Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Amendment X (the Tenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states:

Related Topics:
United States Constitution - Bill of Rights

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The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

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The Tenth Amendment is generally recognized to be a truism. In United States v. Sprague (1931) the Supreme Court noted that the amendment "added nothing to the [Constitution] as originally ratified". From time to time states and local governments have attempted to assert exemption from various federal regulations, especially in the areas of labor and environmental controls, using the Tenth Amendment as a basis for their claim. In the 1985 case of Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transportation Authority, however, the Court announced that it would no longer regard Tenth Amendment questions as justiciable, holding "he political process ensures that laws that unduly burden the States will not be promulgated" by Congress.

Related Topics:
Truism - United States v. Sprague - 1931 - Supreme Court

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Nevertheless, the Amendment makes explicit the idea that the federal government is limited only to the powers it is granted in the Constitution.

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