924 ARIZONA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 31
Commerce Clause71 and one case upheld the federal government's right to impose sanctions and withhold money from a state for noncompliance with grant conditions.72 Ten years later, in United States v. Sprague,73 the Court actively began to strip the meaning from the tenth amendment.
In Sprague, defendants indicted for violating the National Prohibition Act, challenged the validity of the eighteenth amendment.74 The case tested Congress' right, as authorized by the Constitution, to choose a particular method to ratify amendments. The defendants argued that the proper method of ratification for the eighteenth amendment was by state constitutional convention since the tenth amendment eliminated any possibility that state legislatures could grant additional power to the federal government.75 The Court concluded that Congress had lawfully chosen the method of ratification and upheld the validity of the eighteenth amendment.76 The Court further held that the tenth amendment added nothing to the Constitution as originally ratified. Moreover, the tenth amendment had no limited or special operation upon functions delegated by the people to Congress and, particularly, upon the right of Congress to choose a method of ratification.77
Following Sprague, the Court's decisions reflected the programs of a politically active president facing the Great Depression and a need for economic reforms in the private sector.78 With seven new appointees to the Court,79 expansive interpretations of the Commerce Clause,80 the Bankruptcy Clause81 and the sixteenth amendment82 limited the effectiveness of the tenth amendment. In one of these cases, United States v. Darby,83 the Court upheld the right of the
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71. Thornton v. United States, 271 U.S. 414 (1926); Lambert v. Yellowley, 272 U.S. 581 (1926); Dayton-Goose Creek Ry. Co. v. United States, 263 U.S. 456 (1924).
72. Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 (1923). It should be noted that in 1929 the total grants in aid to the states amounted to $100 million dollars; total federal expenditures were about $2.7 billion dollars as compared to $7.7 billion dollars for the combined total of state and local government expenditures. FISCAL FEDERALISM, supra note 49, at 2.
73. 282 U.S. 716 (1931). The tenth amendment added nothing to the Constitution as originally ratified; its purpose was to confirm the understanding of the people at the time the Constitution was ratified, that powers not granted to the United States were reserved to the states or to the people. Id. at 733.
74. Id. at 717.
75. Id. at 724.
76. Id. at 730-34.
77. Id. at 733-34.
78. REGULATORY REFORM, supra note 11, at 62-65.
79. G. GUNTHER, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 130 n.2 (llth ed. 1985). President Roosevelt made seven appointments from 1937 to 1941- Justices Black, Reed, Frankfurter, Douglas, Murphy, Byrnes, and Jackson. Id.
80. United States v. Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 311 U.S. 377 (1940); H.P. Hood & Sons v. United States, 307 U.S. 588 (1939); United States v. Rock Royal Co-op., 307 U.S. 533 (1939); Mulford v. Smith, 307 U.S. 38 (1939); United States v. Bekins, 304 U.S. 27 (1938); United States v. Carolene Prod. Co., 304 U.S. 144 (1938); Elec. Bond & Share Co. v. Securities and Exch. Comm'n, 303 U.S. 419 (1938); National Labor Relations Bd. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937); National Labor Relations Bd. v. Fruehauf Trailer Co., 301 U.S. 49 (1937).
81. Wright v. Union Central Life Ins. Co., 304 U.S. 502 (1938); Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford, 295 U.S. 555 (1935).
82. Helvering v. Northwest Steel Rolling Mills, 311 U.S. 377 (1940); Charles C. Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937); Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937).
83. 312 U.S. 100 (1941). In 1939, federal spending increased to $9 billion (from $2.7 billion in 1929). State and local government expenditures increased to $8.6 billion (from $7.7 billion in 1929).
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