The Constitution’s use of shall in other places—such as Article I, Section 1’s statement that “[a]ll legislative Powers herein shall be vested in a Congress of the United States”—has been riddled with holes. Kids are taught in school that the legislature makes laws. But as we’ve seen, so do federal agencies. And when federal agencies make laws, those laws function with the same power and authority that acts of Congress do. So we know that shall does not have one definitive meaning under the plain reading of the Constitution.
