Enumerated powers (United States)
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2009) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2009) |
The enumerated powers are a list of specific responsibilities found in Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which iterates the authority granted to the United States Congress. Congress may exercise only those powers that are granted to it by the Constitution, limited by the Bill of Rights and the other protections found in the Constitutional text.
The classical statement of a government of enumerated powers is that by Chief Justice Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland:
This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it, would seem too apparent, to have required to be enforced by all those arguments, which its enlightened friends, while it was depending before the people, found it necessary to urge; that principle is now universally admitted.
Powers and limitations
 |
On the one hand, strict Constitutionalists believe that Congress's power should be limited to only those duties listed in the Constitution. All other powers should be vested to the people and the state governments. On the other hand, more liberal interpreters of the constitution allow for powers more tangential to those duties. Many individuals cite the Necessary and Proper and the Commerce clause as grounds for their argument. Many conservatives cite the Tenth Amendment as grounds for their arguments. However, over time the overall trend has seen more power shifting to the Congress. This can be noted especially after the Great Depression, when U.S. federal government New Deal programs imposed strict regulations on the economy.
The powers
Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution lists the powers as:
- Section 8: The Congress shall have power
- To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
- To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
- To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
- To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
- To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
- To establish post offices and post roads;
- To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
- To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
- To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
- To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
- To provide and maintain a navy;
- To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
- To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
- To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
- To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;—And
- To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Necessary and Proper Clause
Interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause has been controversial especially during the early years of the republic. Strict constructionists interpret the clause to mean that Congress may make a law only if the inability to do so would cripple its ability to apply one of its enumerated powers. Loose constructionists, on the other hand, feel that the Necessary and Proper Clause expands the authority of Congress to all areas tangentially related to one of its enumerated powers. It is often known as the "elastic clause" because of the great amount of leeway in interpretation it allows; depending on the interpretation, it can be "stretched" to expand the powers of Congress, or allowed to "contract," limiting Congress. In practical usage, the elastic clause has been paired with the commerce clause in particular to provide the constitutional basis for a wide variety of expansive federal laws.
Tenth Amendment
The Tenth Amendment is cited as constitutional ground denying Congress the right to pass any law it sees fit. However, in the courts, the broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause has consistently trumped the arguments of those who claim that the Tenth Amendment should set substantial limits on the power of Congress.
Recent case law
The case of United States v. Lopez [1] held unconstitutional the Gun Free School Zone Act because it exceeded the power of Congress to "regulate commerce... among the several states." Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, "We start with first principles. The Constitution creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers." For the first time in sixty years, the Court found a federal statute to have exceeded the commerce power of Congress.
- For more details see: The Rehnquist Court and the Commerce Clause
Enumerated Powers Act
The Enumerated Powers Act, [2], is a proposed law that would require all bills introduced in the U.S. Congress to include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which the law is being enacted. In every Congress since the 104th Congress, U.S. Congressman John Shadegg has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act, although it has not been passed into law. At the beginning of the 105th Congress, the House of Representatives incorporated the substantive requirement of the Enumerated Powers Act into the House rules.[citation needed]