Are all Laws Necessary?

With more laws than any one person can read in multiple lifetimes, it is fair to say America is over-regulated Are all Laws Necessary? If anyone were to take the time to read the Federal Register of Laws, in which all laws passed by Congress are recorded since its first session in 1789, and they read an average of 700 pages per week, it would take them over 25,000 years to read them all, a feat impossible in multiple lifetimes. This number becomes even more daunting every two years, since Congress passes an average of 2,000 bills into law during each session. In light of this impossible task, the old adage “ignorance of the law is no excuse” is completely unreasonable. As a matter of fact, this quantity of laws makes unwitting lawbreakers out of every person living in America. Consequently, to claim all these laws are necessary is either a gross exaggeration or an outright lie, because in many cases Congress has exceeded their constitutional authority in passing them. Many laws have been passed with the idea Congress has the constitutional authority “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper…”[1] At first glance, this clause seems to give Congress unlimited authority to pass nearly anything they choose, but this is not the case. The remainder of the clause states “…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.” This means Congress only has authority to make laws necessary and proper for executing the powers expressly defined in the Constitution. In order to better keep Congress from passing unnecessary laws, it is important for citizens to understand the powers delegated to Congress, so they can comprehend when Congress has exceeded them. If Congress is attempting to pass laws not directly connected to a delegated power expressly written in the Constitution, they have exceeded their authority and need to be held accountable. To be succinct, Congress has a few powers delegated to it in other sections and articles of the Constitution, but most of its powers are defined in Article I Section 8. Specifically, these powers include collecting taxes, spending, borrowing, regulating commerce, establishing rules for citizenship, establishing bankruptcy laws, coining and regulating the value of money, standardizing weights and measures, punishing counterfeiters, establishing post offices and post roads, passing copyright and patent laws, establishing inferior federal courts, defining and punishing crimes on the high seas, declaring war, raising and supporting Armies and providing and maintaining a Navy, establishing rules for the armed forces, calling forth the militia, administering the seat of government (Washington DC), and administering federal property. If one were to take the time to read Article I Section 8, they would see the framers of the Constitution were very specific about the powers they granted to the national government. For example, in addition to the power to collect revenue they also granted the power to pay the debt on specifically authorized expenditures. If they had only granted Congress the power to collect taxes without the authority to spend the collected revenue, Congress would not have spending power. One might assume the power to spend is implied, but the constitutional delegates left nothing to anyone’s imagination by including the power to pay the debts of the United States. Accordingly, interpreters of the Constitution must use extreme caution when assuming an implied power exists in the absence of a specified one. Many of the delegated powers are also limited by specified uses connected to them. For example, outside of a declaration of war, Congress can only call “forth the [armed forces] to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;” and Congress has exclusive legislative authority over property for the “Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings.” These purposes restrict Congress from calling forth the armed forces, without a declaration of war, to only when they are upholding the Constitution to execute it laws, suppress rebellions or defend the nation from an invasion. Additionally, Congress only has exclusive legislative authority over property, outside of the District of Colombia, when the property is for national defense purposes. Any laws executing delegated powers for purposes other than those specifically defined are unauthorized. Other limitations on Congress’s legislative powers are found in the original intent and definitions of the words used in the Constitution. The meaning of words in society may change over time, but the meaning of words in a contract cannot; they must be defined according to those who agreed upon them at the time of the agreement. Any interpretation, other than original intent, is a breach of our national contract, because it changes the Constitution without going through the constitutionally mandated amendment process from Article V. For example, the definition of ‘establish’ in the Constitution means to “to set up or make firm,” therefore based on original intent, Congress is only authorized to set up post offices, not to run them. Some may wonder why the Supreme Court does not restrain Congress if it routinely exceeds its constitutional authority. Although, the Supreme Court is a check and balance to the authority of the other two branches at the national level, it was not created to be the watchdog of them. Citizens and State legislatures were the watchdogs of the national government prior to the 17th Amendment. Now it is solely the responsibility of the citizens since the State legislatures have been cut out of the process and both Congressmen and Senators are elected via popular vote. The Supreme Court generally only gets involved if there is a contentious law passed in which lawsuits challenge the constitutionality of the law, like the Affordable Health Care Act. With more laws than any one person can read in multiple lifetimes, it is fair to say America is over-regulated. A solution to this could entail engaging Congress in reviewing all laws in the Federal Register to ensure each one passes strict original intent criteria and repealing those that do not meet such a standard. In the short run, this would keep them from passing more unnecessary and improper laws. In the long run, Congress could be restricted from passing unnecessary laws by a constitutional amendment requiring them to debate and vote on every clause of every bill on the floor of both the House and the Senate prior to sending the bill to the President. In addition to slowing down the legislative process, which would hopefully limit Congress to focusing on constitutional requirements, the public would also have a better record on where their Congressman or Senators stand on every aspect of bills, including earmarks, passed through Congress to ensure that all laws passed are necessary and proper. [1] US Constitution Article I Section 8