Powers Reserved to
the States
As you recall, the 10th
Amendment declares that the States are governments of reserved powers. The reserved powers are those powers that the
Constitution does not grant to the National Government and does not, at the
same time, deny to the States
Therefore, any State can forbid persons under 18 to marry without parents consent, or those under 21 to buy liquor. It can ban the sale of pornography, outlaw prostitution, and permit some forms of gambling and prohibit others. A State can require that doctors, lawyers, hairdressers, and plumbers be licensed in order to practice in the State. It can confiscate automobiles and other property used in connection with such illicit activities as illegal drug trafficking or prostitution. It can establish public schools, enact land use laws, regulate the services and restrict the profits of such pubic utilities as natural gas, oil, electric power, and telephone companies, and do much more.
In short, the area of powers held by each state—the range of the reserved powers—is huge. The States can do all of those things just mentioned, and much more, because 1) the Constitution does not give the national Government the power to take these actions and 2) it does not deny the States the power to take them.
How broad these reserved powers really are can be understood from this fact: Most of what the government does in this country today is done by the States and their local governments, not by the National Government. The point can also be seen from this fact: The reserved powers include the vitally important police power—the power of the State to protect and promote the public health, the public ,orals, the public safety, and the general welfare. The Constitution does not grant expressed powers to the States, with one exception. Section 2 of the 21st Amendment gives the States a virtually unlimited power to regulate the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
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Facts about Reserved Powers |
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Examples of Reserved powers |
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Details from your own knowledge. |
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Use information from chart to write a well-organized paragraph to explain the powers of the regional or state governments by including facts, examples and details.
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