To what does the Commerce Clause apply?

Question

Does the commerce clause of the Constitution, as it was originally written, apply to any product or service sold in any state, or only to products and services sold from one state to another, or products and services sold from people in one state to people in another?

Answer 1

As written, it applies to "commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;"

However, the trick is the last part of Article I Section 8, which gives Congress the power "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers".

As interpreted by the Supreme Court for the past century and a half, the phrase "necessary and proper" really means "anything related in any manner, as long as there is some tenuous connection".

Because the cumulative effect of any given type of sales, all taken together, would have some impact on commerce nationwide, Congress can regulate all those sales. In practice, Congress usually only deals with those transactions that involve some type of interstate or international travel, to provide a direct (rather than tenuous) connection to their Commerce Clause authority.

Answer 2

But almost everything is traded between states (or to people from other states) so the Commerce Clause is often used by the federal goverment to impose federal laws.