FEDERALISM & STATE
GOVERNMENT
KELLY KRINN & MARISSA PETERSON
CORE QUESTION
• Do states have sufficient capabilities in
policymaking to assume a greater role in the
federal system of government? Or is the present
balance of power between the national
government and the states about right? Why?
AGENDA
• Federalism in the U.S.
• Advantages v. Disadvantages
• Limitations of State Lawmakers
• Individual Rights & Federalism
• Finance& Federalism
• Conclusion & Discussion
U.S. FEDERALISM
• Constitutional Division of Powers:
1. Powers enumerated to the federal government
1. Powers denied to the states
1. 10th 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.”
PROS & CONS
• Advantages:
•
•
•
•
Decentralizes Power
Citizen Involvement
Local Innovation
Local Discretion in Taxation
& Regulation
PROS & CONS
• Disadvantages
•
•
•
•
•
Inefficient for modern problems
Overlapping regulation
Regulatory “race to the bottom”
Threatens rights of minorities
Instability
LIMITATIONS OF STATE LAWMAKERS
• Federal Authority
• Fiscal Restrictions
• Instruments of Direct Democracy
FEDERALISM & INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
• “Selective Incorporation”- Process of applying the
Bill of Rights to the states (14th Amendment)
• “State’s Rights!” - Used as an argument involving
federalism & protection of individual rights
• Recently, some state supreme courts have become
more aggressive than the U.S. Supreme Court in
protecting individual rights.
FEDERALISM & INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
• DOMA- Federal law that defines marriage between
one man & one women for federal and interstate
recognition purposes.
• States have traditionally
had the right to
determine marriage
eligibility
• State’s recognizing civil
rights of gay couplesbut federal gov’t still
denying marital benefits.
FEDERALISM & INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
• Gun Control- President Obama recently unveiled a new
policy plan for federal gun control (plus 23 executive
orders)
• Federal gov’t has assumed
primary role in shaping gun
policy (Protection of Lawful
Commerce in Arms Act of
2005).
• Recent gun control debate is changing NRA’s position
from defender of federal law to advocate of state’s
rights.
FINANCE AND FEDERALISM
• Local funding and local authority
• Federal funding and federal authority
• Unfunded Mandates
• Block Grants
FINANCE AND FEDERALISM
PPACA:
• Original Medicaid
expansion legislation
ruled overly coercive
toward states
• Exchanges grants for
states to establish
their own or federally
developed and run
• Examples of federal
power over states
FINANCE AND FEDERALISM
Public schools: Multiple
levels of devolution
• Local and state
funding stream
• Educational disparities
across the states (and
within states)
• Federal policy making
(i.e. No Child Left
Behind), attempts at
addressing disparities
CONCLUSION
• There are many arguments to be made for
and against giving state more power.
• Evaluation
• Efficiency:
• Flexibility
• Redundancy
• Equity:
• Outcomes
• Resources
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• Does the federal government have too much
authority over issues which are not Constitutionally
defined to be within their purview?
• What specific issues or programs would be in the
hands of which level of government and why?
• Ex: Education, social insurance, civil rights?
SOURCES
• Rosenn, "Federalism in the Americas in Comparative Perspective" (1994)
• Squire and Moncrief, State Legislatures Today: Politics Under the Domes
(2010), Chapter 6
• Neuman, Shula, “State’s Rights and DOMA Clash on a Shifting
Battlefield,” (2012) NPR.org. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwoway/2012/09/09/160840674/states-rights-and-doma-clash-on-a-shiftingbattlefield
• Kleiner, Sam, “In Reversal, the NRA embraces States’ Rights,” (2013) The
Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/172834/reversal-nraembraces-states-rights
• NCSL “Full Time and Part Time Legislatures” (2009)
• National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. (2012)
• Janson, Richard Harlan, “Federalism And The No Child Left Behind Act :
An Analysis Using Constitutional Systems And Adaptive Work Frameworks”
(2011)