Are federally funded grants unconstitutional? Why/Why not?
The 10th Amendment clearly reads: "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." Article I, Section 8 lists the areas where Congress may spend money. Subsidies for medical research, education, or other types of grants are not listed.
Answer:
They and many, many other things the federal government spends money on are unconstitutional.
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They are constitutional unless or until the supreme courts rules that they are not
I believe they may be using the first paragraph of section 8 as their authority to do so. It reads, in part:
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States"
Many would interpret grant money as working to promote general welfare. I'm not sure how such funding choices as the National Endowment for the Arts would be justified under that, but the areas you mentioned would.
It doesn't matter what answer you get to your question here. Thankfully we have a judicial branch that interprets our laws and acts as to constitutionality. It's very simple actually. Nothing is unconstitutional until that branch rules it so.
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