What did the Founders have in mind when they gave Congress the power to “regulate commerce”?

Professor Randy Barnett outlines the three types of commerce that Congress is authorized to supervise. Professor Barnett explains that once Congress moves beyond regulating commerce itself to also regulating any interstate activity that involves commerce, the powers of the federal government expand exponentially.

Professor Randy E. Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

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