Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-806_2dp3.pdf
Page Number: 47

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

15 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

sion to exercise every power which may be alleged to be nec-
essary  for  the  common  defense  or  general  welfare.”  The 
Federalist No. 41, p. 262 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961).  Similarly,
in rebutting Patrick Henry’s warning that the Clause would 
vest a regulatory power, Governor Randolph observed: “You
must violate every rule of construction and common sense, 
if you sever it from the power of raising money, and annex 
it  to  anything  else,  in  order  to  make  it  that  formidable 
power which it is represented to be.”  3 Elliot’s Debates 600. 
Again and again, leading Federalists represented the Gen-
eral Welfare Clause simply “as qualifying the fiscal power.” 
E. Corwin, The Spending Power of Congress—Apropos the 
Maternity Act, 36 Harv. L. Rev. 548, 552 (1923) (citing The
Federalist Nos. 30 and 34 (A. Hamilton), and 41 (J. Madi-
son)).  “It was generally understood” by the Constitution’s 
ratifiers  “that  the  General  Welfare  Clause  did  not  confer 
power to regulate”; such regulatory powers were conferred
only  by  specific  enumerations  such  as  the  Commerce 
Clause.  T.  Sky,  To  Provide  for  the  General  Welfare  67 
(2003) (Sky).

Thus, even if one implausibly regards the General Wel-
fare Clause as a “Spending Clause,” it is unambiguous that 
the Clause confers no independent regulatory power.  Im-
portantly, the same holds for every other plausible textual 
anchor  for  Congress’  general  spending  power.   First,  the 
Necessary and Proper Clause is a natural candidate for the 
spending power because spending funds may be “necessary
and  proper  for  carrying  into  Execution”  the  Federal  Gov-
ernment’s  enumerated  powers.  Art.  I.,  §8,  cl.  18;  see  G.
Lawson  &  G.  Seidman,  The  Constitution  of  Empire  30
(2004)  (Lawson  &  Seidman)  (“This  ‘Sweeping  Clause’  . . . 
unquestionably includes the power to enact spending laws
that are ‘necessary and proper’ for effectuating federal pow-
ers”); K. Stith, Congress’ Power of the Purse, 97 Yale L. J.
1343, 1348 (1988) (arguing that the Necessary and Proper