Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 91

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

9 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

Indian Tribes.”  §8, cl. 3.  That power, however, came very
late in the drafting process and was narrower than initially 
proposed.  See L. Toler, The Missing Indian Affairs Clause,
88 U. Chi. L. Rev. 413, 444–464 (2021) (Toler).  At two sep-
arate points, James Madison and John Rutledge proposed 
a power to “ ‘regulate affairs with the Indians,’ ” a provision 
that  would  have  mirrored  the  Articles.    Id.,  at  447–448, 
464–465  (emphasis  added).  Neither  proposal  received
much debate, and both were rejected.  See id., at 464–466. 
Instead, the Convention opted to include Indian tribes in a
provision  that  had  initially  been  drafted  to  include  only 
power  to  “ ‘regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
among the several States.’ ”  See ibid.  The Convention thus 
expanded the Commerce Clause to the form we know today, 
empowering Congress to “ ‘regulate Commerce with foreign
Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian
tribes.’ ”  Id., at 466. 

On  top  of  those  powers,  one  more  warrants  note.  As  I 
have written previously, the Constitution vests the Presi-
dent with certain foreign-affairs powers including “[t]he ex-
ecutive  Power,”  which  includes  a  residual  authority  over 
war, peace, and foreign interactions.  See Art. II; Zivotofsky 
v. Kerry, 576 U. S. 1, 35–40 (2015) (THOMAS, J., concurring
in judgment in part and dissenting in part); United States 
v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U. S. 304, 319 (1936).
From  the  start,  Presidents  have  exercised  foreign-affairs
powers  not  specifically  enumerated  on  matters  ranging 
from maintaining the peace and issuing passports to com-
municating with foreign governments and repelling sudden 
attacks on the Nation.  S. Prakash, Imperial From the Be-
ginning  119–132  (2015).    In  his  Neutrality  Proclamation, 
for  example,  President  Washington  declared  that  the
United States would remain strictly neutral in the then-on-
going war between England and France.  See A Proclama-
tion (Apr. 22, 1793), reprinted in 1 American State Papers