The Reichsrat's members were appointed by the German state governments to represent their interests in the legislation and administration of the nation at the federal level.

Its powers were relatively limited, making it considerably weaker than its predecessor, the Bundesrat of the German Empire (1871–1918).

Prussia, whose population would have justified it having just over sixty percent of Reichsrat votes, was the only state affected by the two-fifths maximum.

[1] (A Prussian provincial association (Provinzialverband) was a body of local self-government above the municipalities and the rural and urban districts.)

Although the Reichstag was constitutionally required to meet on an annual basis (Article 24), the Reichsrat was convened under the responsibility of the Reich government.

It had the right to: Article 68: Bills shall be introduced by the National Ministry [the Reich government], or by members of the Reichstag.

Primarily because it had lost its equal status in the legislative process, the Reichsrat was less important than the imperial Bundesrat, which had nominally been the highest constitutional body of the Empire.

As a result, the states, supported by the expertise of their ministerial bureaucracies, were able to exert considerable influence on the implementation of Reich laws, which they also usually executed on their own authority.

Due to the relative stability of the state governments, the Reichsrat was seen as one of the last firm anchors of Weimar institutions, especially in the final phase of the Republic when the Reichstag was increasingly unable to act.

The "sovereignty of the Reich over the states"[6] that was then assumed in constitutional law, together with Finance Minister Matthias Erzberger's reforms of 1919/20 which introduced a national income tax, led to a significant weakening of the position of the constituent states that was not reversed until the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany came into force in 1949.

Since the commissioners appointed members of the Reichsrat, the Nazis quickly had a large majority that it then used to rubber stamp the Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag on 24 March 1933.

In the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) the Chamber of States (Länderkammer) carried out the function from 1949 to 1958.