Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s recent interview with the Wall Street Journal in which he stated “no provision” in the Constitution allows Congress to regu…
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper 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.
— Article I Section 8 Clause 18 US Constitution
Under this clause congressional power encompasses all implied and incidental powers that are “conducive” to the “beneficial exercise” of any enumerated power. This is established by the SCOTUS in 17 US 316 McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). This includes any power enumerated in Article III of the US Constitution which is what establishes the third branch of Government, the Judicial branch.
Alito is just trying to play semantics with the term “regulation”. In that “regulation” has a formal understanding of deriving from rule making and not legislating. But no member of Congress is pitching that we need some executive or legislative office extending a regulatory power over the court. Congress wishes to establish by fiat a code of conduct that the Justices must abide by.
And by the exact same clause in the Constitution, Congress has the right to open investigations into anything that they may legislate upon, including this.
The biggest question is can Congress compel the Justices to divulge any information. And the answer is something we’ve really been needing ANYWAY. We have laws to properly identify crime. We need either Congressional rules or actual laws, that indicate what’s an impeachable offense. Congress has the ability to pass a law that if a judge doesn’t come clean about their dealings, that the Judge is to face an automatic impeachment vote.
That’s the part where Congress gets wishy washy on it. Because if a Judge isn’t coming clean about their dealings and we have such a law, suddenly all the members of Congress have to go on the record for “do I approve of underhanded dealings?” But YES, Congress absolutely has the power to “regulate” the Justices. The Founders absolutely intended for Congress (for better or worse) to be the branch that’s supposed to keep all the other branches from being corrupt, and it’s up to the voters to keep Congress from being corrupt. That’s how we made this form of Government.
Necessary and proper clause:
— Article I Section 8 Clause 18 US Constitution
Under this clause congressional power encompasses all implied and incidental powers that are “conducive” to the “beneficial exercise” of any enumerated power. This is established by the SCOTUS in 17 US 316 McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). This includes any power enumerated in Article III of the US Constitution which is what establishes the third branch of Government, the Judicial branch.
Alito is just trying to play semantics with the term “regulation”. In that “regulation” has a formal understanding of deriving from rule making and not legislating. But no member of Congress is pitching that we need some executive or legislative office extending a regulatory power over the court. Congress wishes to establish by fiat a code of conduct that the Justices must abide by.
And by the exact same clause in the Constitution, Congress has the right to open investigations into anything that they may legislate upon, including this.
The biggest question is can Congress compel the Justices to divulge any information. And the answer is something we’ve really been needing ANYWAY. We have laws to properly identify crime. We need either Congressional rules or actual laws, that indicate what’s an impeachable offense. Congress has the ability to pass a law that if a judge doesn’t come clean about their dealings, that the Judge is to face an automatic impeachment vote.
That’s the part where Congress gets wishy washy on it. Because if a Judge isn’t coming clean about their dealings and we have such a law, suddenly all the members of Congress have to go on the record for “do I approve of underhanded dealings?” But YES, Congress absolutely has the power to “regulate” the Justices. The Founders absolutely intended for Congress (for better or worse) to be the branch that’s supposed to keep all the other branches from being corrupt, and it’s up to the voters to keep Congress from being corrupt. That’s how we made this form of Government.