- [Instructor] In this video
we're gonna focus on enumerated powers
versus implied powers for the federal government.
Enumerated just means powers that have been made explicit,
that are clear, that have been enumerated,
that have been listed some place
while implied powers are ones that maybe aren't as clear,
maybe they haven't been explicitly listed
but they are assumed because of certain wording
or just in order to do the enumerated powers
and this is a really important concept
because in any federal system
where you have multiple layers,
you have the federal government,
you have the state governments
and of course you also have the local governments
but this idea of what powers go to the federal government
versus the state government
is a super important one
and it's a matter of significant debate
and it has changed over time,
so to just get our base line understanding,
let's sample some of the enumerated powers
to the federal government
inside of the United States Constitution.
So, this right over here is Article One, Section Eight
of the United States Constitution.
I'm not going to read it in its entirety,
we'll focus on some of these powers in more detail
in other videos but I will sample it
and focus on some of the clauses
that have been especially cited
and have been especially relevant to the world
that we live in.
So, just to sample,
so the Congress shall have the power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts and excises,
so these are very clear enumerated powers.
It's listing what the Congress has the power to do.
The Congress can borrow money on the credit
of the United States.
Once again, a very clear enumerated power.
To regulate commerce with foreign nations
and among the several states
and with the Indian tribes.
Now, this clause right over here
and this is now referred to as the Commerce Clause
might not really stand out to you,
it might not stand out to you relative
to the right to conduct foreign affairs
or something that seems very big and dramatic like that
but it turns out that the Commerce Clause
is viewed as one of the significant clauses
that gives the federal government significant rights
and it's considered to have really three enumerated rights
embedded in it.
You have the regulation of commerce with foreign nations,
the regulation of commerce among the several states
and with the Indian tribes.
And it's the middle one that is viewed
as giving the federal government a lot of power
because even though it might seem okay, well,
we're just talking about commerce between states,
it's been used to justify things like federal drug laws
that even if a state argues hey,
we are just going to say legalize marihuana
within our states, the federal government
has cited that your legalization of marihuana
is going to affect commerce between states
and we'll go into more depth in that in future videos
but the Commerce Clause is a key enumerated right
that's given in the constitution
that is viewed as giving the federal government
fairly broad authority.
But, let's continue.
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization.
Who becomes an American?
Uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy.
Keep going, I always encourage you to look at this
in context in the actual constitution.
That is always interesting.
The reason why I listed all of these out
even though I'm not going to read them
is that it's just interesting to see
how many of these enumerated rights there are
but I'm going to focus on the last clause
because this one is in a lot of ways
a lot bigger than all of the other ones.
It says to makes all laws
which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers
and all other powers vested by this constitution
in the government of the United States
or in any department or officer thereof.
Pause this video.
Think about why this is a very, very, very big deal.
Well, the previous 17 clauses were very explicit.
They were enumerated powers
about what the federal government has the power to do
but his one here is making a much broader statement.
It's saying to make all laws
which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,
the enumerated powers that were in the last 17 clauses
and so, this is known as the Necessary and Proper Clause
which you will hear a lot about,
Necessary and Proper
and it provides for a lot of implied powers
because it's essentially saying look,
there's things that we haven't listed
in the enumerated powers
in the previous 17 clauses
but the federal government
has the right to make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution
the foregoing powers
and so, even when I was talking about say federal drugs laws
it's really the combination of the Commerce Clause
and the Necessary and Proper Clause
that allows the federal government
to make some of these broader arguments
that says okay, we regulate commerce
and in order to regulate commerce
we need to regulate drugs
because it is necessary and proper
for regulating interstate commerce,
so we're gonna talk more and more about this
especially when we look at specific constitutional cases
that will cite these clauses
but it's really important to appreciate
what enumerated powers are
and what implied powers are
which the Necessary and Proper Clause
gives a lot of and the anti-federalists
really did not like this 18th clause.
Understanding the ideas of enumerated and implied powers
is going to be really helpful
as we study the various disputes
over state versus federal powers
throughout American history
and how it is decided on by say the Supreme Court
when they cite the constitution
and in particular cite some of the clauses
that we have just looked at.