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Page Number: 27.0

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TRUMP v. MAZARS USA, LLP 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

to  do  so,  it  must  proceed  under  the  impeachment  power.
Accordingly, I would reverse the judgments of the Courts of 
Appeals. 

I 
I begin with the Committees’ claim that the House’s leg-
islative powers include the implied power to issue legisla-
tive  subpoenas.  Although  the  Founders  understood  that 
the  enumerated  powers  in  the  Constitution  included  im-
plied  powers,  the  Committees’  test  for  the  scope  of  those 
powers is too broad.

“The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited;
and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the 
constitution  is  written.”  Marbury  v.  Madison,  1  Cranch 
137, 176 (1803).  The structure of limited and enumerated 
powers  in  our  Constitution  denotes  that  “[o]ur  system  of
government  rests  on  one  overriding  principle:  All  power 
stems from the consent of the people.”  U. S. Term Limits, 
Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U. S. 779, 846 (1995) (THOMAS, J., dis-
senting).  As  a  result,  Congress  may  exercise  only  those
powers given by the people of the States through the Con-
stitution. 

The Founders nevertheless understood that an enumer-
ated power could necessarily bring with it implied powers. 
The idea of implied powers usually arises in the context of 
the Necessary and Proper Clause, which gives Congress the 
power  to  “make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers, 
and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Gov-
ernment of the United States, or in any Department or Of-
ficer  thereof.”  Art.  I,  §8,  cl.  18.  As  I  have  previously  ex-
plained,  the  Necessary  and  Proper  Clause  simply  “made 
explicit what was already implicit in the grant of each enu-
merated power.”  United States v. Comstock, 560 U. S. 126, 
161 (2010) (dissenting opinion).  That is, “the grant of a gen-