The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution helps to define the governmental powers allocated to the federal government and the governmental powers allocated to the state governments—a concept known as federalism. The Tenth Amendment provides that “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.”
In the state of Mississippi, as in all states, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution plays a crucial role in determining the division of powers between the federal government and the state government. This amendment is a cornerstone of the principle of federalism, which is the distribution of power between a central government and its constituent units—in this case, the states. Under the Tenth Amendment, any powers that the Constitution does not specifically grant to the federal government, nor deny to the states, are considered reserved for the states or the people. This means that Mississippi may exercise all powers that are not exclusively given to the federal government by the Constitution or are not expressly prohibited by it to the states. This includes areas such as education, local law enforcement, and other matters of local governance, provided that such powers are exercised in accordance with the Constitution and federal laws.