{"id":2248594,"date":"2024-05-20T12:19:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T16:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-ftc-defies-the-constitution-again\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T12:26:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T16:26:02","slug":"the-ftc-defies-the-constitution-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-ftc-defies-the-constitution-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The FTC Challenges the Constitution Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-ftc-defies-the-constitution-again%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2248594&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The essay discusses\u2062 America&#8217;s shift from a government with limited \u2062federal\u200b powers to one with expanded\u200d authority \u200dthrough historical and legal examples. It \u2063highlights the Federal Trade Commission&#8217;s broad regulatory actions as symbolic\u2063 of this\u2064 drift, exemplified by recent actions like the ban on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-democrat-coalition-releases-its-economic-agenda-to-ease-burdens-on-american-people\/\" title=\"New Democrat Coalition Unveils Economic Agenda to Alleviate 'American People's Burdens'\">noncompete \u2063agreements<\/a>, bypassing traditional constitutional checks. These moves raise concerns about legislative \u2062process integrity and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/haley-expresses-doubt-trump-will-follow-the-constitution-if-reelected\/\" title=\"Haley doubts Trump's commitment to the Constitution if reelected\">constitutional adherence<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>America ratified the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/constitution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Constitution<\/a> with the understanding that the federal government would be one of limited, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/justice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"enumerated\">enumerated<\/a> powers. That understanding was quickly upended.<\/p>\n<p>Within a few decades, the commerce clause had been expanded to reach nearly every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-countries-that-escaped-poverty-by-promoting-capitalism\/\" title=\"5 Countries That Escaped Poverty By Promoting Capitalism\">commercial activity<\/a>, the necessary and proper clause had been transformed into the \u201celastic clause,\u201d and the spending and taxing powers were explicitly interpreted to allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Congress<\/a> more or less <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/regulation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"to regulate fields\">to regulate fields<\/a> beyond its constitutional bailiwick. If those participating in the ratification debates had known that \u201climited, enumerated\u201d powers meant unlimited and unchecked federal authority, they would have voted down an already controversial proposal. <\/p>\n<p>Centuries later, the country has grown accustomed to a federal government with few constitutional constraints (at least ones that are consistently and clearly enforced). Creative interpretations of the Constitution continue to expand federal authority.<\/p>\n<p>A few examples stand out. In <em>NFIB v. Sebelius,<\/em> the Supreme Court rewrote the Affordable Care Act so that a \u201cmandate\u201d could be read as a \u201ctax.\u201d In <em>Gundy v. United States,<\/em> the court upheld a delegation of Congress\u2019s legislative power to the attorney general by finding a constraining \u201cintelligible principle\u201d in the blatantly broad directive that the attorney general \u201cspecify the applicability\u201d of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.<\/p>\n<p>This is an incomplete list, but the upshot is clear: Hundreds, if not thousands, of slight deviations from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-ca-gov-overstepped-his-authority-with-covid-order-issues-permanent-injunction-restraining-newsom-from-further-issuing-unconstitutional-orders\/\" title=\"Judge Rules CA Gov Overstepped His Authority with Covid Order, Issues Permanent Injunction Restraining Newsom From Further Issuing Unconstitutional Orders\">constitutional order<\/a> imagined by the founders and agreed to by the people have accumulated and decimated the idea of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/german-chancellor-angela-merkel-discusses-german-perfectionism-amid-current-virus-struggles\/\" title=\"German Chancellor Angela Merkel Discusses German \u2018Perfectionism\u2019 Amid Current Virus Struggles\">federal system<\/a> of government. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ftc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Federal Trade Commission\u2019s<\/a> expansive regulatory agenda is perhaps the best sign of our constitutional drift. A slew of rulemaking proceedings shows how the FTC has leaned into the incredible and, to the founding generation, unbelievable amount of power that has amassed in our fourth branch of government.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC\u2019s recently finalized rule <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/fairness-justice\/2986715\/ftcs-latest-power-grab-targets-noncompete-agreements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>banning<\/a> noncompete agreements typifies its willingness to bypass constitutional safeguards if it means driving toward certain policy ends. The ban is forecasted to affect 30 million contracts, many of which involve workers in our most important industries. Regardless of whether the ban is good policy, it is a direct circumvention of how major economic and political questions are supposed to be addressed in our constitutional order.<\/p>\n<p>We all learn that a bill becomes law by going through the intentionally arduous and inefficient legislative process. The founders concluded that the deliberation, transparency, and accountability brought on by that process far exceeded the costs. Yet the ban was subject to a different, far less onerous process \u2014\u00a0one led by unelected commissioners, overseen by unknown bureaucrats, and ignored by the vast majority of the public. Despite the manifold constitutional problems associated with this process, those who agree with the policy aims of the majority of FTC commissioners have persistently and vigorously defended the commission\u2019s action. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, the FTC\u2019s efforts to expand its powers and test constitutional limits are just getting started \u2014\u00a0observers expect that within weeks, the FTC will announce a commercial surveillance rule that addresses many of the privacy- and data protection-related topics being discussed by Congress. This action is all the more concerning given that the commission is stepping on Congress\u2019s toes. The American Privacy Rights Act, which addresses many of the same topics as the FTC\u2019s likely commercial surveillance rule and is now before our elected representatives, should not have to compete with the FTC\u2019s initiative for attention.<\/p>\n<p>Our constitutional order can only drift so far from its anchor in the ideals of liberty, popular sovereignty, and federalism before it becomes unrecognizable and unsustainable. It may be the case that the FTC\u2019s priorities and policy views are worthy, in a vacuum, of broad support. That support, however, should be secondary to adhering to constitutional processes and principles. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The FTC, and every agency for that matter, should assume a stance of regulatory humility: the idea that any administrative agency is a creature of Congress and just one part of a larger constitutional system that relies on process to protect the liberty of all. It may not be efficient, but it is how our Constitution was designed and ratified. Moreover, it\u2019s how the chief proponents of the FTC thought of the agency. <\/p>\n<p>As Chairwoman Lina Khan pointed out in the FTC\u2019s annual report, President Woodrow Wilson supported the FTC, in part, because \u201cthe businessmen of the country desire the advice, the definite guidance and information which can be supplied by an administrative body, an interstate trade commission.\u201d\u00a0 What businesses do not desire and our Constitution does not accept is an FTC or any agency that usurps the power of Congress and, by extension, the power of the people.<\/p>\n<p><em>Kevin Frazier is an assistant professor at St. Thomas University College of Law. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America adopted the Constitution, envisioning limited federal powers. In time, this shifted. The commerce clause widened its scope to cover most commercial activities. The necessary and proper clause evolved into the &#8220;elastic clause.&#8221; Additionally, spending and regulatory powers expanded, diverging from the initial intent of a constrained federal government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3154,"featured_media":2248595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP22018644859682.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2248594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP22018644859682.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}