Gilmore case...Who can make laws?

[Eric Cordian]

TD writes:

> This describes the "Government" as creating secret laws. But, theoretically, 
> only the congress and the Senate can create new laws, correct? The Executive 
> branch has never been empowered to create laws, and I'm thinking these 
> travel laws did not go through congress or the senate.

The big loophole here is "regulation."  Congress passes a law declaring 
that some governmental organization has the power to regulate something, 
and then that organization may create rules, impose financial penalties, 
and send people to jail under a plethora of laws against obstructing 
organizations blessed with regulatory powers.

Congress, for instance, does not make every single law governing the 
behavior of pharmacutical companies, or every single law governing the use 
of the radio spectrum.  Instead, it makes one law granting the FDA or FCC 
regulatory powers, and exercises only oversight with regards to their 
subsequent behavior.

An argument that the TSA cannot make rules, even secret rules, regulating 
air travel, because it is not Congress, will not pass the giggle test in 
court, unless you can show that the TSA exceeded its regulatory powers.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"