This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, September 22nd, 2008. I'm Caleb Brown.

Today we bring you another highlight from Constitution Day 2008 at the Cato Institute.

Randy Barnett is a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Senior Fellow at the

Cato Institute.

In 2004, he appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue the medical cannabis case of Gonzales v Rage.

He is author of numerous books including the celebrated Restoring the Lost Constitution.

At Constitution Day, Barnett delivered the annual B Kenneth Simon lecture

and attempted to answer the question,

is the Constitution Libertarian.

This is a segment of his remarks.

The original Constitution protected the rights of life, liberty, and property against infringement

by the federal government in two different ways.

First and foremost, Congress was not given a general

legislative power but only those legislative powers herein granted referring

to the powers that were specified in Article 1, Section 8.

You don't need the Tenth Amendment.

Just look at the first sentence of Article 1,

which defines the legislative powers

and limits those powers to the powers herein granted.

That's the Tenth Amendment, only it's right in the body of the Texas. to the powers herein granted.

That's the Tenth Amendment, only it's right in the body of the text itself.

It is striking how these powers, the powers on the list in Article I, Section 8, avoid expressly restricting the rightful exercise of liberty.

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