To: robertpaulsen
No, not "anything". The courts have ruled that, "Congress can certainly regulate interstate commerce to the extent of forbidding and punishing the use of such commerce as an agency to promote immorality, dishonesty, or the spread of any evil or harm to the people of other States from the State of origin."
And Justice Thomas has dissented that, Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anythingand the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.
I think he was right about that.
Interstate trade was not left to be destroyed or impeded by the rivalries of local government.
Yes, but while safety and welfare is the role of the state, it is not the exclusive role of the state, especially when the threat to safety and welfare comes from without.
I fail to see how patients smoking pot under California law in California, or killing themselves with a doctor's assistance in Oregon under the medical laws of that state, will "destroy or impede interstate trade" or represent a "threat to my safety and welfare" way over here in Florida.
My short list of things which are NOT interstate commerce:
Growing your own wheat
Growing your own cannabis
Growing your own machine gun
Being Near a School With a Gun
Rape
Assisted Suicide
Partial Birth Abortion
Possession of kiddie porn
Certain California toads
The Supreme Court disagrees with me (well, except about the toads, I guess) but I'm undeterred. ;-)
To: publiusF27
"And Justice Thomas has dissented that ..."Well, now we're into something beyond interstate commerce.
If an intrastate activity substantially affects Congress' interstate regulatory efforts, then Congress has the power, under the Necessary and Proper Clause, to legislate that intrastate activity. Without that power, states and individuals could undermine and subvert Congress. Surely you don't think that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind?
"I fail to see how patients smoking pot under California law in California, or killing themselves with a doctor's assistance in Oregon under the medical laws of that state, will "destroy or impede interstate trade" or represent a "threat to my safety and welfare" way over here in Florida."
Hmmmmm. That's a condition that seems to affect only those who are in favor of legalizing drugs.
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