Tenth Amendment Text: 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 is meant to preserve the federalism principles on which the Constitution was based. Gregory v. Ashcroft: This case interpreted the 10 th construction. Amendment as a rule of In other words, federal laws will be interpreted so as to present minimal possible intrusion on states. Therefore, the Missouri mandatory retirement age was held not to violate the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Since Congress did not specifically target the rule to states, it was interpreted as not applying to overcome the state law.
New York v. United States Federal regulation required all states to join regional waste compacts or figure out figure out a way to dispose of nuclear waste other than existing nuclear waste dumps, which were found in only three states. New York challenged the role on federalism grounds. Holding: The federal government may not order a state governments to enact a particular law. Although the federal government may provide financial incentives for the states to do things, the provision requiring states to take possession of its own waste was an unconstitutional infringement on state sovereignty.
Printz v. United States The 1993 Brady Bill required a national system of instant background checks for people applying for handgun licenses. The Act required state officials to assist in the implementation of certain procedures regarding the background checks. Can the federal government require state officials to administer and enforce federal regulations? Answer: No! The federal government can not command states or state officials to administer federal regulations absent specific constitutional authority.
Reno v. Condon The Driver s Privacy Protection Act regulated the disclosure of personal information contained in driving records. South Carolina s law conflicted with the DPPA s provisions by making that information available publicly. Can the federal law, in effect, overrule the states law regarding the states own Department of Motor Vehicles? Answer: Yes! In this case, the regulation does not require the states to actually do anything or to regulate its own citizens. The state is not required to do anything. It is merely prevented from disclosing certain information. Since the regulation of driver information falls within Congress Commerce Clause power, there is nothing unconstitutional about this federal law.
South Dakota v. Dole Congress enacted legislation that required states to increase their drinking age to 21-years-old or lose 5% of its federal highway funding. This was based on the theory that younger drinkers were more likely to engage in drunk driving. Does this amount to federal coercion of states in violation of federalism principles? Answer: No! Congress may use its spending power to induce cooperation by states even where it would not be allowed to force the states to undertake a particular action.