Where Does Congress’ Power Come
From?
 Article I
 The U.S. Supreme Court tells
them what they are not allowed
to do…
Powers of Congress
 Congress
has 3 kinds of power:
 Expressed – directly written in
the Constitution
 Implied – reasonably assumed
based on the expressed powers
 Inherent – nowhere in the
Constitution, but always held by
national governments
Interpretation
 There
are two major “schools of
thought” on how much power
Congress should have:
 Strict vs. Loose interpretation
Interpreting the Constitution
 Strict
Constructionist – believe that
Congress should only have the
expressed powers and no more
 limited government
 Individual liberty is most important
 Thomas Jefferson
Interpreting the Constitution

Liberal Constructionist (living constitution)
– believe that we should interpret the
Constitution loosely, so that Congress
could have more power
 Support an active, larger government
 Alexander Hamilton
I hate you.
Get out of
my face,
Dawg.
Expressed Powers: Money and
Commerce
 Congress is given the expressed
power to “lay and collect taxes”
 Tax
– charge levied by government
on people or property to meet
public needs
What are the Limits to the Taxing
Power?
be for private benefit
 Cannot tax exports
 Direct taxes must be paid to states
 Cannot
equally according to population
 All indirect taxes must be the same
across the country
2 Kinds of Taxes
 Direct
Tax – paid by the person it
is imposed upon
 Income tax, Property tax
2 Kinds of Taxes
 Indirect
tax – imposed on one
person, but paid by another
 Cigarette Tax, Gas Tax
Expressed Powers: Borrowing
 Congress
has the power “to
borrow money on the credit of
the United States”
 We do this A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deficit and Debt

Deficit – the amount of money spent
over budget that must be borrowed
this year
 Deficit for 2012 - $1.7 trillion !!!!!
Nearly tripled in less than a decade
Deficit and Debt
 Debt
– grand total of all money
borrowed and still owed to this
point, plus
 Debt
interest
in 2013 – Over
$17,100,000,000,000
Expressed Powers: Commerce


Congress has the power to “regulate
commerce with foreign nations, and
among the several states, and with the
Indian tribes”
Read only
 This
power gets used to do all
sorts of other seemingly
unrelated things
For Example:
 Passing
the Civil Rights Act of
1964, prohibiting racial
discrimination
 Building highways and freeways
 Building hydroelectric dams
 This is all a result of Gibbons v.
Ogden, 1824
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
 New
Read only
York had given Robert Fulton
exclusive rights to operate a
steamboat on the Hudson River
 Fulton gave Ogden a permit to
operate the steamboat for him
 Gibbons had a license from the
U.S. government to operate a
steamboat in the same area
What are the Constitutional Issues?
Read only
 Whose
permit is supreme?
 What does “commerce” mean?
In to Save the Day…
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
 The
court interpret “commerce”
very broadly
 Virtually all commercial
interactions
 Thus, Congress can regulate just
about anything…
Expressed Powers: Currency
 Currency
– coins & paper bills
used as money
 U.S. Currency is now legal tender
– the government requires all
people to accept it as payment
Expressed Powers: Bankruptcy
 Congress
has the
power to
“establish uniform
Laws on the
subject of
Bankruptcies”
Expressed Powers: Bankruptcy
 Bankruptcy
–
person is declared
I’ve lost
incapable everything!
of
repaying debts, so
all their assets are
distributed to the
people they owe,
and then they are
free of debt
Expressed Powers: Foreign
Relations
Declare war
 However, they
have abdicated
the power to
wage war to
POTUS
 When ???

How Congress Lost This Power
 Congress
passed the
Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, allowing
the LBJ to use troops
without Congress’
permission
 Tried to take power
back with War Powers
Resolution (1973)
Read only
Why Would Congress Do This?
 Congress
doesn’t want to accept
responsibility for mistakes
Other Expressed Powers
 Naturalization
– setting the
rules to become a citizen
 Postal Power
 Copyrights and Patents
 Weights and Measures –
making sure they’re uniform
nationally
Other Expressed Powers
 Power
over territories – Congress
decides whether territories become
states or not
 Eminent Domain – Congress can
take private property for public
use
 Judicial Power – Congress sets up the
court system
Implied Powers
 Where
Read only
do implied powers come
from? – The Necessary &
Proper Clause
 Tells Congress they can make
any laws for carrying out their
expressed powers
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Read only but on final !!!
 First
case that tested the
Necessary and Proper Clause
 Congress created a national bank,
and Maryland hated it
 Maryland placed a tax on all
national bank transactions to try
and put it out of business
In to Save the Day…
Read only
John Marshall and the Court Say:

So long as Congress hold to the spirit of
the Constitution, are okay
Established the Supremacy Clause

Question ???????



Strict or liberal constructionist position ?
Since McCulloch, Congress has used many
implied powers
Non-legislative Powers
 Propose
Constitutional
Amendments with 2/3 vote in
both houses
 House of Reps. chooses the
president if no candidate gets a
majority in the electoral college
Non-legislative Powers
 Impeachment
–
means to bring
criminal
charges against
 Impeachment
requires majority
vote in the House
Non-legislative Powers
 After
House
votes, trial in
Senate begins…
 Chief Justice acts
as judge, Senate
acts as jury
Non-legislative Powers
A
conviction,
which would
remove the
POTUS from
office, requires a
2/3 vote in the
Senate
Executive Powers
 Appointment
–
POTUS appoints
officials with
majority approval
of Senate
Executive Powers

Treaties – President
makes treaties, but
Senate must approve
with 2/3 vote



Dr. Condi Rice
Ex-Sec. of State & NSA