A Comment on District Court Originalism

My earlier post on Judge Vinson’s opinion seems to have caused a lot of confusion, so I thought I would try again to express my concerns with Judge Vinson’s opinion a bit more clearly.

The core problem, I think, is that Supreme Court doctrine has strayed far from the original meaning of the scope of federal power granted by the Constitution. Today’s constitutional doctrine permits a scope of federal power that is much broader than the original meaning of the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper clause would allow. When interpreting the scope of federal power, then, you need to decide what you will follow: The original meaning or case precedents. As I read Judge Vinson’s opinion, he mixes the two. Judge Vinson jumps back and forth between purporting to apply Supreme Court precedents and purporting to interpret the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper clause in light of its original meaning. Judge Vinson spends about half of the legal analysis on original meaning and about half of the legal analysis on precedent, and he seems to treat both as important. In the critical passage on the Necessary and Proper clause, on page 62-63, Judge Vinson relies primarily on original meaning, specifically Federalist No. 33.

Thus, for example, on page 60, Judge Vinson rejects one of the arguments of amici on the ground that the result of the amici’s argument “would, of course, expand the Necessary and Proper Clause far beyond its original meaning, and allow Congress to exceed the powers specifically enumerated in Article I. Surely this is not what the Founders anticipated, nor how that Clause should operate.” And critically, on Page 62-63, Judge Vinson writes that the mandate cannot be constitutional because “[i]f Congress is allowed to define the scope of its power merely by arguing that a provision is ‘necessary’ to avoid the negative consequences that will potentially flow from its own statutory enactments, the Necessary and Proper Clause runs the risk of ceasing to be the ‘perfectly harmless’ part of the Constitution that Hamilton assured us it was [in Federalist No. 33], and moves that much closer to becoming the ‘hideous monster [with] devouring jaws’ that he assured us it was not.”

If you are an originalist, as many VC readers seem to be, this is a very appealing argument. If you’re a libertarian, as many VC readers seem to be, this is also a very appealing argument. But there’s a technical problem here that I want to draw out: Judge Vinson is only a District Court judge. Under the principle of vertical stare decisis, he is bound by Supreme Court precedent. See, e.g, Winslow v. F.E.R.C., 587 F.3d 1133. 1135 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (Kavanaugh, J.) (“Vertical stare decisis — both in letter and in spirit — is a critical aspect of our hierarchical Judiciary headed by ‘one supreme Court.'”) (citing U.S. Const. art. III, ยง 1). And when Supreme Court precedent conflicts with original meaning, Judge Vinson is bound to follow the former. Of course, that doesn’t mean a District Court can’t discuss the original meaning of a constitutional provision in his opinion. But where the original meaning and case precedents conflict, the judge is stuck: Because he is bound by Supreme Court doctrine, the judge has to apply the doctrine established by the Supreme Court and has to ignore the original meaning.

If you’re going to take that view, I think you have to confront the doctrinal test that the U.S. Supreme Court offered in a majority opinion just a few months ago in United States v. Comstock:

[I]n determining whether the Necessary and Proper Clause grants Congress the legislative authority to enact a particular federal statute, we look to see whether the statute constitutes a means that is rationally related to the implementation of a constitutionally enumerated power.

It seems to me that when the Supreme Court says that this is what “we look to see” when determining if a power falls within the Constitution, then that is a doctrinal test to which a trial judge is bound under the principle of stare decisis. That’s especially true when a Justice wrote a concurring opinion treating it as a doctrinal test, and no one corrected him. At the very least, this is language worth mentioning to explain why it’s not a test you’re think you’re bound to as a trial judge. But Judge Vinson doesn’t even mention this language. Instead, he focuses on Alexander Hamilton and Federalist No. 33. Given the gap between the original meaning of the scope of federal power and the case precedents, I don’t think this approach is persuasive for a District Court judge to take.

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