ABSTRACT
One way to give effect to the Tenth Amendment is to start with the specific grants of power to the national government and to stop with the necessary-and-proper clause. The clause is treated today as a guide to interpretation of the specific grants which precede it. But the Tenth Amendment may be read in such a way that one does not stop with the necessary-and-proper clause. All powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the people or the states. The significance of the Tenth Amendment, like that of the necessary-and-proper clause, can be appreciated only when we see how it is applied in connection with one or more of the specific powers granted the national government. The Supreme Court has nullified very few national statutes on the ground that they went beyond the bounds of authority given the national government. In these few decisions, the necessary-and-proper clause got scant mention, indeed.
