Caminetti v. United States

During the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, the U.S. Congress began to criminalize interstate commerce deemed harmful to society in general. Among the prohibitions were impure food and drugs, stolen automobiles, prostitution, and child labor. Lawmakers relied on two provisions of Article I of the U.S. Constitution to legitimize these statutes: the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause. Farley Drew Caminetti was convicted of violating one of these laws, a verdict the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently upheld. ...