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Era Of Cooperative Federalism

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During the 1930s, federalism underwent a revolutionary shift, a shift that began with FDR’s New Deal. Faced with a depressed economy and having campaigned to enliven it with welfare and other forms of government care, FDR began to exert federal powers in a way no prior president had. The substance of FDR’s federal pivot was a set of non-mandatory grants that attached his own federal policy priorities to states’ (voluntary) receipt of these grants, facilitating the administration of the New Deal in states. These yielded an era of “cooperative federalism,” described by Kincaid as “a way to expand federal powers without subordinating state powers.” This federalism was a departure from the erstwhile “dual federalism” structure, under which Congress …show more content…

Because of that basic utilitarian calculation, it follows that civil rights activism will target federal policy venues, and politicians, being opportunists, will flock.

Hence, because political actors respond to political pressures by finding ways to manipulate the federal system for their gain, and because for many important interest groups federal policymaking venues are more rewarding than state venues, there is a bias toward centralization in the U.S. federalist system.

While the foregoing section dealt with fluctuations in federalism due to democratic pressure, this section deals with fluctuations in federalism originating from its undemocratic gatekeeper: the federal judiciary. Federal courts may be described in this way because the Constitution lays out the federal structure, and only those courts may finally declare the Constitution’s meaning. Thus, it is both in principle and in practice Article III Courts’ job to delineate where federal powers end and where state powers begin. I argue here that the Supreme Court in particular has no reliable federal bias in two key areas of its federalism jurisprudence: the Commerce Clause and rights of …show more content…

But, as with its Commerce Clause jurisprudence, the Court’s expansive rights jurisprudence may not be taken for granted. Consider the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, which legalized same-sex marriage in all states. That decision, undeniably, was an audacious assertion of power by the Supreme Court, one that brought the guillotine down on states’ internal deliberations as to the merits of same-sex marriage. I thus cannot deny that this decision counts in favor of the view that the Court holds a bias toward centralization, but there is another side to this coin, namely, the four impassioned dissenting opinions delivered by the Court. The principal dissent among these decried the Court for “invalidat[ing] the marriage laws of more than half the States” without their assent. The one dissenting justice who did not join that principal dissent echoed similar federalism concerns, panning the Obergefell majority for disturbing the “system of federalism” that “provides a way for people with different beliefs to live together in a single

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John Marshall altered the Court’s position within the constitutional system and engaged a dynamic battle to sustain the federal authority over the interstate business and in dealings between the states and the federal government. This he did during the thirty-four years he was the chief justice and to date is a legacy in the Court’s history. Marbury v. Madison (1803) marked the commencing of Marshall’s record of achievement in which he justified the Court’s supremacy of judicial review - the rule to assess the constitutionality of state laws and other actions of the government - and put down the foundations of national constitutional jurisprudence. In Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Marshall alleged that a land grant was a contract that a government

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New York, the Supreme Court ruled on many different cases that surrounded states’ involvement in economics and business industry. Kens details how all these cases effected Lochner v. New York. In the book, Kens addresses the debate that many believe that the Supreme Court used laissez faire ideas to rule, Kens states that the court at the time upheld state regulatory measures more often than overturning them. However, Kens does give an overall sense that the court under Fuller did follow the ideas of social Darwinism, illustrating that after changes in justices the Supreme Court would rule in favor of regulations similar to the Lochner case. Kens concludes with the effects Loch v. New York had on later cases and how there is still a debate as to whether the court ruled fairly, using the Fourteenth Amendment to overrule state legislation on workplace

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The founding father’s idea when they created the Constitution was to prevent a centralized government. As expressed by James Madison in Federalist No. 51, they believe that the power surrendered by people would be divided between the federal and state governments, creating balance of power that would enable both governments to control each other. Over time, the balance of power between the federal and state governments has shifted in favor of the federal government and this has taken place with the help of the Constitution and by enactments of Congress. The role that Chief Justice John Marshall played in defining the power of the federal and state governments during the early 19th century is important to mention because he shaped the nation.

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Woodrow Wilson once referred to the Supreme Court as “a constant constitutional convention in continuous session”, due to the role they have played in interpreting the constitution as it is written. Due to the ambiguity found in much of the phrasing in the constitution, judicial interpretation of the constitution can be considered both necessary and inevitable (Comer, Gruhl et al., 2001). The courts have the power to declare unconstitutional the actions of the other branches and units of the government in what is known as judicial review (Tannahil, 2002). The first case in which the court elaborated on the principle of judicial review was that of Marbury v. Madison in 1803 and put forward that in the case of conflict between the constitution and a statute, it is “the duty of the judicial department to say what the law is” (Smith, 1975). Following this, the case of Fletcher v Peck (1810) is of equal importance as it was the first case in which a state law was declared by the court to be unconstitutional.

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Throughout history federalism has gone through several substantial changes, such as the boundaries and balances between the state and national government. Due to this we have experienced several different era’s of federalism from the original “dual-federalism” to the “new federalism” and just about everything else in between. Dual-federalism also known as divided sovereignty was a optimistic belief that federal and state government could exist if their was a clear division between authority. The problem with this is that there was a clever mechanism in the constitution that reserved a powers clause in favor of the national government. Such cases held in Marshall court favored the national government “McCulloch v. Maryland(1819)”, “Gibbons

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In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton lays out his vision for the Supreme Court of the United States. In this essay, Hamilton explains that the court should function as a “bulwark against majoritarian excesses,” (O’Brien 181) to protect the rights of the minority, from the tyranny of the majority. Hamilton makes the assurance that the court will use separation of powers as a “check” on Congress in order to protect against popular will (O’Brien 22). To accomplish this, the court had to function as an independent body to “safeguard” against “occasional ill humors in the society,” (O’Brien 349) in the event that popular will was harmful to the minority. Conversely, in his opinion for the Marbury v. Madison case, Chief Justice John Marshall

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Monk, a Constitutional scholar. Monk, in this article, writes on essentially what federalism is and the history of it in regards to the United States constitution. Federalism, by Monk’s standards and definition is …”the sharing of power between national and state governments.” (Monk n.d.)

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To clarify, the state does not possess the freedoms it once practiced as a republic. However, as a state that practices cooperative federalism, it works alongside with the government’s powers to find middle ground solutions. Welfare reforms, can also be categorized into being a result of cooperative federalism between the federal government and the state of Texas. To further explain, the government set a welfare reform law, however, “states were afforded a great deal of flexibility to design tier own welfare reform strategies.” (Sawhill, et al.).

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The New Deal changed government for all time to an agreeable federalism when the Federal and State forces turned out to be more like accomplices rather than opposing forces for balancing power. As you point out the U.S. Supreme Court has decided for expanded state control over government power in a few cases including United States v. Lopez

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The United States has undergone a major shift in federalism since the founding in 1789. Dual federalism was the norm from 1789 until the 1930’s. Under this system of federalism the areas of responsibilities that the National government and State government had were demarcated very distinctly. Most areas in citizen’s everyday lives were in fact regulated by the state and local governments. While the national government had responsibilities that were mostly concern with national commerce.

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The Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are composed of broad values like equality and liberty, but judges who attempt to give concrete meaning to such general concepts without specific precedent and law from the text or history overstep their proper role. If Robert H. Bork were to review judicial process today, he will assume all judges decide constitutional cases in accordance with “neutral principles.” In his article “Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems” (1971), Bork insists these principles must be strictly neutral in origin of the text and from such cases that derive from precedent. He continues his argument by stating if the Court strikes down legislation on any other basis, it abuses its power and invades

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In the case Employment Division of Oregon V. Smith, Judge Anthony Scalia asserted that religious beliefs do not excuse people from complying with other valid laws on the state or national level in regard to government regulation of conduct. In the opinion that Judge Scalia delivered on the case, he noted that allowing exceptions to every state law or regulation affecting religion “would open the prospect of constitutionally required exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind.” Using this case as precedent, judges should look at the ruling in the opinion and apply it to the current case. The first amendment, while protecting religious beliefs, does not provide grounds for religious beliefs to transcend law on either the state or national level. As Judge Scalia voices his opinion on the matter, he uses judicial activism while taking into account the way the public views how far the extent of the first amendment should reach.

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In the year 1800, the United States was a fragile new republic with many issues yet to resolve. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles facing this new nation was conflicting views on were government power should lie. The election of 1800, between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, was a bitter contest that turned these two friends into enemies, and changed the course of America’s election process and the party system as we know it. The election was an election that brought about the eventual ending of the Federalist Party in the First Party System and the emergence of the Republican party into power. “It was a lengthy, bitter match between the pro-French and pro-decentralization Republicans under Jefferson and Burr, against incumbent Adams and Pinckney's pro-British and pro-centralization Federalists”.

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The dominance of the federal government is that all laws of the constitution are the supreme law of the land. This creates the Supremacy Clause Act 5. With federalism the state’s power is determined by the voting qualifications. The state’s power is limited by the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments. The amendment ratification process is when Congress proposes the amendment and the State can choose to ratify it or not.

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American original started with a dual federalism which is a system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme with their own sphere, each responsible for some policies. For examples the national government would be in charge of the national defense, national funding, and many more. But the state would be in charge of public schools, law enforcement, and highways. The power doing those time was designed like a layer cake with the state not interfering with the national or vice versa. Cooperative federalism is a system of government in which power and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government.

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