Constitutionality of Federal Crimes

[Sean Wilson]

... that is amazing. I confess not to understand it. What is the constitutional rationalization for prosecuting drugs? I had always thought that once the commerce clause interpretation became so wide open, that the federal criminal police state had been constructed right behind it. That the one was sort of a blocker for the other. I mean, just as statutes in the 1900s began addressing the general welfare, so, too, did federal crimes begin addressing broad activities. I had no idea that there existed the idea today that the federal government could not prosecute for murder. That is completely amazing.
 
Let me ask: if murder affects commerce in the way that discrimination does, why couldn't they pass a law criminalizing it?  Doesn't it affect transit? Are not the guns moved in trade? 
 
P.S. Thanks for the information. 
 
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq. 
Penn State University
Website: http://ludwig.squarespace.com/home/
SSRN papers: http://ssrn.com/author=596860
Conference papers: http://ludwig.squarespace.com/research-agenda/


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