#3 Federalism

# Chapter 3 Notes

📜 Overview of the U.S. Federal System

Dual sovereignty – the Constitution creates two constitutionally recognized levels of government (national and state), each with ultimate authority over different policy matters and geographic areas.

National jurisdiction = entire United States.
State jurisdiction = within each state’s borders.
The system is distinct from unitary (central authority) and confederal (loose alliance of sovereign states) arrangements.

System	Sovereignty	Key Feature
Unitary	Central government	Can create, delegate, modify, or eliminate regional governments at will.
Confederal	Independent states	States retain all authority; central body has only delegated powers.
Federal (U.S.)	Dual – national and state governments each sovereign in separate domains.	Constitution outlines specific national powers and reserves others to the states.

⚖ Constitutional Distribution of Authority

📚 Concurrent Powers (both national & state)

Make policy, raise/spend money, enforce laws, and maintain courts.
States may delegate some of these powers to local governments.

🇺🇸 National Sovereignty

Enumerated powers (Article I): interstate/foreign commerce, coin money, national defense, general welfare, etc.
Implied powers – derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause (Art. I, §8): “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper…”
Executive powers (Art. II): treaty making (with Senate consent), appointing ambassadors.
Judicial powers (Art. III): jurisdiction over constitutional issues, federal statutes, treaties, and disputes between states or citizens of different states.

📜 Supremacy Clause (Art. VI)

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States… shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

National laws (within constitutional authority) trump conflicting state/local laws.

🤝 National Treaties with Indian Nations

Treated as supreme law; apply on reservations despite state borders.
Over 550 federally recognized tribes; ~300 reservations in 34 states.
State laws on taxes, crime, environment are unenforceable on reservations.

🏛 State Sovereignty

📖 Reserved Powers (10th Amendment)

“Powers not delegated to the United States… are reserved to the States… or to the people.”

Police powers: health, safety, morals, welfare (birth, marriage, intrastate commerce, crime, etc.).

📊 Powers Delegated to the States

Electoral role – choose electors for President, redraw House districts after each census.
Amendment ratification – 3/4 of states must approve constitutional changes.

🌐 Horizontal Federalism (Article IV)

Interstate compacts – require congressional approval.
Extradition – governors may request return of fugitives; courts may reject.
Full Faith & Credit – states must honor each other’s public acts, records, and judicial decisions.

Example: 2016 Supreme Court ruling that states must honor same‑sex parent adoptions across state lines.

🏛 Supreme Court Interpretation of the Constitution

Case	Year	Issue	Holding
McCulloch v. Maryland	1819	Constitutionality of a national bank & state tax on it	National government can create a bank via implied powers; states cannot tax it.
Gibbons v. Ogden	1824	Scope of interstate commerce power	Broad definition of “commerce”; federal regulation of navigation upheld.
Social Security Act	1937	Federal‑state division of welfare programs	Federal Social Security deemed constitutional under general‑welfare power.
United States v. Lopez	1995	Gun‑Free School Zones Act & commerce clause	Law unconstitutional; exceeded Congress’s commerce power, protecting state police powers.
South Dakota v. Dole	1987	Conditioning highway funds on drinking‑age law	Federal government may incentivize, but not compel, states to adopt a drinking age.
Affordable Care Act (NFIB v. Sebelius)	2012	Medicaid expansion coercion	Federal government cannot force states to expand Medicaid by threatening loss of all Medicaid funds.

📚 Judicial Federalism

States increasingly rely on their own constitutions to expand rights beyond the federal baseline (e.g., environmental rights in Pennsylvania, free speech on private property in California).
Fourteenth Amendment ensures due process & equal protection, but states may grant additional privileges.

🏛 Models of Federalism

Model	Time Period	Core Feature
Dual Federalism	1789‑1932	National & state governments operate independently in separate spheres.
Cooperative Federalism	New Deal era‑early 1960s	Grants‑in‑aid foster joint national‑state programs.
Centralized (or “New”) Federalism	1960s‑present	National mandates with conditions dominate state actions.
Conflicted Federalism	21st century	Overlapping dual, cooperative, and centralized elements create tension.
Partisan Federalism	Contemporary	Policy preferences drive whether states favor national or state action, often aligned with party control.

Devolution – contemporary push (Reagan, Bush) to return policy‑making, financing, and implementation to states.

💰 Tools of Intergovernmental Relations

📈 Grants‑in‑Aid

Type	Description	Example
Categorical Formula Grant	Fixed formula, narrow purpose, strings attached (e.g., matching funds).	Medicaid (joint federal‑state funding).
Categorical Project Grant	Competitive; agencies propose projects; narrower funding.	RESPECT education reform grants (2014).
Block Grant	Broad purpose, greater state discretion, fewer strings.	TANF (replaced AFDC).

📜 Mandates

Funded – federal government pays full cost.
Unfunded – states must bear part or all costs (e.g., drinking‑age condition on highway funds).

🚫 Preemption

Federal law supersedes conflicting state/local law when it lies within a national power (common in environmental and aviation regulation).

❌ Nullification

True nullification – state declares federal law invalid (rare).
Non‑acquiescence – state refuses to enforce federal law.
Inconsistent legislation – state law conflicts with federal statute.

🏥 Case Study: Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Supreme Court upheld ACA’s constitutionality but struck down the mandatory Medicaid expansion provision as coercive.
Result: Individual mandate (requiring health insurance) remains; states may choose whether to expand Medicaid.
Political pattern – Democratic states expanded first; Republican states resisted, later accepted waivers.

📊 Advantages & Disadvantages of Modern Federalism

Advantage	Disadvantage
Multiple access points for citizen participation (national, state, local).	Voter fatigue & confusion; >500,000 officials to monitor.
Flexibility – local solutions tailored to regional needs.	Policy duplication → higher costs; uneven service quality across states.
Policy experimentation – “laboratories of democracy.”	Inequality – rights (e.g., marijuana, tuition) vary by state.
National action on cross‑state issues (defense, immigration).	Sovereignty conflicts → lawsuits, gridlock, public distrust.

🏛 Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Today

Cooperative: joint funding, shared implementation (e.g., Medicaid).
Conflictive: lawsuits over immigration, environmental standards, voting rights.
Political polarization fuels partisan federalism, with states acting as policy laboratories when Congress is gridlocked.