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Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Amendment X (the Tenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states:

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.

The Tenth Amendment is generally recognized to be a truism. In United States v. Sprague (1931) the Supreme Court noted that the amendment "added nothing to the instrument [the Constitution] as originally ratified." That said, it makes explicit the idea that the federal government is limited only to the powers it is explicitly granted.

In United States v. Lopez (1995), a federal law mandating a "gun-free zone" around and on public school campuses was struck down because there was no clause in the Constitution authorizing it. The opinion did not mention the Tenth Amendment.

See also

• Unratified Amendment Twelve

United States Constitution

Main body

Preamble | Article I | Article II | Article III | Article IV | Article V | Article VI | Article VII

Amendments

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Other amendments: XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVII | XVIII | XIX | XX | XXI | XXII | XXIII | XXIV | XXV | XXVI | XXVII

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Specific clauses in the Constitution

Commerce Clause | Equal protection clause | Full Faith and Credit clause | Preemption of state and local laws | Supremacy clause