In 1909, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited the harboring of alien women for the purposes of PROSTITUTION because it violated the Tenth Amendment Keller v.. For
Trang 1DISCRIMINATIONin public accommodations, such
as hotels and restaurants, because it violated state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment (CIVIL RIGHTS CASES, 109 U.S 3, 3 S Ct 18, 27 L
Ed 835 [1883]) In 1909, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited the harboring of alien women for the purposes of
PROSTITUTION because it violated the Tenth Amendment (Keller v United States, 213 U.S
138, 29 S Ct 470, 53 L Ed 737[1909])
Nine years later the court struck down another congressional law prohibiting the inter-state shipment of products manufactured by certain businesses that employed children under the age of 14 (Hammer v Dagenhart, 247 U.S
251, 38 S Ct 529, 62 L Ed 1101 [1918]) In Hammer, the court stated, “In interpreting the Constitution, it must never be forgotten that the nation is made up of states to which are entrusted the powers of local government And
to them the powers not expressly delegated to the national government are reserved.”
During the depth of the Great Depression, the Tenth Amendment became dormant again
PresidentFRANKLIN ROOSEVELTworked with Con-gress to pass theNEW DEAL, a series of programs designed to stimulate the troubled economy
After the Supreme Court upheld a provision of the National Labor Relations Act (mandatory
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING) in NLRB v Jones &
Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S 1, 57 S Ct 615,
81 L Ed 893 (1937), Congress began exercis-ing unprecedented lawmakexercis-ing power over state and local matters For the next 40 years, the Supreme Court upheld congressional authority
to regulate a variety of matters that had been traditionally addressed by state legislatures In one case the Supreme Court upheld the Agri-cultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C.A
§§ 1281 et seq.) over objections that it allowed Congress to regulate individuals who produced and consumed their own foodstuffs entirely within the confines of a family farm (Wickard v
Filburn, 317 U.S 111, 63 S Ct 82, 87 L Ed 122 [1942])
The Tenth Amendment enjoyed a brief resurgence in 1976 when the Supreme Court held that the application of the FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT of 1938 (29 U.S.C.A §§ 201
et seq.) to state and local governments was unconstitutional In National League of Cities v
Usery, 426 U.S 833, 96 S Ct 2465, 49 L Ed 2d
245 (1976), the court said that the MINIMUM WAGEand maximum hour provisions of this act
significantly altered and displaced the states’ abilities to structure employment relationships
in such areas as fire prevention, police protec-tion, sanitaprotec-tion, public health, and parks and recreation These services, the court empha-sized, are historically reserved to state and local governments If Congress may withdraw from the states the authority to make such fundamental employment decisions, the court concluded, “there would be little left of the states’ separate and independent existence,” or
of the Tenth Amendment
National League of Cities proved to be an unworkable constitutional precedent It cast doubt on congressional authority to regulate many aspects of local affairs upon which most
of society had come to rely It was unclear, for example, whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a federal agency established by Congress to regulate workplace safety, retained any constitutional authority after the Supreme Court announced its decision in National League of Cities
The Supreme Court eliminated these con-cerns by overturning National League of Cities
in Garcia v San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S 528, 105 S Ct 1005, 83 L
Ed 2d 1016 (1985) In Garcia the court upheld the minimum wage and maximum hour pro-visions of the Fair Labor Standards Act as it applied to a city-owned public transportation system In reaching this decision, the court said that if certain states are worried about the extent of federal authority over a particular local matter, the residents of such states should contact their senators and representatives who are constitutionally authorized to narrow fed-eral regulatory power through appropriate legislation.JUDICIAL REVIEWof federal regulations under the Tenth Amendment, the Supreme Court suggested, is not the proper vehicle to achieve this end
The federal courts have heard many Tenth Amendment challenges since 2000 that chal-lenge congressional use of theCOMMERCE CLAUSE
to justify national legislation and regulation The courts have found little merit in these challenges, as most activities have some effect
on interstate commerce In Gonzales v Raich,
545 U.S 1, 125 S.Ct 2195, 162 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005), the state of California legalized the use of medical marijuana, which ran counter to the national ban on the drug in the federal Con-trolled Substances Act A woman who grew
Trang 2marijuana for her own medical use and did not
sell it to others, was charged with violating the
federal law She argued that her non-commercial
growing and use of marijuana did not affect
interstate commerce and thus removed the
Commerce Clause as the basis for the law
Once this authority was removed, she claimed
the Tenth Amendment prohibited federal
interference The court rejected this line of
reasoning, as it has done in other recent cases
involving federal highway and banking laws
Apart from constitutional disputes,
Con-gress has undermined the Tenth Amendment
by establishing national programs that states
administer through the acceptance of federal
funding Whether it is federal highway funding
that required states to lower the blood alcohol
amount for drunk driving to a national standard
of 08 or the funding of public education
through the No Child Left Behind Act, states
have often grudgingly gone along because they
cannot afford the loss of federal funds
The ebb and flow of Tenth Amendment
JURISPRUDENCE reflects the delicate constitutional
balance created by the Founding Fathers The
states ratified the Constitution because the
Articles of Confederation created a national
government that was too weak to defend itself
and could not raise or collect revenue Although
the federal Constitution created a much stronger
centralized government, the Founders did not
want the states to lose all of their power to the
federal government, as the colonies had lost their
powers to Parliament The Tenth Amendment
continues to be defined as courts and legislatures
address the balance of federal and state power
FURTHER READINGS
Derthick, Martha 2001 Keeping the Compound Republic:
Essays on American Federalism Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution.
Killenbeck, Mark R., ed 2002 The Tenth Amendment and
State Sovereignty: Constitutional History and
Contempo-rary Issues Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Palmer, Kris E 2000 Constitutional Amendments: 1789 to
the Present Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.
CROSS REFERENCES
Constitution of the United States; Federalist Papers; States’
Rights.
TENURE
A right, term, or mode of holding or occupying
something of value for a period of time
In feudal law, the principal mode or system by which a person held land from a superior in exchange for the rendition of service and loyalty
to the grantor
The status given to an educator who has satisfactorily completed teaching for a trial period and is, therefore, protected against summary dismissal by the employer
A length of time during which an individual has a right to occupy a public or private office
Tenure in General
In a general sense, the term tenure describes the length of time that a person holds a job, position, or something of value
Tenure in Academia
In the context of academic employment, tenure refers to a faculty appointment for an indefinite period of time When an academic institution gives tenure to an educator, it gives up the right to terminate that person without good cause Under the tenure systems adopted by many universities and colleges, especially in the United States and Canada, tenure is associated with more senior job titles such as Professor and Associate Professor
A junior professor will not be promoted to such
a tenured position without demonstrating a strong record of published research, teaching, and administrative service The tenure systems
at most schools allow only a limited period to establish such a record, by limiting the number
of years that any employee may hold a junior title such as Assistant Professor
Tenure in Ancient Property Law
In medieval England, tenure referred to the prevailing system of land ownership and land possession Under the tenure system, a land-holder, called a tenant, held land at the will of a lord, who gave the tenant possession of the land
in exchange for a good or service provided by the tenant The various types of arrangements between the tenant and lord were called tenures
The most common tenures provided for mili-tary service, agricultural work, economic trib-ute, or religious duties in exchange for land
CROSS REFERENCES Academic Freedom; Feudalism.
TENURE OF OFFICE ACT The assassination of PresidentABRAHAM LINCOLN
on April 14, 1865, left the post–Civil War United
Trang 3States in the hands of his ineffectual and unpopular successor, ANDREW JOHNSON It be-came Johnson’s responsibility to determine a reconstruction policy, and he incurred the anger of the Radical Republicans in Congress when he chose a moderate treatment of the rebellious South
Congress sought to diminish Johnson’s authority to select or remove officials from office, and the Radical Republicans particularly wanted to protect Lincoln’s secretary of war,
EDWIN M.STANTON Stanton, a valuable member
of the existing cabinet, supported the Radicals’
Reconstruction policies and openly opposed Johnson On March 2, 1867, Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act (14 Stat 430), which stated that a U.S president could not remove any official originally appointed with senatorial consent without again obtaining the approval
of the Senate
Andrew Johnson vetoed the measure and challenged its effectiveness when he removed the dissident Stanton from office Stanton refused to leave, and the House of Representa-tives invoked the new act to initiate IMPEACH-MENT proceedings against Johnson in 1868 The president was acquitted, however, when the Senate failed by one vote to convict him Stanton subsequently relinquished his office, and the Tenure of Office Act, never a popular measure, was repealed in 1887
FURTHER READINGS Hart, James 1930 Tenure of Office under the Constitution Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
Hearn, Chester G 2000 The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
“The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson.” 2006 National Park Service Available online at http://www.nps.gov/ anjo/historyculture/impeachment.htm; website home page: http://www.nps.gov (accessed September 7, 2009).