Federalism

C. The Struggle for Supremacy

1. Early Supreme Court Decisions: a. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)-- established the doctrines of implied powers and national supremacy. b. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)-- defined commerce as including all business dealings, and held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was an exclusive national power. 2. The Civil War was the ultimate battle over supremacy. Because people in different sections of the country had radically different beliefs about slavery, the slavery issue took the form of a dispute over states' rights versus national supremacy.

D. The Fiscal Side of Federalism

1. Federal mandate-- a requirement that a state provide a service or undertake some activity to meet the national standards specified by the federal law. 2. To help the states pay for some of the costs associated with implementing national policies, the national government gives back some of the tax dollars it collects to the states-- in the form of grants. a. Federal grants- an important source of funds to the states. 0. Categorical grant- targeted for specific purpose as defined by federal law. 1. Block grant- given for a broad policy area. b. Fiscal Federalism -- the power of the national government to influence state policies through grants. 3. Competitive federalism-- a model of federalism that describes the way in which state and local governments compete for business and citizens.

B. The Constitutional Division of Powers

1. Powers delegated to the national government: Article 1, Section 8- expressed powers. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18-necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)- the constitutional basis for the implied powers of the national government. Inherent powers-- powers that governments have simply to ensure the nation's integrity and survival as a political unit. 2. Powers prohibited to the national government: are most listed in Article 1, Section 9, and in the first eight amendments to the Constitution. 3. Powers of the states: Tenth Amendment ( reserved powers); police powers-- the ability of each state to enact whatever laws are necessary to protect the health, morals, safety, and welfare of its people. 4. Powers prohibited to the states: Article 1, Section 10. Certain state actions are also prohibited by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments. 5. Interstate relations (horizontal federalism) ex: Full Faith and Credit Clause. 6. Concurrent powers: can be exercised by both state governments and the federal governments. 7. The supremacy clause: Article VI, Clause 2. States cannot use their reserved or concurrent powers to counter national policies.

Chapter overview Federalism and its Alternatives

1.Federalism-- government powers are divided between a central government and regional, or subdivisional, governments. For a system to be truly federal, the powers of both the national units and the subnational units must be specified in a constitution. 2. Unitary system-- all powers are vested in the national government; subnational units are creatures of the national government. Examples-- Britain, France, Israel, Japan 3. Confederal system-- the national government exists and operates only at the direction of the subnational governments. Example-- the government under the Articles of Confederation. Few true confederal systems exist today. 4. Advantages of federalism in the United States: federalism provides a multitude of arenas for decision making; it keeps government closer to the people; and it makes it possible to experiment with innovative policies at the state or local level. A federal system also allows the political and cultural interests of regional groups to be reflected in the laws governing those groups. 5. Drawbacks o federalism: local self-rule may not always be in society's best interests, and powerful state and local interests can block progress and impede national plans. National powers may also be expanded at the expense of the states . It is difficult to coordinate policies among three levels of government, and the lack of uniformity of the state laws can complicate business transactions.

Federalism

A system of government in which power is divided, by constitution , between a central government and regional government.

3. Models of Federalism:

Dual federalism-- assumes that the states and the national government are more or less equals, with each level of government having separate and distinct functions and responsibilities. For much of the nation's history, this model of federalism prevailed. b. Cooperative federalism-- national and state governments are complementary parts of a single governmental mechanism. It grew out of the need to solve national problems caused by the Great Depression. 0. The 1960's and 1970's saw an even greater expansion of the national government's role in domestic policy. Picket-fence federalism-- when every level of government is involved in implementing a policy. 1. Supreme Court decisions from the 1930's to the mid-1990's generally upheld Congress's power to regulate domestic policy under the commerce clause, and the courts have held that a valid federal law or regulation takes precedence over a conflicting state or local law or regulation covering the same general activity (preemption) c. New Federalism-- a shift from nation-centered federalism to state-centered federalism 0. It Involves returning to the states certain powers that have been exercised by the national government since the 1930's (devolution). 1. During and since the 1990's, the Supreme Court has played a significant role in furthering the cause of states' rights ( ex: in cases involving the Gun-Free School Zones Act and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act). 4. The boundary between federal and state authority is shifting. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has increased demands on state and local governments to participate in homeland security. Also, in 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which significantly expands the federal government's role in education.

II. Federalism in Historical Perspective

Federalism has passed through distinct stages in the course of its development . The first phase from 1789 to 1865 was characterized by conflict between the national and states' - right views. 1. The nationalist view, reflected in the McCulloch v. Maryland decision held that when national and state law conflict, national law prevails. The case also articulated the implied powers doctrine that held that the national government's powers extend beyond a narrow reading of its enumerated powers. 2. The states' -rights view developed in the Dred Scott decision held that each state had the constitutional right to nullify a national law. 3. The nationalist view was upheld by the election of Lincoln and Union victory in the Civil War.

1. Federalism: National and State Sovereignty

The decision to establish federalism as the form for the new national government was the most important constitutional decision of the 1787 convention. The Framers wanted to establish a national government that drew authority directly from the people while preserving the states as governing bodies. 1. Federalism is the division of ultimate governing authority ( sovereignty) between a national government and regional (state) governments. 2. Federalism differs from a confederacy, which is a union of states in which the states retain all sovereignty; federalism also differs from a unitary government structure in which sovereignty is vested solely in the national government with the state and local governing units functioning as agents of the national government. 3. Arguments presented by the Framers for the superiority of federalism centered on protecting liberty, moderating the power of government with the State and local governing units functioning as agents of the national government. 4. America's national government has enumerated powers that enable the national government to provide for defense and commerce. 5. The national government acquired implied powers through the Supreme Court interpretation of the "necessary and proper" clause. This enables the federal government to have the flexibility and responsiveness to meet changing national needs. 6. The supremacy clause provided that national law would prevail over state laws and actions when there was a conflict between them. 7. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution provided that the states would have reserved powers.

III. Federalism Today (Since the 1930's)

The national government's policy authority has expanded greatly since the 1930's even though that authority has been reduced somewhat in recent years. Two countervailing trends in this development have emerged. 1. The first is a long-term expansion of national authority that began in the 1930's and continued for the next half century. 2. The second trend is more recent and involves a partial contraction of national authority known as "devolution" The states and citizens have become increasingly interdependent, providing the impetus for a stronger national government. 1. National, state and local policymakers are encouraged to collaborate to solve policy problems. This is known as cooperative federalism, which stresses shared policy responsibilities rather than sharply divided ones. Programs are now jointly funded, administered, and determined. 2. The federal government's involvement in policy areas traditionally reserved for the states has increased its policy influence and has diminished state-to-state policy differences. 3. The federal government raises more tax revenues than do all the states and local governments combined, which led to the development of fiscal federalism. Fiscal federalism holds that the federal government provides some or all of the money for a program, while the states and localities administer it. 4. Federal assistance (such as in grants-in-aid) provides a significant share of state revenue, though this varies from state-to-state. The two main types of federal assistance to state and local governments are categorical and block grants. Devolution is the idea that American federalism will be improved by a shift in authority from the federal government to state and local governments. 1. Both budgetary pressures ad shift in public opinion let to changes in relations among national, state, and local levels of government. 2. The Republican Revolution in Congress in 1995 took steps to decentralize federalism by reducing federal unfunded mandates and giving states more control over how money would be spent. States were encouraged by the 1996 Welfare Reform Act to take more responsibility for welfare reform. The federal Department of Homeland Security was created to coordinate governmental efforts to deal with terrorism threats. 3. The Supreme Court in recent years is leaning more towards protecting states from congressional encroachment on reserved powers. 4. Public opinion plays a role in defining the boundaries between federal and state power.

II. Federalism in Historical Perspective

The second phase from 1865-1937 brought about the development of the principles of dual federalism and laissez-faire capitalism . 1. Dual federalism, which held that a precise separation of national and state authority was both possible and desirable, as interpreted by the Supreme Court resulted in state supremacy in racial policy and business supremacy in commercial policy. Supreme Court interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment especially in the Plessy case allowed southern states to segregate the races. 2. Laissez-faire capitalism holds that business interests should allow to act without government interference. The Supreme court interpreted the commerce clause to protect business from substantial regulation by either state or national governments. 3. After 1937 the Supreme Court recognized that an industrial economy must be subject to some level of national regulation if it is to serve the nation's needs and interests, thus weakening dual federalism and laissez faire capitalism. 4. In the Roosevelt era, the Supreme Court broadened its interpretation of federal governments's taxing and spending powers while upholding legislation of the New Deal programs. 5. Changes in federalism that took place after the 1930's emphasized the concept of national citzenship-- the notion that Americans should be equal in the rights and opportunities regardless of the state which they live.