The Judicial Originalism and Reform Act

112TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H.R. ___________ JUDICIAL ORIGINALISM AND REFORM ACT

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to clause 7 of Rule XII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the following statement is submitted regarding the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the accompanying bill or joint resolution.

This bill is enacted pursuant to the power conferred by the United States Constitution upon each house of Congress by:

• (a) Article 3, Section 1 and 2 of the Constitution which authorize Congress to regulate appellate jurisdiction to the supreme Court. Quoted as follows is the relevant clause: "In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." This Act includes Regulations that Congress is making.

H.R. ________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. __________ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on .

A BILL

To require courts, which may be appealed to the supreme Court, and as established under Congressional authority of Article III of the Constitution, to use strict construction of key Constitutional terms including general welfare, necessary and proper, and inner state commerce when making rulings on matters of Constitutionality. The Congress finds that:

• (1) The people of the several states comprising the United States of America created the federal government to be their agent for certain enumerated purposes and nothing more.
• (2) The courts used strict construction on a myriad of terms until the early 1900s, at which time, the courts began vessels for political partisanship, rather than keeping with the Constitution's original design and purpose.
• (3) Each power delegated to the federal government by the United States Constitution encompasses only that power as it was understood at the time it was delegated, subject only to an expansion or limitation of that power by a subsequent amendment to the constitution.
• (4) The United States Constitution authorizes the United States Congress to exercise only those powers enumerated in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, as well as certain other powers delegated to Congress by subsequent amendments to the constitution. Article VI makes supreme the Constitution and only laws in pursuance to the Constitution and requires the individuals at all levels and in all branches of government to support the Constitution.
• (5) The power delegated to the United States Congress to regulate commerce among the several states under Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution was not intended by its drafters or understood by those who ratified it as an authorization for the

federal government to assume vast powers not directly related to or merely affecting interstate commerce, thereby infringing on the sovereignty of the states and the liberties of the people. The Commerce Clause only allows regulation of actual commerce among the states or between foreign nations. Under color of the Commerce Clause, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government have adopted and implemented countless measures not authorized by the language or original intent of the clause, many of which usurp the duties and responsibilities reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment.

• (6) The power delegated to the United States Congress to make all necessary and proper laws under Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution was not intended by its drafters or understood by those who ratified it to be a delegation of unlimited power

to the federal government to do anything it considers necessary and proper. Instead, the Necessary and Proper Clause was intended and understood to authorize Congress to only enact laws actually necessary and proper to execute a power specifically vested in the federal government by the Constitution, without which the vested power would be impossible to exercise.

• (7) The power delegated to the United States Congress to provide for the general welfare of the United States under Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution was not intended by its drafters or understood by those who ratified it to authorize Congress to enact any legislation that it considers good or desirable. Instead, the General Welfare Clause was intended and understood to ensure that Congress, when exercising an enumerated power, does so in a manner that serves all citizens well and equally.
• (8) In addition to the limitations imposed on the power of the federal government by the United States Constitution as originally ratified, the powers delegated to the federal government were further restricted at the insistence of the people through the

ratification of the Bill of Rights. As such, this act specifically rejects any federal claim that any provision of the Bill of Rights authorizes new or expanded authority that may be exercised by the federal government.

• (9) The federal government has acted in a manner inconsistent with the language, intent, and spirit of the United States Constitution in direct violation of the Constitution and the contract between the states and their people, and the United States. This act rejects

the unauthorized and excessive abuse of power by the federal government that infringes on the rights of the states and the people and that unconstitutionally undermines, diminishes, and disregards the balance of powers between the states and the federal government established by the Constitution.

Construction Instructions

In accordance with the United States Constitution, the federal government is requiring appellate courts established by Congress under the authority established under Article III to use specific construction instructions especially when confronted with potentially ambiguous terms. Those analyzing arguments to determine constitutionality shall not rely upon federal judicial precedent in the determination of whether a federal action is unconstitutional. Rather, they shall use in their reasoning the plain meaning of the text in light of the definitions at the time of the framing and the overall structure of the Constitution. Where meaning is ambiguous, they should use contemporaneous understandings of the Constitutional doctrine in question, as evidenced by:

• (1) the ratifying debates in the states;
• (2) the understanding of the leading participants in the Constitutional Convention;
• (3) the understanding of the doctrine in question by the various state constitutions in existence when the Constitution was adopted;
• (4) the understanding of the first Congress;
• (5) the background understanding of the doctrine in question under the English constitution of the time; and
• (6) statements of support for natural law and natural rights by the framers and the philosophers admired by the framers.

Appeals

Given that the supreme Court has often, itself, rules on matters in direct contradiction with the purpose of the united States Constitution, appeals to its jurisdiction are regulated by a common law court of regular citizens ______ todo: add more here.

Transition

This bill is not intended to impact existing cases, until new cases are heard by the courts.