The Contemporary Republic, 1995-2013

• Author: Jack Fruchtman
• Profession: Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program in Law and American Civilization at Towson University, Maryland
• Pages: 199-200

American Constitutional History: A Brief Introduction, First Edition. Jack Fruchtman.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The contemporary republic began with the Supreme Court narrowing

the interstate commerce power of Congress. Chief Justice William

Rehnquist had long argued that Congress’s commerce clause power

was limited to the standard set out in 1937 in the Jones & Laughlin

steel case when the Court ruled that Congress possessed “the power to

control” activities that have “a substantial relation to interstate

commerce.” The result was that Court overturned several federal

criminal laws. Rehnquist’s successor as chief, John G. Roberts Jr., did

not seem have the same interest in limiting federal commerce power

except in one major case: the Court ruled on the Patient Protection

and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 that Congress had no authority

to use its interstate commerce to pass the law. Roberts upheld the law,

however, on the basis of Congress’s tax and spending power.

The period was also one when many Americans argued that fewer

governmental regulations and lower taxes would stimulate the economy.

In the aftermath of the New Deal, some argued that government had

grown too big, taxes were too high, and regulations were too intrusive.

The welfare state republic, they argued, departed from free market

principles. Social welfare programs with entitlements like social security

and Medicaid were expensive when government dealt with poverty and

illness. Despite the criticism aimed at them by free market advocates,

these programs remained intact in the twenty‐first century. No attempt

to eliminate them or downsize government succeeded.

Part 5

The Contemporary Republic,

1995–2013