Mike Thompson: “We are making it much more complicated than it needs to be. We are talking about whether or not this is a good idea. The…”

“We are making it much more complicated than it needs to be. We are talking about whether or not this is a good idea. The sponsors of these two amendments always come forth with good ideas. I will not debate that these are possibly a couple of those good ideas. I am afraid we are not permitted to get that far because not every good idea is constitutionally permissible. I simply do not see our authority, even if we want to do this under the Constitution, to say to a State court, having lifted the preemption that was there before, that in its deliberations and in its lawsuits it will be trying, that we have, in a government of enumerated powers, the authority to reach in and do that. This is not raising an army. This is not copyrights and patents. This is not interstate commerce. I simply see no basis of authority for the Congress to do this, whether it is a good idea or not in our system of enumerated powers.”