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Aniya S. – The Tenth Amendment

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Common Interpretation:

The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that powers not given to the national government are granted to the states and general public. It highlights the limited and enumerated powers of the national government, while reminding of the essential role that the states and people play in the constitutional republic. The Tenth Amendment illustrates the relationship between the federal and state governments by demarcating their respective authorities. The main purpose of incorporating the Tenth Amendment into the Bill of Rights was to warn the national government about inferring or assuming powers that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution. 

Historical Context:

The Tenth Amendment was also made due to the lack of restrictions on national government exercising unauthorized powers over the citizens and states in the original Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution found it pointless to include a Bill of Rights for an already limited government, and even found the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to be potentially dangerous. They believed a Bill of Rights would be useless and that its vagueness would leave room for misinterpretations of certain rights. Despite the concerns, the inclusion of the Tenth Amendment showed that it did not change the nature of national government. Legal scholars believe that the Tenth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to clarify the limits of national government to the American citizens (at the time of the adoption of the Constitution). 

Matters of Debate:

One interpretation of the Tenth Amendment is that it adds nothing substantial to the Constitution, as it simply defines the concept of “federalism”. The Tenth Amendment is simply a truism. Similarly, one matter of debate is whether the Tenth Amendment should serve as an independent source of constitutional principles of federalism. Another interpretation holds that the Tenth Amendment restores a degree of balancing the powers of federal and state governments, as the enumerated powers of national government are often misunderstood. In this way, the Tenth Amendment acts as a backdrop to the governing structures outlined in the Constitution, giving some legal scholars reason to say it has “constitutional value”. The Supreme Court case, Bond v. The United States illustrates the latter interpretation, as the Court unanimously agreed that Bond should not be charged under a federal statute that violates the powers reserved to the states (Pennsylvania). It was agreed that the federal statute was beyond the enumerated powers of the national government, and therefore a constitutionally invalid law. Bond had every right to challenge the constitutionality of the federal statute. 

Significance:

The Tenth Amendment bears some similarities to the themes of Rousseau’s Social Contract, which asserts a relationship between individual liberty and the liberty of the government. In the “social contract”, the government maintains political authority, but must respect the people. Similarly, the Tenth Amendment holds that the national government has its designated powers, but so do the states and people. That said, I find the second interpretation of the Tenth Amendment to be most persuasive because the Amendment defines the balance of powers between the national government and states. I believe the Tenth Amendment has no reason to be further amended when it fulfills its purpose of outlining federalism in the constitutional republic. In other words, it serves its purpose well

Eli Ross-Ninth & Tenth Amendment

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The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, ratified in the Bill of Rights, were designed to ensure individual states and citizens were granted the correct balance of rights desired by Congress at the time. For the representatives at the constitutional convention, the balance of power was of utmost importance. So, the Ninth Amendment makes clear that individuals have fundamental rights in addition to ones in the Constitution.

These fundamental rights include critical things like the right to travel, vote, and the right to keep matters private. One example of context as to why the Ninth Amendment was drafted is that when the Constitution was being written, Virginia representative and future president James Madison insisted this Amendment was crucial, as it clarified rights not included in the Constitution or Bill of Rights were still important. He believed if this was not mentioned it would suggest rights in the Constitution were “superior” to “non-enumerated” rights and this would violate individual liberty, a key American ideal. 

The Supreme Court justices have debated the specific meaning of the Ninth Amendment and the word “enumeration” on occasion, but generally agree that this Amendment calls for equal protection and equal value of non-enumerated and Constitutionally-enumerated rights for individuals.  The Tenth Amendment, also designed as a power-balancing law, says that rights not specifically given to the federal government or prohibited to the states, were reserved for the states. For example, the state of Kansas has the right to control its own education system but cannot wage war against a foreign country due to laws put in place protected by the Tenth Amendment.

This law was put in place because the drafters believed too much federal power would be similar to the old English monarchy which the colonists were rebelling against, but also recognized if the states had too much power they would be almost like foreign sovereign nations and potentially could split apart. The Amendment has been debated even at the time of its ratification.

For example, Alexander Hamilton argued that the Amendment wasn’t powerful enough to be featured in the Bill of Rights whereas James Madison believed it was of equal value to the other amendments and important to include since it would avoid Congress manipulating its powers, which would have created a too-strong federal government. More recently, court cases have focused on the Tenth Amendment’s conflict with the Elastic Clause (Article 1, Section 8), which gives Congress power to pass any law related to fulfilling their Federal duties. One important case where Amendment 10 was considered was Printz v. United States (1997), where two sheriffs challenged a bill that required background checks for prospective handgun owners.

The Supreme Court ended up ruling in favor of Sheriff Printz, as the justices believed abolishing mandatory federal background checks would reaffirm the Amendment’s idea that state legislatures are not subject to Congressional direction.

Zohar Lindemann- The Tenth Amendment

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Once the American colonists won the revolutionary war and gained their independence, the nation struggled to find a balance between the practical demands of running a large country and the ideals of freedom and individualism that they had so recently fought for. Many of the Constitution’s framers were afraid of creating yet another absolutist rule, feeling that offering too much power to a central government would leave the wants and needs of the common people forgotten. Other framers felt that the lack of a strong central government would result in political chaos. Many elements of the Constitution, which is largely considered a federalist document, are written with precaution to the fear that a central government would have the ability to completely overrule other political powers. For this reason, the framers deemed unnecessary the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, although numerous state constitutions had them at the time. To those drafting the Constitution, simply entertaining the idea that the federal government would have the ability to overrule the natural rights of the people was considered dangerous. The 10th Amendment ensures that there are thorough limitations on the federal government’s power and that the rights of the State and of the individual are properly protected, with federal power extending only as far as the Constitution dictates it is able to. 

After the 1933 installment of the New Deal, a federal effort to stabilize the economy, the 10th Amendment became somewhat obsolete. However, in 1992, it regained its relevance as a consequence of the “New Federalism” movement. Rober Schapiro asserts that for the benefit of the U.S. “politically, socially, and morally,” the 10th amendment should have remained neglected. In various instances, but most prominently throughout the Civil Rights Movement, the amendment has given states the ability to enforce racial inequality laws that contradict directly the rights outlined in other sections of the Constitution. Schapiro argues that in today’s world, federal and state powers are so intertwined that the amendment’s only purpose is to provide legal loopholes for states whose intentions dispute the core values outlined in the Constitution, providing a necessary “backstop” for everything not mentioned. 

The debate around the interpretation of this text is illustrated in the Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (SAMTA) case. Within the case, SAMTA claims that being an institution controlled by a state government, they are exempt from federal labor controls such as minimum wage and overtime requirements. Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of Garica, arguing that the “traditional” function of a state government was subjective and that the structure of the federal system itself provided sovereign protection enough. Under the commerce clause, SAMTA was deemed subject to congressional legislation. This case serves as a demonstration of the ongoing debate over the role of a central government within the U.S.

Both the French and American revolutions can be considered as a test of the function that Enlightenment values serve within practical governments. With the French government often considered a failure, and the clear difficulties that the 10th amendment illustrates between federal and state power, the 10th amendment raises questions about the ability of radical Enlightenment ideas, such as Montesquieu’s strong belief in the separation of powers, to function smoothly.

Aniya S. – The Tenth Amendment

Video

Written Component

Common Interpretation:

The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that powers not given to the national government are granted to the states and general public. It highlights the limited and enumerated powers of the national government, while reminding of the essential role that the states and people play in the constitutional republic. The Tenth Amendment illustrates the relationship between the federal and state governments by demarcating their respective authorities. The main purpose of incorporating the Tenth Amendment into the Bill of Rights was to warn the national government about inferring or assuming powers that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution. 

Historical Context:

The Tenth Amendment was also made due to the lack of restrictions on national government exercising unauthorized powers over the citizens and states in the original Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution found it pointless to include a Bill of Rights for an already limited government, and even found the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to be potentially dangerous. They believed a Bill of Rights would be useless and that its vagueness would leave room for misinterpretations of certain rights. Despite the concerns, the inclusion of the Tenth Amendment showed that it did not change the nature of national government. Legal scholars believe that the Tenth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to clarify the limits of national government to the American citizens (at the time of the adoption of the Constitution). 

Matters of Debate:

One interpretation of the Tenth Amendment is that it adds nothing substantial to the Constitution, as it simply defines the concept of “federalism”. The Tenth Amendment is simply a truism. Similarly, one matter of debate is whether the Tenth Amendment should serve as an independent source of constitutional principles of federalism. Another interpretation holds that the Tenth Amendment restores a degree of balancing the powers of federal and state governments, as the enumerated powers of national government are often misunderstood. In this way, the Tenth Amendment acts as a backdrop to the governing structures outlined in the Constitution, giving some legal scholars reason to say it has “constitutional value”. The Supreme Court case, Bond v. The United States illustrates the latter interpretation, as the Court unanimously agreed that Bond should not be charged under a federal statute that violates the powers reserved to the states (Pennsylvania). It was agreed that the federal statute was beyond the enumerated powers of the national government, and therefore a constitutionally invalid law. Bond had every right to challenge the constitutionality of the federal statute. 

Significance:

The Tenth Amendment bears some similarities to the themes of Rousseau’s Social Contract, which asserts a relationship between individual liberty and the liberty of the government. In the “social contract”, the government maintains political authority, but must respect the people. Similarly, the Tenth Amendment holds that the national government has its designated powers, but so do the states and people. That said, I find the second interpretation of the Tenth Amendment to be most persuasive because the Amendment defines the balance of powers between the national government and states. I believe the Tenth Amendment has no reason to be further amended when it fulfills its purpose of outlining federalism in the constitutional republic. In other words, it serves its purpose well