- Delegated: the transfer of a specific authority by one of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) to another branch or to an independent agency. The U.S. Congress, for example, has created government agencies to which it has delegated authority to promulgate and enforce regulations pursuant to law—such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934) and the Federal Election Commission (1974)—and it has delegated by statute (1954) to the Department of Commerce, a cabinet office within the executive branch, its authority under the Constitution to conduct the decennial census.
Enumerated: The enumerated powers (also called expressed powers, explicit powers or delegated powers) of the United States Congress are the powers granted to the federal government of the United States by the United States Constitution. Most of these powers are listed in Article I, Section 8. In summary, Congress may exercise the powers that the Constitution grants it, subject to the individual rights listed in the Bill of Rights. Moreover, the Constitution expresses various other limitations on Congress, such as the one expressed by the Tenth Amendment: "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."
Expressed: Expressed powers are those powers that the Constitution has specifically given to the federal government.
Implied: Implied powers, in the context of federalism, refer to powers Congress possesses that are not explicitly enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. Alexander Hamilton first articulated the concept of implied powers, which the U.S. Supreme Court later recognized in the 1819 case McCulloch v. Maryland.
Inherent: In United States law, inherent powers are the powers that a state officer or entity purports to hold under a general vesting of authority, even though they are neither enumerated nor implied. The theory of inherent powers of the President derives from the loosely worded statements in the Constitution that "the executive Power shall be vested in a President" and the president should "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" (defined in practice, rather than by constitutional or statutory law). Under this theory, first articulated in 1793 by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton,[1] the authority of the president extends to all decisions and acts of the United States as a sovereign state that are not exclusively vested elsewhere.
. . . not specifically listed in the Constitution, but they grow out of the very existence of the national government. For example, the United States has the power to acquire territory by exploration and/or occupancy, primarily because most governments in general claim that right.
Prohibited: Prohibited powers are denied either to the national government, state governments, or both (Article I, Section 9.) For example, the national government cannot exercise its powers in such a way as to interfere with the states' abilities to perform their responsibilities. States cannot tax imports or exports, nor can they coin money or issue bills of credit.|
- - The U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 9.
- - The U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 10.
- - THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION, Sec. 56, PROHIBITED LOCAL AND SPECIAL LAWS.
Reserved: "Reserved powers" refers to powers that are not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment gives these powers to the states.
Concurrent: powers of a federal state that are shared by both the federal government and each constituent political unit, such as a state or province. These powers may be exercised simultaneously within the same territory, in relation to the same body of citizens, and regarding the same subject-matter. Concurrent powers are contrasted with reserved powers (not possessed by the federal government) and with exclusive federal powers (forbidden to be possessed by the states, or requiring federal permission).
