Also known as: power not delegated · reserved powers · Tenth Amendment · non-delegated powers
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A constitutional reservation of authority to the states and the people over matters not granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The reservation prevents Congress from compelling states to administer or enforce federal programs.
A constitutional reservation of authority to the states and the people over matters not granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The reservation prevents Congress from compelling states to administer or enforce federal programs.
State A sheriff Paul Peterson receives a federal directive ordering his deputies to perform background checks on handgun buyers under a new national program. Peterson refuses, citing lack of state funding and personnel. The federal government sues to compel compliance. The court holds that the directive commandeers state officers in violation of the reservation of powers not delegated to the federal government.
A constitutional reservation of authority to the states and the people over matters not granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The reservation prevents Congress from treating states unequally without extraordinary justification based on current data.
Congress requires only states flagged in the 1970s for discriminatory hospital siting to obtain federal approval before altering polling locations in medical facilities. State A, still covered by the old formula, challenges the disparate treatment. Other states face no such obligation. The court invalidates the regime because reliance on decades-old data violates equal sovereignty principles reserved to the states under powers not delegated.
A constitutional reservation of authority to the states and the people over matters not granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The reservation prevents Congress from treating states unequally without extraordinary justification based on current data.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Congress enacts a statute directing every state port authority to staff round-the-clock federal container screenings using state personnel and budgets. State A Port Authority Director Pilar Pena notifies federal officer Marcus Hale that the state will not comply. Highland Coastal vessels are detained for lack of state certifications. The court finds the requirement exceeds powers delegated to the federal government and reserves authority to the states.
State A officials receive a federal order to enforce a new national regulatory scheme using state resources. Governor Lee cites lack of delegated authority and declines. Federal authorities seek mandamus. The court denies relief, holding that the order exceeds powers delegated to the federal government and reserves authority to the states.
State A enacts rules on local land use that differ from a suggested federal approach. A developer challenges the state rules as preempted. The court upholds state authority, concluding that the power to regulate the matter was not delegated to the federal government and remains reserved to the states and the people.
State A retains its own standards for admitting evidence in state courts despite a conflicting federal proposal. A litigant claims federal preemption. The court rejects the claim, holding that the power to set such standards was not delegated to the federal government and is reserved to the states and the people.
The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states respectively, or to the people, all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states. This reservation prevents Congress from compelling states to administer federal programs or from treating states unequally without current justification.
Yes. The doctrine prohibits Congress from issuing directives that require states to address particular problems or command state officers to administer federal programs. Such compulsion exceeds powers delegated to the federal government and invades authority reserved to the states.
Congress may subject some states but not others to special requirements only when it supplies extraordinary justification based on current data. Reliance on decades-old coverage formulas violates equal sovereignty principles that flow from powers not delegated to the federal government.
…not alter the plan that the Federal Government was to be a government of express and limited powers, and that all rights and powers not delegated to it were retained by the people and the individual States. Until today no member of this Court has ever suggested that the Ninth Amendment meant anything else, and the idea that a federal…