The 10th Amendment

The Bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution plays a key role in both the government and American law. The Bill of rights is an important symbol representing the culture and freedom of the country. The Bill of rights has undergone several amendments and which guarantee essential civil liberties and rights of the citizens and states (Laws, 2019). The Tenth Amendment is an integral part of the Constitution and which provides the powers reserved by the nationals and the states. According to this 10th Amendment, "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." This paper provides a detailed discussion of the relevance of this 10th Amendment to the society and the law in general.

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The 10th Amendment provides a reinforcement on the principle of power separation/ federalism as the type of regime in the America. Federalism defines that states are not just ordinary subdivision of the national government, but are independent administrations that obtain their authority solidly from the citizens and not from the national government (Lawson, n.d.). The Tenth Amendment aimed at securing the liberty of state government through power enumerations such that the national government does not exceed its powers. The Amendment ensures that the federal government does not assume powers and rights which have not been explicitly authorized as per the constitution. The Amendment operates as a scheme of checks and balances as it provides explicit powers to the states. As a result, the Federal government is prevented from reaping and exercising excessive power to the state administrations.

With the Tenth Amendment, States have the freedom and authority to enforce particular legislations that only concern the governance of individual states. State governments can develop their legislations differently from those of the federal government without having any conflict. An example is where states impose their environment and labor laws that are independent of the national legislation (Landrith, 2012). One is of the recent topics concerning the legislation liberty is marijuana laws. Though the federal government considers marijuana illegal, about fourteen states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Therefore, states have the power to challenge unconstitutional laws developed by the national government before that takes effect.

The 10th Amendment is vital to the law and society at large as it protects the Americans from the actions of the intrusive central government. The Amendment ensures that the national government sticks to the powers explicitly provided in the U.S. constitution, and hence all the other authorities are earmarked to the citizens and the states (Cooper, 2011). In regards to this, the national administration cannot trample on peoples' rights by assuming the powers that are not entitled to. With this Amendment in action, the federal government is kept on toes by the people and the states, and hence there is no point Americans can experience a monarchy or be denied their liberty.

References

Cooper, C. (2011, January 10). The Constitution in One Sentence: Understanding the Tenth Amendment. Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/report/the-constitution-one-sentence-understanding-the-tenth-amendment

Landrith, G. (2012, May 25). The Tenth Amendment: Protecting Freedom Against Big Government. Retrieved from https://www.ff.org/the-tenth-amendment-protecting-freedom-against-big-government/

Laws. (2019, December 22). Understanding the 10th Amendment. Retrieved from https://constitution.laws.com/american-history/constitution/constitutional-amendments/10th-amendment

Lawson, G. (n.d.). The Tenth Amendment: A Truism With Teeth. Retrieved from https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-x/interps/129#the-tenth-amendment-gary-lawson