Enumerated Powers corrupted into Enumerated Liberties
An inversion of powers
The Inversion of Constitutional Principles: The Incalculable Damage of Wickard v. Filburn
The Supreme Court’s decision in Wickard v. Filburn (1942) is among the most harmful rulings in American constitutional history. It fundamentally changed the Constitution’s structure, transforming the government’s role from one with enumerated powers, limited and clearly defined, to one where the federal government that assumes near-limitless power. This shift wasn’t just a mistake; it set the stage for an era of overreach that corrodes individual liberties and state sovereignty to this day. The United States when from a government of enumerated powers to one of enumerated liberties where the final bulwark protecting our freedoms became the bill of rights instead of the entire constitution plus the bill of rights. The new Trump administration should direct the DOJ to find cases and seek to reverse this case, without which the entrenched DC swamp will run out the clock by litigation, slow walking, and otherwise obstruction of any attempt to rein them in. The Corporate Transparency Act being a prime example. Given the reversal of the Chevron deferral in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the time is ripe to retake liberty from the Federal Government and return it to individuals.
The Founders designed the Constitution to limit federal authority by granting Congress specific, enumerated powers (Article I, Section 8.) This structure was intentionally crafted to prevent tyranny by ensuring the federal government could not act beyond its narrow authority. Wickard flipped this balance. The case involved a farmer, Roscoe Filburn, who grew wheat for personal consumption and the wheat never left his farm or entered the marketplace. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that even this activity could be regulated by Congress because, in the aggregate, it might affect interstate commerce. This “aggregate effects” doctrine effectively erased any meaningful limits on federal power and expanded the Commerce Clause to encompass everything. Almost any activity, no matter how local or trivial, could now be swept under federal jurisdiction if it could be tied—even indirectly—to commerce. The impact was to make much of the constitution meaningless because all limits on the commerce clause were gutted and everything was on the table to be controlled from DC. This was the goal of the new deal of course and they enabled it by destroying the constitution's limits on power.
This ruling marked a turning point: instead of the federal government justifying its actions as within its enumerated powers, individuals were now forced to prove their liberties were beyond the government’s grasp. In effect, personal freedom became the exception, not the rule. Wickard expanded the commerce clause from one where it says “regulate” as in (at the time) meaning “make regular” (e.g. consistent) into one where they mean they can do anything.
Corrosive Effects on Federalism and Liberty
The consequences of Wickard are vast. It enabled the federal government to extend its reach into areas that were once the domain of states and individuals, unraveling the principle of federalism and diminishing state and individual sovereignty.
Federalism Undermined: The framers envisioned states as coequal sovereigns, capable of managing their own affairs while the federal government focused on limited national concerns. Wickard upended this balance, turning states into subordinates that operate under the thumb of an ever-expanding federal regulatory state.
Liberties Eroded: The decision shifted the burden of proof from the government needing to justify its actions to individuals needing to defend their rights. Activities once considered inherently private—growing your own food, for example—became subject to federal oversight. This erosion has only grown, with recent cases like Gonzales v. Raich (2005) using Wickard to justify federal drug laws against state medical marijuana policies.
Unleashing the Regulatory State: The ruling paved the way for the modern regulatory state, where federal agencies oversee everything from land use to healthcare. This expansion has blurred the distinction between interstate commerce and private, local activity, leaving few aspects of life untouched by federal authority.
What makes Wickard so deeply troubling is how it betrayed the Constitution’s core promise: protecting individual liberty by limiting government power. The ruling granted Congress powers the framers never intended, enabling it to intrude into nearly every facet of life.
The harm isn’t just theoretical. Wickard allows the federal government to regulate even the most personal choices under the guise of commerce. It replaced the framers’ vision of a government constrained by the Constitution with one that assumes control unless specifically barred. In doing so, it turned the relationship between citizens and their government on its head, undermining the foundation of liberty.