations and with Indian tribes -- the Supreme Court has interpreted the Commerce Clause since April 12, 1937 so broadly that it's almost open-ended.

In other words, the Supreme Court since 1937 his said that Congress may regulate not only interstate commercial transactions and channels, or instrumentalities of interstate commerce like interstate airways, airwaves, waterways and so forth, but but also may regulate any activity that when measured in the aggregate has a substantial effect on interstate commerce.

Now if all of that has put you to sleep, or if you're thinking what on Earth is all that legalese, it basically means Congress can regulate anything it wants -- as long as it can identify some kind of a hook, some kind of a connection to interstate commerce. Which in turn means that in effect the power of Congress is unlimited. Which in turn means in effect that there's almost nothing left of the Tenth Amendment.

Well, I think that's a big problem, and I think we need to restore the Tenth Amendment so that it means something again. The only way to do that is to restore the concept that the individual powers granted to Congress are in fact limited. So we need to focus the attention to the public back on the Commerce Clause, on what it was intended to do, what it what is there to do.

• What the opulence in Washington D.C. says about the faithfulness of our lawmakers to the Constitution
• Whether the Constitution is a mere piece of parchment
• The significance of Alexander Hamilton on the Constitution and his support of monarchism
• The Establishment Clause/RFRA
• The 4th Amendment, NSA and how privacy and national security go hand-in-hand
• The REINS Act to keep in check an out of control federal bureaucracy
• The senator's defense of the power of the purse, and the government shutdown
• Cause for optimism for conservatives and libertarians, and whether or not a Republican president in 2016 will repeal and replace Obamacare and reverse executive amnesty

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