Constitutional Issue Paper
The Tenth Amendment denotes, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
people.” In my words, this pretty much means if the Constitution doesn’t specifically give the
public power to do something, that thing is reserved for the States or the people only; the federal
government leaves it alone. So the issue is: does the federal government have too much power
over the state governments? I believe the federal government has too much power over the state
governments. Let me explain why I feel this way.
The federal government takes away the individual rights of the states and people. For
example in the Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn in 1942, Filburn was allocated 11.1 acres
of land to farm. He ended up farming 12 more acres to keep for himself and his farm. The
federal government said that he was in the wrong because those 12 extra acres would end up
going out of state and wouldn’t be local anymore. This reason is absurd. The 11.1 acres could
go wherever it needed to go but the feds can’t tell the farmer what to do with the extra 12
because he’s keeping it for himself and it’s staying local. To me this feels as if the government
is just picking on the individual rights of others, and is affecting the common good people try to
find in things. This is just one of many instances, but it proves just how far the government will
go to gain power.
Taxes are a way for government’s economies to survive; I understand that; yet when the
federal government tells the state governments what to tax or what not to tax, that is stepping on
toes a tad bit. In the Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland the state of Maryland set a tax
on all banks that were not Maryland based banks. McCulloch, the head of the US Bank branch
in Baltimore, thought this was unfair and took it to court. The court voted in favor of McCulloch
Constitutional Issue Paper
and the tax was lifted. Just because the big boys in suits upstairs don’t want to see their money
go to state taxes, doesn’t mean states income for good causes should suffer.
An example of how the federal government tries to force state governments to do
something is in the Supreme Court case Printz. v. United States. This case is about Congress
requiring county law enforcement officers to apply background checks on all gun purchases
instead of the having the federal government in charge of it. The Court constructed its opinion
on the old principle that state legislatures are not subject to federal direction. In this instance the
Supreme Court ruled in my favor because it goes to show that the federal government does have
too much power.
In the Supreme Court case New York v. United States, the Tenth Amendment was
violated in that under the Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Act, the federal
government expected state governments to compact management together if radioactive waste
crossed borders. In the court decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, “…Federal action…
would 'commandeer' state governments into the service of federal regulatory purposes, and
would for this reason be inconsistent with the Constitution's division of authority between federal
and state governments.”
In conclusion, in all of the cases presented in this paper, the Tenth Amendment has been
encroached upon. In these cases the federal government has tried to or actually has gained
power over the state governments, which defeats the whole purpose of a separation of federal
and state governments. This supports my opinion that the federal government has too much
power over the states. If the federal government continues to keep controlling state
Constitutional Issue Paper
governments, then the future of America, my generation, will have less of a chance to have a say
in anything.
Constitutional Issue Paper
References
1. Mount, Steve. "U.S. Constitution - Amendment 10 - The U.S. Constitution Online USConstitution.net." Index Page - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net.
1995-2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am10.html>.
2. "Wickard v. Filburn, U.S. Supreme Court Case Summary & Oral Argument." The Oyez
Project | U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument Recordings, Case Abstracts and More.
Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_59/>.
3. "McCulloch v. Maryland, U.S. Supreme Court Case Summary & Oral Argument." The
Oyez Project | U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument Recordings, Case Abstracts and
More. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1792-1850/1819/1819_0/>.
4. "Printz v. United States (1997)." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies,
Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. —
Infoplease.com. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/us/supremecourt/cases/ar31.html>.
5. "New York v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court Case Summary & Oral Argument." The
Oyez Project | U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument Recordings, Case Abstracts and
More. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/19901999/1991/1991_91_543/>.