The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

• Taxing Power
  • Overview of Taxing Clause
  • Historical Background on Taxing Power
  • Uniformity Clause and Indirect Taxes
  • Taxes to Regulate Conduct
  • Intergovernmental Tax Immunity Doctrine
• Spending Power
  • Overview of Spending Clause
  • Historical Background on Spending Clause
  • Early Spending Clause Jurisprudence
  • Modern Spending Clause Jurisprudence Generally
  • Clear Notice Requirement and Spending Clause
  • Anti-Coercion Requirement and Spending Clause
  • General Welfare, Relatedness, and Independent Constitutional Bars

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

• Borrowing Power of Congress

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

• Overview of Commerce Clause
• Meaning of Commerce
• Meaning of Among the Several States in the Commerce Clause
• Meaning of Regulate in the Commerce Clause
• Historical Background
  • Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and Sugar Trust Case
  • Current of Commerce Concept and 1905 Swift Case
  • Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 and Grain Futures Act of 1922
  • New Deal Legislation Generally
  • National Industrial Recovery and Agricultural Adjustment Acts of 1933
  • Railroad Retirement and Securities Exchange Acts of 1934
  • Public Utility Holding Company and Bituminous Coal Conservation Acts of 1935
  • National Labor Relations Act of 1935
  • Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937
  • Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
  • Dual Federalism and Commerce Clause
• Modern Doctrine
  • United States v. Lopez and Interstate Commerce Clause
  • Channels of Interstate Commerce
  • Persons or Things in and Instrumentalities of Interstate Commerce
  • Intrastate Activities Having a Substantial Relation to Interstate Commerce
  • Limits on Federal Regulation of Intrastate Activity
  • Regulation of Activity Versus Inactivity
  • Regulation of Interstate Commerce to Achieve Policy Goals
  • Civil Rights and Commerce Clause
  • Criminal Law and Commerce Clause
• Dormant Commerce Clause
  • Overview of Dormant Commerce Clause
  • Historical Background on Dormant Commerce Clause
  • Early Dormant Commerce Clause Jurisprudence
  • Modern Dormant Commerce Clause Jurisprudence Generally
  • General Prohibition on Facial Discrimination
  • State Proprietary Activity (Market Participant) Exception
  • Congressional Authorization of Otherwise Impermissible State Action
  • Facially Neutral Laws and Dormant Commerce Clause
  • Local Laws and Traditional Government Functions
  • Foreign Commerce and State Powers
  • State Taxation
    • Overview of State Taxation and Dormant Commerce Clause
    • Early Dormant Commerce Clause Jurisprudence and State Taxation
    • Modern Dormant Commerce Clause Jurisprudence and State Taxation
    • Nexus Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce
    • Apportionment Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce
    • Discrimination Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce
    • Benefit Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce
• Foreign
  • Overview of Foreign Commerce Clause
  • Instruments of Commerce
• Indian Tribes
  • Scope of Commerce Clause Authority and Indian Tribes
  • Restrictions on State Powers, Indian Tribes, and Commerce Clause

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

• Naturalization
  • Overview of Naturalization Clause
  • Post-1900 Naturalization Doctrine Generally
  • Historical Background
    • British and American Colonial Naturalization
    • Constitutional Convention and Naturalization
    • Early U.S. Naturalization Laws
    • Naturalization as an Exclusive Power of Congress
    • Collective Naturalization (1800–1900)
  • Children
    • Citizenship and Children Born Abroad
    • Naturalization and Rogers v. Bellei
    • Naturalization and Sessions v. Morales-Santana
  • Denaturalization
    • Denaturalization (Revoking Citizenship) Generally
    • Early Denaturalization Jurisprudence
    • Limits to Congress's Denaturalization Power
    • Unlawful Procurement of Citizenship
    • Concealing Material Facts When Procuring Citizenship
  • Expatriation
    • Expatriation (Termination of Citizenship) Generally
    • Development of Expatriation Doctrine
    • Expatriation Legislation
    • Judicial Recognition of Congress's Expatriation Power
    • Judicial Limits on Congress's Expatriation Power
• Bankruptcy
  • Overview of Bankruptcy Clause
  • Historical Background on Bankruptcy Clause
  • Scope of Federal Bankruptcy Clause
  • Expansion of the Scope of Bankruptcy Power
  • Constitutional Limits on Bankruptcy Power
  • Restrictions on State Bankruptcy Power

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

• Congress's Coinage Power

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

• Congress's Power to Punish Counterfeiting

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

• Historical Background on Postal Power
• Power to Protect the Mails
• Power to Prevent Harmful Use of Postal Facilities
• Exclusive Power Over Post Offices as an Adjunct to Other Powers
• Restrictions on State Power Over Post Offices

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

• Overview of Congress's Power Over Intellectual Property
• Federal Power Over Trademarks
• State Regulation of Intellectual Property
• Historical Background
  • English Origins of Intellectual Property Law
  • Framing and Ratification of Intellectual Property Clause
• Copyrights
  • Authorship, Writings, and Originality
  • Limited Times for Copyrights and the Progress of Science
  • Copyright and the First Amendment
• Patents
  • Inventorship and Utility
  • Patent-Eligible Subject Matter
  • Constitutional Constraints on Congress's Power Over Granted Patents

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

• Inferior Federal Courts

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

• Historical Background on Maritime Crimes
• Definition of Maritime Crimes and Offenses
• Extraterritorial Reach

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

• Congressional War Powers
  • Overview of Congressional War Powers
  • Breadth of Congressional War Powers
• Declare War Clause
  • Overview of Declare War Clause
  • Declarations of War vs. Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF)
  • Legislative and Executive Branch Views on the Declare War Clause
  • Enemy Property and Congress's War Powers
  • Prizes of War and Congress's War Powers
  • Historical Background
    • War Powers Before the Constitution
    • Early Debates on War Powers in the Constitutional Convention
    • Make War and Declare War at the Constitutional Convention
    • Constitutional Convention Debates on the Power to End Wars
    • Declare War Clause and State Ratification Debates on the Constitution
  • Supreme Court Jurisprudence and Interbranch Practice
    • Overview of Supreme Court Jurisprudence and War Powers
    • Quasi War with France from 1798–1800 and War Powers
    • War of 1812, Mexican War, and War Powers
    • Civil War, War Powers, and The Prize Cases
    • Civil War, and Executive and Legislative Powers
    • From the Spanish American War to World War I and Total War
    • World War II and the Use of War Powers
    • Cold War Military Action, NATO, and the United Nations
    • International Police Action and the Korean War
    • Presidential and Congressional Power in the Vietnam War
    • Post-Cold War Presidential Authority and Persian Gulf War of 1991
    • September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks and War Powers
    • Presidential Power in 2003 Iraq War and Other 21st-Century Operations

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

• Historical Background on Congress's Authority to Raise and Support Armies
• Time Limits on Appropriations for Army
• Conscription

To provide and maintain a Navy;

• Congress's Naval Powers

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

• Care of Armed Forces
• Trial and Punishment of Servicemen (Courts-Martial)
• Trial and Punishment of Civilians and Dependents (Courts-Martial)

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

• Congress's Power to Call Militias

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

• Congress's Power to Organize Militias

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And

• The Capitol
  • Historical Background on Seat of Government Clause
  • Seat of Government Doctrine
• Places Purchased
  • Overview of Places Purchased Clause
  • Federal Jurisdiction Over Places Purchased
  • State Jurisdiction Over Places Purchased

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 in any Department or Officer thereof.

• Overview of Necessary and Proper Clause
• Historical Background on Necessary and Proper Clause
• Necessary and Proper Clause Early Doctrine and McCulloch v. Maryland
• Nineteenth Century Evolution of Necessary and Proper Clause Jurisprudence
• Modern Necessary and Proper Clause Doctrine
• Meaning of Proper
• Investigations and Oversight
  • Overview of Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers
  • Historical Background on Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers
  • Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers (1787–1864)
  • Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers (1865–1940)
  • Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers (1940–1970)
  • Rules-Based Limits of Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers
  • Constitutional Limits of Congress's Investigation and Oversight Powers
  • Watergate, Church, and Pike Investigations of Congress
  • Congress's Investigatory Powers Generally
  • Congress's Investigatory Powers and the President
• Immigration
  • Overview of Congress's Immigration Powers
  • English Common Law on Immigration
  • Colonial Period, Constitutional Convention, and Immigration
  • Early Federal Laws on Immigration
  • Immigration Jurisprudence (1837–1889)
  • Immigration Jurisprudence (1889–1900)
  • Plenary Power
    • Overview of Immigration Plenary Power Doctrine
    • Aliens in the United States
    • Aliens Seeking to Enter the United States
  • Modern Era
    • Overview of Modern Immigration Jurisprudence
    • Exclusion of Aliens
    • Kerry v. Din and Trump v. Hawaii
    • Federal Laws Relating to Aliens
    • Immigration-Related State Laws