Richard Epstein on the Vanishing Constitution

Libertarian law professor Richard Epstein has a column up at the Hoover Institution web site giving two examples of the way the Supreme Court has imaginatively rewritten the Constitution — the "cruel and unusual punishments" language in the Eighth Amendment and the Article One taxing power. Regarding the taxing power, Professor Epstein writes, "the vital element in this clause is that it prohibits any transfer payment from one group of individuals to another, as those cannot serve the 'general welfare of the United States.'"