[brityank]

... the words, in the alternative of meaning nothing or meaning everything, had the former meaning taken for granted. -- James Madison

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks; I believe we are on the same page.

My puzzlement came from the note saying "they were wasting ink" on stipulating the enumerated powers as delineated in A1S8. As both Madison and Jefferson wrote, neither envisioned that either the 'general welfare' or 'commerce clause' would step beyond the bounds that A1S8 stipulated.

This would appear to make Article 1 Section 7 irrelevant by association.

Not really; how valid laws and regulations, in comportment with those restrictions are instituted by the Federal government, require a method of investigation and vetting for effect. A1S7 is the best way they could come up with to ensure that all parts of the Federal government - Legislature, Administration, and Courts - were given the opportunity to follow all of the rules of the Constitution.

While we have amended, as necessary, through constitutional and lawful means certain portions of the basic Constitution, none of those Amendments changed the basic understanding of either of those two clauses, IMHO.

[gorush]

Sorry if I was obtuse, I was sarcastically referring to the current zeitgeist.