Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump · ¶148

This new exception to the major questions doctrine would have (enormous) consequences hard to reconcile with the Constitution. Article I, § 8, vests in Congress many powers that touch on “foreign affairs.” Some of those powers were expected to be (and are) the “principal objects of federal legislation.” The Federalist No. 53, p. 333 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison). They include not only the power to impose tariffs, cl. 1, but also the power to establish uniform rules of naturalization, cl. 4, appropriate money for armies, cl. 12, and define and punish offenses against the law of nations, cl. 10. Under the dissent's view, all these legislative powers and more could be passed wholesale to the executive branch in a few loose statutory terms, no matter what domestic ramifcations might follow. And, as we have seen, Congress would often find these powers nearly impossible to retrieve. See…

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