Professor Hamburger on Spending Power and Its Excesses

Mark discusses Professor Hamburger’s latest guest post for the Volokh Conspiracy, “Before Judging Vaccines, the Court Should Judge Itself.” 

In the post, Professor Hamburger explains that the Constitution leaves the federal government much power to spend through its enumerated powers, but does not give Congress a general spending power. Such a move was considered by the Constitutional Convention but clearly abandoned. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court says that Congress has a general spending power, thereby giving Congress a power to spend that exceeds even its inflated power to regulate.

Anonymity for Plaintiffs Suing Their Regulators

Mark examines the issue of anonymity for plaintiffs suing their regulators.