Note 51 — Chapter II · THE LAW OF LEGISLATIVE POWERS (1)

This point is elaborated and examined by the Supreme Court in the decision declaring the Civil Rights Bill of April 9, 1866, unconstitutional. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S., 3 (1883). The doctrine annunciated is that Congress has no power to legislate generally upon subjects, power over which is reserved to the States by the Tenth Amendment.