Enumerated powers (United States)

The enumerated powers are a list of specific responsibilities found in Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which enumerate 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.

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 elastic 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. duhh

Commerce Clause

The use of the Commerce Clause by Congress to justify a wide range of legislation has been the subject of long, intense political controversy. Interpretation of the sixteen words of the Commerce Clause has helped define the balance of power between the federal government and individual states. Congress has cited its authority under the Commerce Clause for the authority to pass laws in realms of human behavior not mentioned in the Constitution. The Supreme Court has nearly always upheld this argument, and taken a broad view of what activities might affect interstate commerce. An example frequently used to illustrate this point is the Wickard v. Filburn (1942) case, in which growing wheat on one's own land for one's own consumption was ruled to affect interstate commerce.

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 514 U.S. 549 held unconstitutional the Gun Free School Zone Act because it exceeded the power of Congress to "regulate commerce... among the several states." Then Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, "We start with first principles. The Constitution creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers." For the first time in 60 years, the Court found a federal statute to have exceeded the commerce power of Congress. Rehnquist's opinion in Lopez thus shocked many legal scholars.

For more details see: The Rehnquist Court and the Commerce Clause

Enumerated Powers Act

The Enumerated Powers Act, H.R. 2458, 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.

See also

• New federalism
• Originalism
• Strict constructionism
• Constitution in exile
• Compact theory

External links

• Constitutional Studies, 10th Amendment, Enumerated powers from the Cato Institute
• Annotations on enumerated powers from FindLaw
• Text of the Enumerated Powers Act
• Committees on Enumerated Powers: How Congress Can Revive the Constitution from the Center for Constitutional Studies