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Giving Power to Congress 3114 Views


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Description:

Would it be necessary and proper for Congress to mandate a national nap time? Probably not, but we wouldn't mind it.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:06

Giving Power to Congress, a la Shmoop.

00:09

Who doesn't love a little power?

00:11

Unfortunately, power in the wrong hands can lead to some very, very bad things.

00:15

Just ask Hitler...

00:16

... or Mussolini...

00:17

...or Sauron.

00:20

So when our Constitution was written and our union formed...

00:22

...our founding fathers gave a lot of thought as to the power they would be giving to Congress.

00:28

Because no one wanted to wind up with a Mount Doom situation on their hands.

00:32

There are two basic types of powers that were granted to Congress -- enumerated and implied.

00:39

Enumerated powers were those that were directly stated, while implied powers were more, well... implied.

00:49

Congress' implied powers are stated in the "Necessary and Proper Clause" of the Constitution...

00:54

...where it says that Congress has the power "to make all Laws which shall be necessary

00:59

and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested

01:05

by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or

01:09

Officer thereof."

01:11

Whew. Those boys sure did like their long sentences, didn't they?

01:17

Essentially, they were giving Congress a bit of wiggle room. If there were certain laws

01:21

they deemed "necessary and proper" in order to carry out their other Constitutional

01:25

rights, they could enact them.

01:27

It would be like if your parents had asked you to babysit your baby brother, and they

01:31

gave you the right to deny him dessert after dinner.

01:35

While it wasn't implicitly stated, if your brother did reach for a slice of cake anyway,

01:39

you might deem it "necessary and proper" to tie him to the couch with bungee cord.

01:43

Isn't wiggle room swell?

01:46

Okay, those are the implied powers... what about enumerated powers?

01:51

You got it. Here's the shortlist of the rights Congress was given by the Constitution

01:55

in Article 1, Section 8:

01:58

They were granted permission to borrow money for the United States...

02:02

...create and collect taxes, as long as those taxes are imposed equally from state to state...

02:07

...impose restrictions on commerce...

02:10

...establish a Post Office...

02:11

...declare war...

02:12

...maintain a Navy and provide supplies for them...

02:15

...manage, train, and arm a militia...

02:17

...and identify and enforce crimes at sea.

02:21

So, as you can see, they had their fingers in quite a few pies.

02:25

Which you could probably tell just by looking at most of them.

02:33

But, despite all that power, Congress was not given complete control...

02:36

...thanks to Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution...

02:39

...which laid out a handful of laws Congress could not make.

02:43

Congress was specifically forbidden from controlling immigration... until 1808, anyway.

02:49

...forbidden from passing any ex post facto laws, meaning laws that could result in the

02:53

arrest of a person who committed an illegal act... back before it was made illegal...

02:58

...and forbidden... for the most part... from suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which

03:02

states that a person needs an arrest warrant to be taken into custody.

03:10

They were also forbidden from hogging the Congressional Playstation, but

03:13

that was more of a verbal thing.

03:15

Sounds like Congress' do's and don'ts are pretty clearly defined, right?

03:19

Eh, not so much. Unfortunately, language can always be interpreted in various ways.

03:25

Strict constructionists argue that Congress should interpret the Constitution very literally

03:29

and narrowly... in other words, they only have the powers explicitly stated in the Constitution.

03:35

Broad constructionists are on the flip side of the coin. They say that, because the Constitution

03:40

grants Congress implied powers, we should focus more on the intent of the Constitution.

03:46

For example, the internet wasn't around in the 1700s, but does that mean Congress

03:50

shouldn't have any power to regulate it?

03:53

Broad constructionists would argue it's implied that Congress should be able to make

03:57

laws concerning the internet. Even if there is no specific "Google Clause" in the

04:02

original doc.

04:06

So basically, Congress' powers depend on what your definition of "necessary and proper" is.

04:11

Sadly, no matter what your viewpoint...

04:12

...today's Congress lacks the one power that arguably supersedes all others...

04:17

...the power to get anything done.

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