Federal Powers Under the Commerce Clause

Report Outline
Enlargement of Federal Powers as an Issue in 1936
Early History of the Commerce Clause
Supreme Court Interpretation of Commerce Clause
Commerce Clause Cases Under New Deal

Enlargement of Federal Powers as an Issue in 1936

Decisions by the supreme court at its 1935–36 term holding the Agricultural Adjustment Act and other New Deal legislation unconstitutional may cause the Roosevelt administration to sponsor an amendment or amendments to the federal Constitution broadening the powers of the federal government to deal with social and economic questions on a national scale. This was suggested in a speech by Secretary of Commerce Roper, September 17, which was widely publicized.

If practical experience … proves conclusively that the federal government does not have the proper authority to maintain the public welfare and provide, a democratic distribution of benefits [Roper said], it must be the inescapable responsibility of leadership to clarify that issue for the American people so that they may, through the means provided in the Constitution itself, express their collective will.

Terming the right of amendment “the heartbeat of our constitutional system,” he declared that “the first requirement of a progressive society is a progressive Constitution.”