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Are state 'police powers' constitutional?
To any of the Framers the answer would have been thought to be obviously yes. The U.S. Constitution delegated to Congress a list of “enumerated” powers that were to be considered nearly exhaustive, except for a few “implied” powers that were intended only to be incidental to the express powers of the enumeration. All other proper powers of government were to be left to the states or to local governments, or left to the People. The Tenth Amendment makes that explicit:
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.
But then we also have the Ninth Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
And the Fourteenth:
… No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Source: http://constitutionalism.blogspot.com/2017/01/are-state-police-powers-constitutional.html
