[Jacquerie]

. . . it’s as wacky as the 1942 Wickard v. Filburn ruling, in which a farmer was fined under interstate commerce regulations for raising grain for his own cows.

By 1942, FDR had appointed eight of the nine Scotus justices. By Wickard, in a boldfaced usurpation, Scotus seized regulation of intrastate commerce from the States.

Questions: If the States still appointed Senators, would federal courts have dared to steal a power reserved to the States? Absent the 17th, would the 1930s Senate have consented to the appointment of judges hostile to the 10th and enumerated powers? Would FDR have bothered to nominate such judges in the first place?

The 17th does not get the discredit it deserves.

[arthurus]

The 17th was the edge of the abyss. It has been a long fall but if there is a bottom we are close.