Enumerated powers

Enumerated powers are the authorities the Constitution expressly lists for the federal government. The best-known list is in Article I, Section 8, which gives Congress powers such as taxing and spending, borrowing money, regulating commerce with foreign nations and among the states, coining money, establishing post offices, raising armies and declaring war.

The principle behind the list is that the national government has only the powers granted to it, while other powers remain with the states or the people, a point the Tenth Amendment makes explicit. The list closes with the Necessary and Proper Clause, which lets Congress pass laws needed to carry out its listed powers.

How far these powers reach is one of the central debates in American law. Broad readings of the Commerce Clause and the spending power since the New Deal have allowed Congress to regulate much of national economic life. Advocates of limited government argue that the enumeration was meant to be a real limit and that courts should enforce it; others argue that a modern national economy requires flexible federal power.