The Tenth Amendment reserves powers to whom?

The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution explicitly reserves powers that are not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, to the states themselves or to the people. This means that any powers that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution as belonging to the federal government are retained by the individual states or the people of those states. This amendment emphasizes the principle of federalism and the importance of state sovereignty within the constitutional framework.

In other contexts, while the federal government and its various branches hold significant authority, the Tenth Amendment is critical in delineating the boundary of that authority, thereby protecting the role of states in the federal system and ensuring that not all powers are centralized at the national level. The focus on the states and the people in this amendment serves to affirm the balance of power that is fundamental to the American political system.