`To Prescribe Certain Measures'

From a reader: “As a steady and appreciative reader of your blog, I thought you might get at least a grin out of the fact that Samuel Johnson is cited in the opinion issued yesterday. His definition of `regulate’ is cited in the discussion of what the framers of the Constitution meant when using that term in the Commerce Clause.”

In short, Johnson defines “regulate” in his Dictionary of the English Language as “to adjust by rule or method,” “to prescribe certain measures” and “to direct.”

He defines “sophistry” as “fallacious reasoning.”