Tenth Amendment

​Many people believe either Congress, the President, or the Supreme Court can do anything they please if there is no specific restriction mentioned in the Constitution on the particular issue in question. That is a false assumption. Anything the Constitution does not specify or clearly imply is an automatic restriction against the federal government, because the constitutional authority doesn't exist if it is not specifically granted by the Constitution.
​Opponents of this view refer to the Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, which authorizes Congress:
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for caring into execution the foregoing powers, and all powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof.
​They contend that the "necessary and proper" clause gives Congress virtually an unlimited power to make any law that legislative body deems necessary and proper, regardless of anything else. This is typical of how statements are taken out of context [like the General Welfare Clause] to justify a position that flies in the face of the whole spirit and original intent of the Constitution. Congress only had the implied authority to carry out the designated "foregoing" powers, specifically enumerated in Article I, Section 8. They could not otherwise adopt any laws that would effectively amend the Constitution. Article V of the Constitution makes it clear that that power was "reserved to the states" [Tenth Amendment].