Relationship Between The Necessary And Proper Clause

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How can a government designed in the eighteenth century deal with modern issues? The solution is in the Necessary and Proper clause of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the elastic clause, which allows Congress to make laws it needs to carry out its enumerated powers. The Necessary and Proper Clause has been subject to controversy over the wording of the clause. So to what extent does the Necessary and Proper Clause grant a new power to Congress and what does the word proper mean? Under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has the power "to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof". Essentially it allows Congress to pass additional laws that are necessary and proper for carrying out its …show more content…

A lot of states didn’t like this because there was nothing in the Constitution that says Congress can do this. So the state of Maryland decided to try and get rid of it, by taxing it. So the question was can a state tax a federal bank and can Congress create a national bank that states have to live with? Chief Justice John Marshall found the Necessary and Proper Clause gave Congress the flexibility to create the bank as an aid to carrying out its enumerated borrowing and taxing powers and that Maryland’s taxation of the bank violated the Supremacy Clause. Another example of Congress’ power to make laws was the U. S. vs. Comstock case which gave a wide understanding of the Necessary and Proper Clause. In Comstock, the Court upheld a federal law that authorized the continuing detainment, under a civil commitment program, of potentially dangerous sexual offenders who had completed their prison terms. The Court found the law constitutional of government, and could be constitutionally supported by the Necessary and Proper

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