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The 10th Amendment was ratified in 1791 by the Federalist delegates, who deemed a Bill of Rights necessary. After recently winning the Revolutionary War, the United States began to create a new government. Many were worried that the Constitution gave the central government too much power. The 10th Amendment was added after the Federalists declared they would create amendments based on the states and people’s wishes. This amendment is focused on how the federal government can interpret the Constitution, as opposed to the first eight amendments that give rights to the people. The 10th Amendment clarifies that power is not allotted by the Constitution to the federal government; this power belongs to the states or the people.
Debates surrounding this amendment concern the amendments’ failings to protect the power of the people. Legal scholars Gary Lawson and Robert Schapiro claim that different interpretations are often credited to the final portion, “the States respectively, or to the people.” Although “the people” are mentioned, when invoking this amendment in cases, individuals have rarely been able to protect themselves, where states have often succeeded. Two separate state sheriffs invoked the 10th Amendment to challenge a gun control law passed by Congress. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the sheriffs in Printz v. United States because state officials are not under the administration of the federal government. This case demonstrates how this amendment does not protect the people and favors states. A case that demonstrates that an individual person is unable to invoke the 10th Amendment to challenge the federal government is that of Bond v. United States. Bond was denied the right to appeal an act by Congress that she believed went against the 10th Amendment, so she went to the Supreme Court to have her appeal heard in state court. She then lost in the appellate court, which ruled in favor of the act being constitutional. This demonstrates how the protection of the 10th Amendment typically only reaches the states and not an individual.
This provision contains concepts seen in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Both were written after revolutions against monarchies by men attempting to protect individual rights. The French document stated that all positions of power are not able to overexert the power they were not given. The interpretation that the people’s power is not protected by the 10th Amendment is more persuasive because, although the amendment states that power should be given to the people, an individual’s power is only considered at the state versus federal level. If a state invokes the 10th Amendment, it is because the power belongs to the state. Whereas if an individual person is unable to defend themselves by invoking the 10th Amendment, it is because the amendment lacks specificity and does not place power in the people’s hands. This amendment needs to be fixed to better suit the power given to the people. For example, by specifically stating the grounds on which individuals have power, they can invoke the 10th Amendment when these powers are abused. This adaptation would allow the people’s voices to be heard and further prevent the federal government from overstepping upon the power given to them by the Constitution..
Tags: 10th, 10th-amendment, 2022, 2022-2023-constitution-project-10th-amendment, 2023, amendment, claure, constitution, project, siena, siena-claure, the-people
One Response to “2022-2023 Constitution Project 10th Amendment”
Emma Zuzunaga
I found it interesting and disheartening to learn how the state and government prioritize themselves over the people. I really loved the specific examples you used.