Chapter 3: Federalism

federalism

The division of power across the local, state, and national governments

sovereign power

The supreme power of an independent state to regulate its internal affairs without foreign interference

police powers

The state ability to enforce laws and provide for public safety

concurrent powers

Responsibilities for particular policy areas, such as transportation, that are shared by federal, state, and local governments.

unitary government

A system in which the national, centralized government holds ultimate authority; it is the most common form of government in the world.

confederal government

A system in which states hold power over a limited national government.

Tenth Amendment

"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."

full faith and credit clause

Part of Article IV of the Constitution requiring that each state's laws be honored by the other states.

privileges and immunities clause

Part of Article IV of the Constitution requiring that states must treat nonstate residents within their borders as they would treat their own residents.

McCulloch v. Maryland

A landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1819 that states did not have the power to tax the Second Bank of the United States and the Congress did have the power to create the Bank under the "necessary and proper" clause and the "supremacy clause"

states' rights

The idea that regions are entitled to a certain amount of self-government, free of federal government intervention.

dual federalism

national and state governments are seen as distinct entities providing separate services.

cooperative federalism

national and state governments work together to provide services efficiently.

categorical grants

Federal aid to state or local governments that is provided for a specific purpose, such as a mass-transit program within the transportation budget or a school lunch program within the education budget.

block grants

Federal aid provided to a state government to be spent within a certain policy area, but the state can decide how to spend the money within that area.

unfunded mandates

Federal laws that require the states to do certain things but do not provide state governments with money to implement these policies.

federal preemptions

Impositions of national priorities on the states through national legislation that is based on the Constitution's supremacy clause.

states' sovereign immunity

Based on the 11th Amendment, it prevents state governments from being sued by private parties in federal court unless the state consents to the suit.

United States v. Lopez

A 1995 case that struck down a federal law regulating the possession of firearms around schools. It was the first time the Court had restricted Congress's power to pass legislation under the commerce clause since the New Deal in the 1930s.