The Division of Powers
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But the clause does not give Congress the implied power to make laws
for any purpose whatever—only for the purpose of executing its enumerated powers and ‘‘all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof,’’
meaning the President and the Federal courts. Congress’ implied powers, therefore, are not limited to the execution of its own enumerated
powers. By virtue of this ‘‘all other powers’’ provision, Congress has the
implied power to share in the responsibilities of other departments. It is
under the authority of this provision, for example, that Congress passes
laws to implement treaty obligations of the United States and to organize the Federal judicial system. Accordingly, the Necessary and Proper
Clause confers important and far-reaching powers on Congress; and by
giving Congress a voice in the affairs of the other branches, it also plays
a key role in the check and balance system that will be examined later.
It should also be noted that each house of Congress possesses additional powers that are not always clearly specified in the Constitution.
These are powers inherited from the English Parliament and the early
State legislatures, and thus are called ‘‘inherited’’ powers. Under certain
circumstances, for example, each house can exclude persons from its
membership. Other important inherited powers include the power to
conduct investigations, to subpoena witnesses, and to judge the qualifications of members.
Taken together, the powers of Congress may be classified as: (1) enumerated or delegated, as seen in Article I, Section 8; (2) implied, as seen
again in Article I, Section 8; (3) prohibited, as seen in Article I, Section 9;
and (4) inherited, as seen in Article I, Section 5. These powers can be further subdivided as exclusive and concurrent. An example of an exclusive
power of Congress is the power to declare war. Thus the President cannot, on his own authority, declare war against another country, though he
can, as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, participate with Congress in making war against a foreign enemy. The war-making power is,
in fact, a concurrent power, one that Congress shares with the President.
Congress also shares certain powers with the States. Its power to levy an
income tax, for example, is a concurrent power because the States can
also levy such a tax.
All other powers are commonly called reserved or residual powers. These