[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 79 (Friday, June 3, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. PRICE of North Carolina:
       H.R. 2136.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation under 
     Article I, Section 8, clauses 1 (``[to] provide for the 
     common Defense and general Welfare of the United States'') 
     and 10 (``[t]o define and punish . . . Offenses against the 
     Law of Nations'').
       However, the Supreme Court has held that Congress's 
     authority to legislate with respect to matters outside U.S. 
     boundaries is based on national sovereignty in foreign 
     affairs and, consequently, is not limited by the enumerated 
     powers delegated to Congress. For example, in United States 
     v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936), the Supreme Court 
     ruled that the ``broad statement that the federal government 
     can exercise no powers except those specifically enumerated 
     in the Constitution, and such implied powers as are necessary 
     and proper to carry into effect the enumerated powers, is 
     categorically true only in respect of our internal affairs.''
       On March 30, 2011, in United States v. Brehm, the United 
     States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia 
     upheld the constitutionality of the Military Extraterritorial 
     Jurisdiction Act (MEJA, on which the current legislation is 
     modeled), on this basis.