Dual sovereignty

Dual sovereignty is the allocation of power between the federal government and the states under the U.S. Constitution, with overlapping authority.

The states "surrendered many of their powers to the new Federal Government," but retained "'a residuary and inviolable sovereignty.'" Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898, 918-19 (quoting The Federalist No. 39, at 245 (James Madison)). This dual sovereignty is "reflected throughout the Constitution's text." Id. at 919. The continued existence of state sovereignty is "implicit . . . in the Constitution's conferral upon Congress of not all governmental powers, but only discrete, enumerated ones." Id.