Medical Marijuana and States Rights

James Ostrowski, a Buffalo, N.Y., attorney and columnist for LewRockwell.com, told CNSNews.com that acting on a warped interpretation of the Commerce Clause, Congress has far exceeded the powers originally granted to it by the Constitution. The Commerce Clause, he said, was originally designed to prevent state governments from enacting prohibitive trade tariffs.

“It was basically designed to create more or less of a free market,” Ostrowski said. “It was really more of a negative thing, to prevent the states from screwing around with commerce. It wasn’t anything like, ‘Let’s let the federal government be some general government regulating commerce;’ that wasn’t the point. The point was to create a relatively free market among the states.”

In his opinion, Ostrowski said the Interstate Commerce Clause only grants Congress the power to regulate the sale of goods or services across state lines. If it really did grant Congress the power to regulate any sort of action that affects commerce, as courts have generally ruled since Franklin Roosevelt’s “court packing scheme,” then the idea of limited federal powers would be pointless.

“A broad interpretation swallows up basically all the prerogatives of the state and local governments,” he said. “It’s an excuse for totalitarianism.”