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.
News
- Pro-Israel Groups Claim Victory, though Biden Panel Avoids Embracing IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
- Inside a Key Part of the Republican Base: Car Dealers
- How Tina Turner Escaped Abuse and Reclaimed her Name
- The Biden Administration Wants to Undo the Damage of Urban Highways. It Won't be Simple
- AAUP: Fight Tooth and Nail Against Florida's Higher Ed Agenda Because Your State is Next
- Professor Helps Rescue "Lost" Asian American Silent Film
- Canada Day Festivities Spark Controversy over National History
- German Government Panel of Historians Begins Inquiry into 1972 Munich Olympics Killings
- The Other Mothers Fighting the School Wars
- Jeff Sharlet on the Intersectional Erotics of Fascism