2023

2022-2023 Constitution Project 10th Amendment

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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.. 

Article V // Gabe Ponichter

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In Article V, the Constitution’s framers gave America’s future leaders a way to make changes to the Constitution based on changing times of the future. In simpler terms, Article V of the Constitution says that If two-thirds of the Senate and the House of Representatives agree, they can put amendments for the Constitution to vote. Another way amendments could be proposed is if 2 thirds of all the state legislatures agree to present some during a convention. To approve amendments, either ¾ of all the state legislatures must agree or ¾ of conventions convened in each state, based on Congress’ choice. There are two caveats; amendments to the Constitution could not change the 1st and 4th clauses of the 9th section of the 1st Article of the Constitution until 1808. Additionally, amendments could not strip a state of its right to vote in the Senate unless that state would be partial as well. Being able to make amendments to the Constitution allowed for debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists to be settled by compromising on amendments eventually being added to the Constitution. Leading up to the ratification of the Constitution, there was one principal opinion about making amendments to the Constitution held by some Anti-Federalists. These people, looking to ensure enough power for the states and the people rather than just the central government, supported Article V because, through amendments, a Bill of Rights could be added to the Constitution, guaranteeing basic protections for Americans. 

Throughout the more recent history of Article V, some controversy has arisen over whether or not states can rescind their ratifications of certain amendments to the Constitution. Article V does not expressly state that states can do this; however, in the case of amendments like the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of 1972, which was never ratified, six states still voted to rescind their ratification. In the case of Coleman v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court decided it would be at Congress’s discretion to determine whether a state could rescind its ratification, seemingly on a case-by-case basis. In the ERA’s case, it became irrelevant that states rescinded their ratifications because the amendment was not passed before the 7-year limit agreed upon in Congress. However, through countless decisions like Kirchberg v. Feenstra (1981) or J.E.B v. Alabama (1994), the Supreme Court was able to achieve the same effect of the ERA, declaring it unconstitutional for women to be discriminated against by American laws. The ability to make amendments to the Constitution connects to the core values of the Enlightenment Period, in which modifications to the thought of the “old regimes” were necessary for the common people to gain knowledge and a voice for themselves. As such, Historians can view Article V as a reassurance that if changes need to be made to the Constitution to protect the agency of Americans, they can be made, just like the Bill of Rights first did during America’s creation.

 

Works Cited

American Civil Liberties Union. “Timeline of Major Supreme Court Decisions on Women’s Rights.” In ACLU Women’s Rights Project. Last modified 2023. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/legal-documents/101917a-wrptimeline_0.pdf.

 

Annenberg Classroom. “The Annenberg Guide to the United States Constitution.” Annenberg Classroom. Last modified 2023. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/constitution/.

 

Rappaport, Michael B., and David A. Strauss. “Interpretation and Debate: Article V.” National Constitution Center. Last modified 2023. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-v/interpretations/277.