Commerce Clause

We recall from one of our earlier chapters the case Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), which helped clarify the commerce clause for not just the state of New York but for all the states and the federal government. Of course, it's just one of the many, many Supreme Court decisions that have helped us understand that power of Congress. As for today's international trade, the United States is so intimately intertwined with world markets, which are so complex (some fraught with tremendous risk too) that it's all Congress can do to fairly and carefully regulate trade with the world. The power to make regulatory details can be difficult to exercise if decision makers lack expert knowledge, so Congress does empower executive branch agencies to make administrative law on trade, domestic and international both.