Congress may regulate commerce 'among the several States', the enumerated power that carries more modern federal law than any other. Workplace standards, civil rights accommodations, drug laws, and environmental statutes all rest on it.
Read the clause itself, verbatim and in plain language, in the in-app Constitution.
Congress
Congress legislates; the fights are about reach. The Supreme Court reads the power to cover the channels and instrumentalities of interstate commerce and activities that substantially affect it, a line drawn expansively since the New Deal but not infinitely: United States v. Lopez (1995) and NFIB v. Sebelius (2012) both found its edge.
Constitution Annotated, Commerce Clause
Terms to know: Commerce ClauseCongress's power to regulate commerce 'among the several States', the constitutional basis for much of modern federal law.Full definition in the glossary · enumerated powersThe specific powers the Constitution lists for Congress, chiefly in Article I, Section 8. The federal government holds these listed powers, not a general power to legislate.Full definition in the glossary · federalismThe division of power between the national government and the states: each sovereign in its sphere, sharing the same territory and citizens.Full definition in the glossary
