It isn't clear to me that the Constitution grants "rights" to the government that aren't already possessed by the people themselves. Would that even be possible? "Powers" maybe, "rights," maybe not.

the constitution is an amazingly consistant document internally. take a slow read through it and you will see that you are absolutely correct. when 'people' are being referred to, the term used is 'rights'. when it is a governmental organization (state or federal), the term used is always 'powers'. amp