Charles B. Rangel Congressional Gold Medal Act

The power of Congress to bestow a gold medal upon an individual as a mark of distinguished service resides within its enumerated authority to lay and collect taxes and provide for the general welfare, as the minting and presentation of such a medal involves the appropriation of public funds for a purpose consistent with national honor and gratitude. This act is moreover a means plainly adapted to legitimate ends of government, falling under the necessary and proper clause, which empowers Congress to employ all means requisite for carrying its powers into execution, without infringing upon any …

The powers of Congress are strictly enumerated in Article I, Section 8, which grants no authority to award honorary medals to individuals or to direct the striking and presentation of such medals at public expense. This act constitutes an unauthorized expenditure of federal funds and recognition beyond the delegated powers, infringing upon the principle that all non-delegated powers reside with the states or the people under the Tenth Amendment. From first principles of limited federal authority, such ceremonial acts, however well-intentioned, exceed constitutional bounds and erode individual …

The proposed act to award a Congressional Gold Medal to an individual member of Congress is not among the enumerated powers granted to the federal legislature in Article I, Section 8. Such a bestowal of personal honor and expenditure of public funds lacks any foundation in the specific powers delineated therein, such as laying taxes for the common defence or general welfare, coining money, or raising armies. Rather, it appears an exercise of favor toward a particular person, which invites the mischief of factions that divide the body politic, as I warned against. Appropriations from the treasu…

The Congress possesses ample authority under the Constitution to enact legislation authorizing the minting and presentation of a gold medal in recognition of distinguished service. Such an act is a legitimate and appropriate means, plainly adapted to a constitutional end, namely, the execution of Congress's enumerated powers over the coining of money and the regulation of its value. As established in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), where the creation of a national bank was upheld as 'necessary and proper' for carrying into execution fiscal powers vested in the general government, so too here the…