How does the Constitution of the United States affect business?

Answer 1

Here are some of the "ways" found in the Constitution:

-Article 1, section 8 states, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States".

So, basically congress can affect ones business by imposing various taxes on various sales of various products from various businesses. A cigarette business for example probably hates the fact that the Constitution gives permission to congress to impose the heavy sales taxes that are currently in effect.

-Amendment 5 states, "…nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

So if for some reason, a business has to have its building seized and demolished due to a highway being built, the government will be responsible to find a new, equally lucrative location for that business, build a new structure, and to provide compensation funds to all the workers on the payroll whom were temporarily unable to work.

-Amendment 4 states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

So, if a business is successfully making a large sum of money under the table by selling illegal substances (like in "Batman Begins", how the teddy bears sold by the stuffed animal company were really just cover ups for the bad guys to smuggle their drugs), and if the feds cannot prove that the company is involved in illegal activity to yield a "reasonable search", they cannot search through the stuffed animals to confirm a hypothesis. Thus the scandalous business can continue to thrive.

There are other ways in which the Constitution of the United States affects businesses.

One of the major ways is through the commerce clause (Article 1, Section 8, clause 3).

Basically, whenever a product is shipped, sold, or purchased across state lines, it falls under the authority of Congress to regulate said goods.

Another way the Constitution affects businesses, albeit indirectly, is through our courts. Courts serve as a way to balance competing interests. Or a better analogy is that courts are the pressure valve on a pipe, designed to keep the pipe from exploding.

For example, Munn v. Illinois (1877) was a case involving a local Chicago grain warehouses and a state law requiring maximum rates for grain elevator uses. The grain houses in question conducted their business without acquiring the proper licenses from Cook County and the City of Chicago and as a result were fined. Munn filed suit claiming that the state law violated his business' Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The courts; however, ruled that when a private property serves a public interest or effects the public good, then the government has a right to regulate that private property. This is just one example of how the constitution affects business.