All Posts Tagged With: "enumerated powers"
The Constitution or Liberty
“Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” We might think those words—or words to the same effect—are in the U.S. Constitution. But they are not. They are from Article II of the Articles [...]
1Jan2008 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Sovereign Presidency: Is This What the Framers Had in Mind?
American government under the Constitution was supposedly meant to work as follows: Congress, staying within delegated powers and the Bill of Rights, passes laws; the president executes the laws; and the courts sort out ensuing wrangles. This plan ran aground rather early—the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, for example—which raises at least two possibilities: 1) [...]
1Jan2007 | Joseph R. Stromberg | 9 comments | ContinuedWho’s to Blame?
Advocates of liberty are frequently confronted with the following fallback position of their intellectual adversaries: We live in a representative democracy. If you don’t like what is taking place, your beef is with the people who have freely chosen their representatives. That argument is intended to blunt criticism of activist government. If the people have [...]
1Sep2000 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedReal Federalism: Why It Matters, How It Could Happen
“Federalism’s history has been the history of its demise.” So writes Michael S. Greve in a book designed nevertheless to prove that, like Mark Twain’s demise, the death of federalism has been greatly exaggerated. Federalism has been down for decades, floored by the pro-New Deal shift of the Supreme Court in 1937 and kicked repeatedly [...]
1Jul2000 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | ContinuedStates’ Rights Revisited
Lamenting the Supreme Court’s recent batch of pro-federalism decisions, the New York Times termed the Court’s newfound affinity for states’ rights “Supreme mischief,” “deeply disturbing” to right-thinkers everywhere. One expects such talk from dedicated cheerleaders for centralized power. What’s more disturbing, however, is the extent to which the Times’s perspective has gained credence among advocates [...]
1Dec1999 | Gene Healy | 7 comments | ContinuedUnrestrained Appetites, Unlimited Government
The federal government was supposed to be limited to a few defined powers. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution—“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”—confirms it. The federal government, of course, does not at [...]
1May1998 | Jeffrey R. Snyder | 6 comments | ContinuedThe Pervasive Duty to Rescue
Mr. Kochan is an Adjunct Scholar with The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational organization headquartered in Midland, Michigan. As individuals, Americans may choose to act as Good Samaritans and come to the aid of those in need, but are not legally obligated to do so. Traditionally under American law, no general [...]
1Jun1997 | Donald J. Kochan | 0 comments | Continued-
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