States' rights

In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the Tenth Amendment. The enumerated powers that are listed in the Constitution include exclusive federal powers, as well as concurrent powers that are shared with the states, and all of those powers are contrasted with the reserved powers—also called states' rights—that only the states possess.[1][2]

  1. ^ Gardbaum, Stephen. "Congress's Power to Pre-Empt the States", Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 33, p. 39 (2005).
  2. ^ Bardes, Barbara et al. American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials (Cengage Learning, 2008).