D.2. Limt on Commerce Power

This Power may not be used as a pretext to regulate non-commercial conduct or expand federal authority over private, local, or personal activity unless such activity is plainly commercial and within the definition above.

This limitation only applies to laws passed after this Charter is ratified.

This brief clause serves two purposes. First, it formally grounds the limitations of commerce and separates it from Material Interstate Legislation, as I mentioned in the commentary at the beginning of this subsection.

Second, it prevents wholesale repeal of entire sections of established laws that were based on the broadened understanding of the original Commerce Clause in the Constitution of 1789. The Civil Rights Act is still in force. Environmental laws aren’t suddenly repealed. In short, legal continuity is preserved. Their justifications don’t have to meet the newer, tighter definition of commerce.