Amend. 8.-Punishment for Crime. tion of cruel and unusual punishments, but it is safe to affirm that punishments of torture, such as those formerly inflicted for atrocious crimes and for high treason, and all others in the same line of unnecessary cruelty, have been forbidden by this amend ment. Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 135. The act of Congress prohibiting the placing of letters in the mail for the purpose of executing a scheme to defraud is not invalid for making each putting of a letter into the post-office a separate offense. Badders v. U. S., 240 U. S. 391. Fifty dollars fine and three months' hard labor for the illegal sale of liquor held not to be violative of this amendment. Pervear v. Massachusetts, 5 Wall. 475. Shooting as a mode of executing death penalty held not to be a cruel and unusual punishment for the crime of first-degree murder. Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 134 Appellate Jurisdiction of Federal Supreme Court The Supreme Court has no appellate jurisdiction to revise sentences of inferior courts in criminal cases, and can not, even if the excess of the fine were apparent on the record, reverse the sentence. Ex parte Watkins, 7 Pet. 573. American Constr. Co. v. Jacksonville, etc., R. Co., 148 U. S. 378. The act of Congress of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat. 1246), authorizing the United States to take a writ of error in criminal cases to the Supreme Court for certain purposes, is valid. Taylor v. U. S., 207 U. S. 120. Amendment 9.'-RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. This amendment restrains only the powers of the General Government and indicates that the Federal Constitution is but a delegation of powers, which powers, together with the implied powers, constitute all that the Federal Government has or may presume to exercise.2 Livingston v. Moore, 7 Pet. 551. 1 For ratification, see p. 25. See Rules of Construction, p. 37. Amendment 10.-RESERVED STATE POWERS. 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. Leading Cases In McCulloch v. Maryland (4 Wheat. 406) Chief Justice Marshall said: ex The tenth amendment, which was framed for the purpose of quieting the excessive jealousies which had been excited, omits the word “ pressly" and declares only that the powers "not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people," thus leaving the question whether the particular power which may become the subject of contest has been delegated to the one Government or prohibited to the other to depend on a fair construction of the whole instrument. A constitution to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution would partake of the prolixity of a legal code and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind. It would probably never be understood by the public. Its nature, therefore, requires that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves. That this idea was entertained by the framers of the American Constitution is not only to be inferred from the nature of the instrument but from the language. In Collector v. Day (11 Wall. 124) the court held: It is a familiar rule of construction of the Constitution of the Union that the sovereign powers vested in the State governments by their respective constitutions remained unaltered and unimpaired, except so far as they were granted to the Government of the United States. That the intention of the framers of the Constitution in this respect might not be misunderstood this rule of interpretation is expressly declared in the tenth article of the amendments. In Kansas v. Colorado (206 U. S. 46) Justice Brewer, in referring to this amendment, said that it disclosed widespread fear that the National Government might, under the pressure of a supposed general welfare, attempt to exercise powers which had not been granted. With equal determination the framers intended that no such assumption should ever find justification in the organic act, and that if in the future further powers seemed necessary they should be granted by the people in the manner they had provided for amending that act. The principal factor in this article is "the people." In McClung v. Silliman (6 Wheat. 604) it was held that a State court can not issue a mandamus to an officer of the United States. Definition The reservation to the States respectively can only mean the reservation of the rights of sovereignty which they respectively possessed before the adoption of the Constitution of the United 1 See also "Powers remaining in the States," under commerce clause, p. 145. See p. 25 for ratification. For general rules of construction and interpretation, see p. 37. Amend. 10.-Reserved State Powers. States, and which they had not parted from by that instrument. And any legislation by Congress beyond the limits of the power delegated would be trespassing upon the rights of the States or the people, and would not be the supreme law of the land, but null and void. Gordon v. U. S., 117 U. S. 705. The powers the people have given to the General Government are named in the Constitution, and all not there named, either expressly or by implication, are reserved to the people and can be exercised only by them, or upon further grant from them. Turner v. Williams, 194 U. S. 295. (Justice Brewer's concurring opinion.) Police Power 1 In General The power of the States to regulate matters of internal police within their limits applies not only to the health, morals, and safety of the public but also to whatever promotes the public peace, comfort, and convenience. Statutes enacted under this power may be harsh and oppressive without violating the Constitution. Beer Co. v. Massachusetts, 97 U. S. 25. Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623. Lake Shore, etc., R. Co. v. Ohio, 173 U. S. 285. Bacon v. Walker, 204 U. S. 311. Keller v. U. S., 213 U. S. 138. Southern Bell Tel. Co. v. Calhoun, 287 Fed. 381. Narcotic Drug Act State law regulating administration, sale, and possession of narcotic drugs, which forbids physicians to supply drug addicts otherwise than through prescriptions, held not in conflict with Federal narcotic drug act. Whipple v. Martinson, 256 U. S. 41. Regulation of Commerce' In general. The police power of the States is limited by the express prohibitions in the Federal Constitution upon a State's action. For instance, the State may regulate fares and freights; but inasmuch as the regulation of interstate commerce is vested in the General Government, the State's police power to regulate fares and freight does not extend to interstate commerce. State v. Kansas City, etc., R. Co., 32 Fed. 722. See also Lottery case, 188 U. S. 321, as to Federal prohibition against transportation of lottery tickets in interstate commerce. Northern Securities Co. v. U. S., 193 U. S. 197, as to violation of Fed eral antitrust act. Dick v. U. S., 208 U. S. 340, as to Federal liquor laws applying to 1 See also same subject, pp. 146, 309, 672, and 726. See also commerce clause, p. 80. Amend. 10.-Reserved State Powers. Federal tax on manufacture and sale of commodities.-An act of Congress imposing taxes on the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, which provides for the marking of packages used by retail dealers in oleomargarine, does not invade the police power of the State when the principal object of the act is the raising of revenue and not the protection of purchasers. U. S. v. Dougherty, 101 Fed. 439. In re Kollock, 165 U. S. 532. The Child Labor Tax Law (Act of Congress of February 24, 1919), imposing a tax on the income of persons employing child labor was manifestly intended to regulate the employment of child labor, which is a matter reserved to the States under this amendment. Bailey v. Drexel Furn. Co., 259 U. S. 20. White persons on Indian lands.—In connection with making unlawful the settlement of white persons on Indian lands, it was held that the power of the State to make regulations to preserve the peace of the community is absolute and has never been surrendered. New York v. Dibble, 21 How. 368. Federal Interference with State Rights This subject was discussed in Massachusetts v. Mellon (262 U. S. 447) in connection with the constitutionality of the socalled "maternity act." In Dayton-Goose Creek Ry. v. U. S. (263 U. S. 456) it was held that the recapture clause of the transportation act of 1920, reducing net income from intrastate rates, is not an invasion of States' rights under this amendment. To hold that the fourteenth amendment, which is a mere restriction on the powers of the State, by implication confers on Congress the power to legislate on the prohibited subject would be to violate this amendment. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 3. A State could not have been made a party to a bill to enforce a negro's right of suffrage, though it was alleged to have entered into a conspiracy to deprive negroes of such right, the circuit court having no constitutional power to control the State's action by any direct means. Giles v. Harris, 189 U. S. 475. The police power of the State can not be said to be unconstitutionally interfered with by the provisions of act February 20, 1907, section 3, for the deportation of an alien found to be practicing prostitution within three years after her entry into the United States, because it vests in the Federal authorities the power to try an immigrant for a violation of the penal laws of the State of which she has become a resident. Zakonaite v. Wolf, 226 U. S. 272. Amend. 10.-Reserved State Powers. Section 2 of the supplemental prohibition act of November 23, 1912, in so far as it prevents physicians from prescribing intoxicating malt liquors for medicinal purposes, does not violate the tenth amendment, since it is not an invasion of power reserved to the States. Everard's Breweries v. Day, 265 U. S. 545. Transportation of Child-Made Goods in Interstate Commerce Act of Congress September 1, 1916, declared unconstitutional. State Taxation 1 In General The taxing power of a State is one of the attributes of sovereignty; it exists independently of the Federal Constitution and may be exercised to an unlimited extent upon all property, trades, business, and avocations existing or carried on within the territorial boundaries of the State, except so far as it has been surrendered to the Federal Government, either expressly or by necessary implication. Railroad Co. v. Peniston, 18 Wall. 29. See also Nathan v. Louisiana, 8 How. 82. Ohio Life Ins. Co. v. Debolt, 16 How. 428. Lane County v. Oregon, 7 Wall. 76. In re Kollock, 165 U. S. 526. Bank of Commerce v. New York City, 2 Black 620. Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533. Collector v. Day, 11 Wall. 113. Ward v. Maryland, 12 Wall. 418. Kirtland v. Hotchkiss, 100 U. S. 491. McCray v. U. S., 195 U. S. 27. Tax of Domestic Corporations The exercise of the authority which every State possesses to tax its corporations and all their property, real and personal, and their franchises, and to graduate the tax upon the corporations according to their business or income or the value of their property, when this is not done by discriminating against rights held in other States, and the tax is not on imports, exports, or tonnage, or transportation to other States, can not be regarded as conflicting with any constitutional power of Congress. Delaware Railroad Tax, 18 Wall. 232. Concurrent State and Federal Power on the Same Subjects Outside of the prohibitions, express and implied, contained in the Federal Constitution, the power of the States to tax for the support of their own governments is coextensive with the subjects within their unrestricted sovereign power, which shows conclusively that the power to tax may be exercised at the same time and upon the same subjects of private property by the United States and by the States without inconsistency and See also same subject, pp. 74, 180, 315, 362, 366, 600, 707, and 728. |