What is the Tenth Amendment and its role in federalism?

What is the Tenth Amendment and its role in federalism?

• A. Establishes the Supreme Court
• B. Grants power to the federal government
• C. Reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people
• D. Prohibits taxation by states

Answer: (C)

Federalism is about who holds power in our system: the national government or the states. The Tenth Amendment makes that division explicit by saying that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. In other words, the national government has only the powers the Constitution grants, and anything not listed for it belongs to the states or to the people. This is why it’s the best answer: it captures the purpose of the amendment as a guardrail for state sovereignty and for individual or local control in areas not given to the federal government. The other options don’t fit the role of the Tenth Amendment. The establishment of the Supreme Court is a matter for Article III and Congress, not the Tenth Amendment. The idea that the federal government is granted power by the Tenth Amendment is backwards—the Constitution enumerates federal powers, and the Tenth Amendment reserves the rest to the states or people. And the amendment isn’t a blanket prohibition on state taxation; states can tax, though federal and constitutional constraints apply.

Federalism is about who holds power in our system: the national government or the states. The Tenth Amendment makes that division explicit by saying that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. In other words, the national government has only the powers the Constitution grants, and anything not listed for it belongs to the states or to the people. This is why it’s the best answer: it captures the purpose of the amendment as a guardrail for state sovereignty and for individual or local control in areas not given to the federal government.

The other options don’t fit the role of the Tenth Amendment. The establishment of the Supreme Court is a matter for Article III and Congress, not the Tenth Amendment. The idea that the federal government is granted power by the Tenth Amendment is backwards—the Constitution enumerates federal powers, and the Tenth Amendment reserves the rest to the states or people. And the amendment isn’t a blanket prohibition on state taxation; states can tax, though federal and constitutional constraints apply.