State Powers and Limits

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution provides: “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.” Thus, unlike in the case of federal powers, where the power must be enumerated, the exercise of state powers is assumed to be Constitutional unless it:

• comes into conflict with express provisions in the Constitution (e.g. Article I, Section 10, prohibiting states from entering treaties and coining money),

• violates individual rights granted in the Constitution (e.g. under the 14th Amendment,

• comes into conflict with federal laws passed under an enumerated power or come into conflict with federal objectives in an area covered by an enumerated power (and are therefore preempted because of the Supremacy Clause),

• intrudes into areas or fields that are totally occupied by federal law (e.g. field preemption in areas such as foreign relations and discriminating against, or unduly burdening, interstate commerce in violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause), or

• discriminates against those from out of state in the provision of privileges and immunities, in violation of Article IV, Section 2 — the Privileges and Immunities Clause.

The doctrines of preemption, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause implicate the question of state versus federal powers.