Federalism

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  4/8/2023
  

  Did Dobbs Return Abortion to the States and the People? LOL

  by Leah Litman

  The conservative legal movement has no intention of subjecting abortion to democratic processes. 

• 
• 3/26/2023
  

  The History of State Interposition Shows Federalism is a Deliberative Process, not a Set of Rules

  by Christian G. Fritz

  The efforts of state legislatures to oppose federal law have been varied. In sum, they show that the Supreme Court cannot dictate the distribution of power under federalism; Americans will have to keep figuring it out as we go, through political deliberation.

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  7/14/2022
  

  What the Antebellum Period Tells Us about the Coming Battles Over Abortion

  by Kate Masur

  "The history of the 19th century reminds us that arguments for states’ rights, or for federal power, have no intrinsic political or moral valence."

• 
• 6/19/2022
  

  What Prohibition History Tells Us about Returning Abortion to the States

  by Richard F. Hamm

  Federal control of interstate commerce and the mail mean that medical abortifacents will be difficult for state-level antiabortion politicians to keep out of their borders. There's no doubt that they will seek to pass federal laws leading to a national abortion ban. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/14/2021
  

  Why Can't our Political System Address our Biggest Problems? Blame the Founders

  by Max Boot

  From COVID to guns to infant mortality to health care, the United States does worse than other industrial democracies at managing basic problems. It's time to recognize that design flaws of the system are a big part of the problem. 

• 
• 7/18/2021
  

  The 1906 Decision in Hodges v. United States Shows the Error of Leaving Fundamental Rights to the States

  by William H. Pruden III

  The Court ruled that the 13th Amendment did not create a federal right to fairly contracted labor, and called for Black workers to "take their chances with other citizens in the states where they should make their homes," despite the plain determination of those citizens to oppress and expolit them.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/10/2021
  

  Think Republicans in Washington are Bad? They’re Far Worse at the State Level

  by Max Boot

  The states have been called "laboratories of democracy." Max Boot warns that Dr. Frankenstein also ran a lab. 

• 
• 11/22/2020
  

  Biden will Confront Systemic Conservatism Despite a Mandate for Change

  by Steven F. Lawson

  If Joe Biden wants to implement progressive change, he'll be stopped not by a lack of popular support, but by the conservatism built into American institutions. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  11/17/2020
  

  American Democracy Was Never Supposed to Work

  by Richard Kreitner

  "Merely ousting Trump is not enough without addressing more fundamental weaknesses in our political system, especially an outdated Constitution that continues to serve a minority of wealthy and white citizens and to curb any movements that might threaten their wealth and power."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/8/2020
  

  Elections Don’t Have to Be So Chaotic and Excruciating

  by Stephen I. Vladeck

  A uniform procedure for publicizing the vote count can eliminate the chaos of haphazard vote counts and remove the opportunity for candidates to portray the normal process of counting votes as irregular or crooked. 

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  11/9/2020
  

  The Native American Government That Inspired the US Constitution

  The government of the Iroquois Confederacy wasn't a template for the Constitution, but it was an example, visible to the framers, of concepts of federalism that were only abstractions in European political theory. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/26/2020
  

  There’s No Historical Justification for One of the Most Dangerous Ideas in American Law

  by Julian Davis Mortenson and Nicholas Bagley

  The delegation of regulatory power to federal agencies is the indispensable foundation of modern American governance. And it is under siege.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/13/2020
  

  States Keep Failing Black People

  by Charles M. Blow

  A look at American history shows that state governments have been agents of black oppression in voting rights, criminal justice, and public health.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/6/2020
  

  The New Federalism

  by Gary Gerstle

  States have once again become the innovators in American political life and the institutions that are taking their democratic remit seriously.

• 
• SOURCE: The Hill
  5/3/2020
  

  Federalism and Fighting Coronavirus

  John Barry's book The Great Influenza demonstrates how federalism can work effectively in a crisis. By that standard, the current response leaves much to be desired.

• 
• 5/3/2020
  

  Trump Completely Misunderstands His Authority: A Lawyer’s Perspective

  by James D. Zirin

  The exact distribution of power in American federalism is debatable. But any federal arrangement demands consistency so that states and the federal government can cooperate in an emergency. That seems beyond the Trump administration. 

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  4/27/2020
  

  If the Great Depression Is Any Indication, Things Won’t Just Go Back to ‘Normal’ After the Coronavirus Pandemic Ends

  by James C. Cobb

  New Deal programs had difficulty returning the United States to "normal" life because FDR had difficulty persuading many Americans that the federal government was supporting their economic security. This failure makes a comprehensive response to COVID-19 less politically feasible.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/29/2020
  

  States Are in Crisis. Why Won’t Trump Help?

  by Lizabeth Cohen

  The abandonment of a federalist system where states are accountable to Washington and residents everywhere can expect equitable treatment is recasting the United States of America to favor States over United. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/17/2020
  

  Trump’s ‘Liberate Michigan!’ Tweets Incite Insurrection. That’s Illegal.

  by Mary McCord

  President Trump incited insurrection Friday against the duly elected governors of the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia.

• 
• SOURCE: The Hill
  4/15/2020
  

  Trump's Claim of 'Total' Authority Fails to Fly with Nation's Governors

  But the clarity of the law, as experts like Claire Finkelstein of the Center for Ethics and Rule of Law see it, does not necessarily stop the president from taking action as part of a political strategy.