Rob in Roxborough State Park Colorado
Most of the “prestige” law journals have shown no interest in publishing my articles, including those that later turned out to be influential. This is not surprising, since year after year those journals remain firmly in the hands of the legal Left. But the prestige journals have shown considerable interest in publishing articles that cite my work for their own purposes or, more often, attempt to rebut it.
A recent example is a student-written piece in Yale Law Journal, which argues that the Constitution granted the federal government very broad power over the Indian tribes. The piece is partially a response to my research on the the intended scope of the Indian Commerce Clause. My findings, later cited by Justice Clarence Thomas, were that although the Indian Commerce Clause is often relied on as a basis for broad congressional power over Native Americans, that provision is narrower than commonly believed.
In part, the Yale article merely confirms what I had acknowledged: The principal basis of federal and tribal interaction was not meant to be Congress’s Commerce Power but federal authority over foreign affairs (especially treaties). However, the author also purports to show that when “Commerce” pertained to the Indians that term was broader than when it pertained to foreign nations or the states, because commerce with the Indians was “understood through the lens of cross-cultural diplomacy.” One problem with this thesis, though, is that trade with foreign countries also was “understood through the lens of cross-cultural diplomacy.” Another problem is that interconnection did not necessarily result in federal power. In other words, the mere fact that Congress had authority over Activity X and that Activity X affected Activity Y normally did not give Congress power over Activity Y.
Still another difficulty with the author’s thesis is that varying the meaning of the same use of the same word in the same clause (“Commerce” in the Commerce Clause) violates founding-era rules of legal interpretation. When the framers meant to describe different things in the same clause, they generally used different words rather than repeat the same word (e.g., “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”).
Perhaps the most problematic aspect of the Yale article is its attempt to find evidence of original meaning through the activities of the administration of George Washington. As I explain in detail in my book, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said And Meant, for several reasons it is highly risky to deduce the understanding during the ratification process (1787-90) from events that occurred only later and therefore were unknown to the ratifiers themselves.
