Branches of Government and their powers

Exclusive Powers 
of  the
National Government
and
State Governments

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Print money
Regulate interstate (between states) and international trade
Make treaties and conduct foreign policy
Declare war
Provide an army and navy
Establish post offices
Make laws necessary and proper to carry out the these powers


STATE GOVERNMENTS

Issue licenses
Regulate intrastate (within the state) businesses
Conduct elections
Establish local governments
Ratify amendments to the Constitution
Take measures for public health and safety
May exert powers the Constitution does not delegate to the national government or prohibit the states from using

In addition to their exclusive powers, both the national government and state governments share powers. Shared powers between the national government and state governments are called concurrent powers. Current powers of the national government and state governments include the ability to:

• Collect taxes
• Build roads
• Borrow money
• Establish courts
• Make and enforce laws
• Charter banks and corporations
• Spend money for the general welfare
• Take private property for public purposes, with just compensation

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Key Constitutional Grants

of Powers to Congress

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;          READMORE

Judicial Powers

Original Jurisdiction:
The court first authorized to recognize a case, hold trial, and render a decision is said to have original jurisdiction.

Appellate Jurisdiction:
When a court is authorized to review a prior judicial decision issued by an inferior court it is said to have appellate jurisdiction.

Redress:
Satisfaction for an injury or damages sustained. Damages or equitable relief. Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Ed., West Publishing Co., 1990

Diversity Jurisdiction:
The authority bestowed on federal courts by Article III to hear cases between citizens of different, or “diverse.” States. In order for a federal court to have diversity jurisdiction the claim must be for an amount in excess of $50,000. As opposed to subject matter jurisdiction, which is jurisdiction based on the nature of the underlying claims. Federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction over cases involving questions of federal law.  READ MORE

Landmark cases of the Supreme Court

Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Holding: Established the doctrine of judicial review.
In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress gave the Supreme Court the authority to issue certain judicial writs. The Constitution did not give the Court this power. Because the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, the Court held that any contradictory congressional Act is without force. The ability of federal courts to declare legislative and executive actions unconstitutional is known as judicial review.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Holding: The Constitution gives the federal government certain implied powers.
Maryland imposed a tax on the Bank of the United States and questioned the federal government's ability to grant charters without explicit constitutional sanction. The Supreme Court held that the tax unconstitutionally interfered with federal supremacy and ruled that the Constitution gives the federal government certain implied powers.

To read more Landmark cases, click here