Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-603_o758.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

B 
Congress’ power to build and maintain the Armed Forces
fits  PennEast’s  test.  The  Constitution’s  text,  its  history,
and this Court’s precedents show that “when the States en-
tered the federal system, they renounced their right” to in-
terfere with national policy in this area.  Id., at ___ (slip op., 
at 15).

For one thing, the Constitution’s text, across several Ar-
ticles, strongly suggests a complete delegation of authority 
to the Federal Government to provide for the common de-
fense.  Unlike most of the powers given to the National Gov-
ernment, the Constitution spells out the war powers not in
a  single,  simple  phrase,  but  in  many  broad,  interrelated 
provisions.  The Preamble makes the “common defence” one 
of the document’s central projects.  Article I gives Congress
authority  to  “provide  for  th[at]  common  Defence”  in  six 
numbered paragraphs: to “declare War”; “raise and support
Armies”; “provide and maintain a Navy”; “make Rules” for
the  Armed  Forces;  “provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia”; 
and “provide for [their] organizing, arming, and disciplin-
ing.”  §8, cls. 1, 11–16.  Article II makes the President the 
“Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, and of the Militia of the several States.”  §2, cl. 1. 
And the Federal Government is charged with “protect[ing]
each” State “against Invasion.”  Art. IV, §4.

The  Constitution  also  divests  the  States  of  like  power.
States may not “engage in War, unless actually invaded,” 
“enter into any Treaty,” or “keep Troops, or Ships of War in 
time of Peace.”  Art. I, §10, cls. 1, 3.  States retain a role in 
“the Appointment of the Officers” to and the “training [of]
the Militia,” but that delegation is strictly cabined.  Art. I, 
§8,  cl.  16.  States  must  do  so  “according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress.”    Ibid.    These  substantial  limita-
tions  on  state  authority,  together  with  the  assignment  of
sweeping power to the Federal Government, provide strong
evidence  that  the  structure  of  the  Constitution  prevents