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Willy Ben Chen
Chapter3TheFederalSystem2020.pptxChapter 3: The Federal System
American National Government
PL-102
Instructor Walter Pearn
Chapter Objectives
Define Federalism.
Explain the concept of federalism.
Discuss the constitutional logic of federalism.
Identify the powers and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments
Describe how federalism has evolved in the United States.
Compare different conceptions of federalism.
Chapter Objectives
Explain the dynamic of competitive federalism
Analyze some issues over which the states and federal government have contended
Discuss the advantages of federalism
Explain the disadvantages of federalism
Federalism
A constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and the states.
The national and states exercise power over the individual.
Alternatives to Federalism:
Unitary System
Confederation
Unitary System
A constitutional arrangement that concentrates power in a central government.
In the United States, all states have unitary governments with bicameral legislatures (except Nebraska, which has a unicameral legislature).
New Jersey Assembly and the Senate
National Government/Subnational
National government is responsible for handling matters that affect the country, for example, defending the nation against foreign threats and promoting national economic prosperity.
Subnational, or state governments, are responsible for matters that lie within their regions, which include ensuring the well-being of their people by administering education, health care, public safety, and other public services.
In the U.S. federal system, all national matters are handled by the federal government, which is led by the president and members of Congress, all of whom are elected by voters across the country.
All matters at the subnational level are the responsibility of the fifty states, each headed by an elected governor and legislature.
Constitutional Countries
Constitutions of countries with federal systems formally allocate legislative, judicial, and executive authority to the two levels of government in such a way as to ensure each level some degree of autonomy from the other.
U.S. Constitution, the president assumes executive power.
Congress exercises legislative powers
The federal courts (e.g., U.S. district courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court) assume judicial powers.
In each of the fifty states, a governor assumes executive authority, a state legislature makes laws, and state-level courts (e.g., trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and supreme courts) possess judicial authority.
FEDERALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION
The enumerated powers are found in Article I, Section 8.
Defines the jurisdictional boundaries within which the federal government has authority.
Provides for the general welfare of the populace, The federal government can
Tax
Borrow money
Regulate interstate and foreign commerce
Protect property rights
Example. To provide for the common defense of the people, the federal government can raise and support armies and declare war.
National integration and unity are fostered with the government’s powers over the coining of money, naturalization, postal services, and other responsibilities.
FEDERALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION
The last clause of Article I, Section 8, commonly referred to as the elastic clause or the necessary and proper cause
Enables Congress “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying” out its constitutional responsibilities.
The enumerated powers define the policy areas in which the national government has authority, the elastic clause allows it to create the legal means to fulfill those responsibilities.
The open-ended construction of this clause has enabled the national government to expand its authority beyond what is specified in the Constitution, a development also motivated by the expansive interpretation of the commerce clause, which empowers the federal government to regulate interstate economic transactions.
FEDERALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION
The original Constitution did not address states rights.
The framers felty the States would retain any powers not prohibited by the Constitution or delegated to the national government.
When it came time to ratify the Constitution, several states requested that an amendment be added explicitly identifying the reserved powers of the states.
What these Anti-Federalists sought was further assurance that the national government’s capacity to act directly on behalf of the people would be restricted, which the first ten amendments (Bill of Rights) provided.
The Tenth Amendment affirms the states’ reserved powers: “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.” Indeed, state constitutions had bills of rights, which the first Congress used as the source for the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Federalism and the Constitution
Some of the states’ reserved powers are no longer exclusively within state domain.
For example, since the 1940s, the federal government has also engaged in administering health, safety, income security, education, and welfare to state residents.
The boundary between intrastate and interstate commerce has become indefinable as a result of broad interpretation of the commerce clause.
Shared and overlapping powers have become an integral part of contemporary U.S. federalism. These concurrent powers range from taxing, borrowing, and making and enforcing laws to establishing court systems
Article I, Section 9
Of the Constitution places the most important restriction on the national government prevents the deprivation of personal liberty.
Specifically, the government cannot:
Suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which enables someone in custody to petition a judge to determine whether that person’s detention is legal.
Pass a bill of attainder, a legislative action declaring someone guilty without a trial.
Enact an ex post facto law, which criminalizes an act retroactively.
The Bill of Rights affirms and expands these constitutional restrictions, ensuring that the government cannot encroach on personal freedoms.
Article I, Section 10
Of the Constitution, prohibits the states from entering into treaties with other countries, coining money, and levying taxes on imports and exports.
States cannot violate personal freedoms by suspending the writ of habeas corpus, passing bills of attainder, or enacting ex post facto laws.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, prohibits the states from denying citizens the rights to which they are entitled by the Constitution, due process of law, or the equal protection of the laws.
Lastly, three civil rights amendments—the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth—prevent both the states and the federal government from abridging citizens’ right to vote based on race, sex, and age. This topic remains controversial because states have not always ensured equal protection.
Supremacy Clause
Article VI, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Supremacy Clause because it provides that the "Constitution, and the Laws of the United States … shall be the supreme Law of the Land." It means that the federal government, in exercising any of the powers enumerated in the Constitution, must prevail over any conflicting or inconsistent state exercise of power.
Supremacy Clause
The concept of federal supremacy was developed by Chief Justice John Marshall, who led the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835.
In mcculloch v. maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 4 L. Ed. 579 (1819), the Court invalidated a Maryland law that taxed all banks in the state, including a branch of the national bank located at Baltimore.
Marshall held that although none of the enumerated powers of Congress explicitly authorized the incorporation of the national bank, the Necessary and Proper Clause provided the basis for Congress's action.
Having established that the exercise of authority was proper, Marshall concluded that "the government of the Union, though limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action."
Full faith and credit clause
Various constitutional provisions govern state-to-state relations.
Article IV, Section 1, referred to as the full faith and credit clause or the comity clause, requires the states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states.
For example; an adoption certificate or driver’s license issued in one state is valid in any other state.
The movement for marriage equality has put the full faith and credit clause to the test in recent decades.
Baehr v. Lewin, a 1993 ruling in which the Hawaii Supreme Court asserted that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
To address this concern, Congress passed, and President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996.
The law declared that “No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need recognize a marriage between persons of the same sex, even if the marriage was concluded or recognized in another state.”
The law also barred federal benefits for same-sex partners.
Privileges and immunities clause
Article IV of the Constitution asserts states are prohibited from discriminating against out-of-staters by denying them such guarantees as access to courts, legal protection, property rights, and travel rights.
The clause has not been interpreted to mean there cannot be any difference in the way a state treats residents and non-residents.
For example, individuals cannot vote in a state in which they do not reside, tuition at state universities is higher for out-of-state residents, and in some cases individuals who have recently become residents of a state must wait a certain amount of time to be eligible for social welfare benefits.
Another constitutional provision prohibits states from establishing trade restrictions on goods produced in other states. However, a state can tax out-of-state goods sold within its borders as long as state-made goods are taxed at the same level.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FINANCES
Federal, state, and local governments depend on different sources of revenue to finance their annual expenditures.
Two important developments have fundamentally changed the allocation of revenue since the early 1900s.
The ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 authorized Congress to impose income taxes without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population, a burdensome provision that Article I, Section 9, had imposed on the national government.
With this change, the federal government’s ability to raise revenue significantly increased and so did its ability to spend.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FINANCES
Federal grants, transfers federal money to state and local governments.
These transfers, which do not have to be repaid, are designed to support the activities of the recipient governments, but also to encourage them to pursue federal policy objectives they might not otherwise adopt.
The expansion of the federal government’s spending power has enabled it to transfer more grant money to lower government levels, which has accounted for an increasing share of their total revenue.
Rise of the drinking age.
Sources of Revenue
The federal government raises revenue from Individual Income Tax (approximately 47%) and(approximately 34%) from payroll taxes, which combine Social Security tax and Medicare tax.
State governments, (approximately 50%)of revenue came from taxes, while (approximately) 30 percent consisted of federal grants.
Sales tax—includes taxes on purchased food, clothing, alcohol, amusements, insurance, motor fuels, tobacco products, and public utilities, for example—accounted for about 47 percent of total tax revenue, and individual income taxes represented roughly 35 percent.
Revenue from service charges (e.g., tuition revenue from public universities and fees for hospital-related services) accounted for 11 percent.
Sources of Revenue
Non state income tax states: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
Fuel tax revenue is typically used to finance state highway transportation projects, although some states do use it to fund non-transportation projects.
local governments the property tax, a levy on residential and commercial real estate, was the most important source of tax revenue, accounting for about 74 percent of the total.
Charges for hospital-related services, sewage and solid-waste management, public city university tuition, and airport services are important sources of general revenue for local governments.
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN NATIONAL POWER AND STATE POWER
Nullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution
www.senate.gov › Art & History Home
DUAL FEDERALISM
Dual federalism, also known as layer-cake federalism or divided sovereignty, is a political arrangement in which power is divided between the federal and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers accorded to them without interference from the federal government.
COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM
Cooperative federalism is a model of intergovernmental relations that recognizes the overlapping functions of the national and state governments.
This model can be contrasted with the model of dual federalism, which maintains that the national and state governments have distinct and separate government functions.
Instead, the national and state governments share power.
For instance, bureaucratic agencies at the national and state level normally carry out governmental programs jointly.
Because the governments’ responsibilities are split between many levels of government, citizens and organized interests have many access points to influence public policy.
NEW FEDERALISM
New federalism is premised on the idea that the decentralization of policies enhances administrative efficiency, reduces overall public spending, and improves policy outcomes.
General revenue sharing programs were created that distributed funds to the state and local governments with minimal restrictions on how the money was spent.
Grants
Federal cash grants do come with strings attached.
Categorical grants are federal transfers formulated to limit recipients’ discretion in the use of funds and subject them to strict administrative criteria that guide project selection, performance, and financial oversight, among other things.
These grants also often require some commitment of matching funds. Medicaid and the food stamp program are examples of categorical grants.
Grant-in-Aid
A grant-in-aid is money coming from central government for a specific project. This kind of funding is usually used when the government and parliament have decided that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence from the state.
An example of this would be how the United States Congress required states to raise the drinking age for alcohol from 18 to 21 in order for the individual states to continue to qualify for federal funds for interstate highways located within each state.
Block Grants
The Federal government awards block grants to state or local governments, in a lump sum for a specific issue or problem.
The local/state governments set up more specific granting guidelines within their own jurisdictions, for making smaller grants to various agencies and nonprofits.
The local government creates and manages a process to identify local needs and for coordinating the grant making process, monitoring and evaluating the outcomes.
Creeping Categorization
Another noteworthy characteristic of block grants is that their flexibility has been undermined over time as a result of creeping categorization.
A process in which the national government places new administrative requirements on state and local governments or supplants block grants with new categorical grants.
The more common measures used to restrict block grants’ programmatic flexibility are set-asides (i.e., requiring a certain share of grant funds to be designated for a specific purpose) and cost ceilings (i.e., placing a cap on funding other purposes).
Unfunded mandates
Are federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensating them for the administrative costs they incur.
For example, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizes the federal government to withhold federal grants as well as file lawsuits against state and local officials for practicing racial discrimination.
Some mandates come in the form of partial preemption regulations, whereby the federal government sets national regulatory standards but delegates the enforcement to state and local governments.
For example, the Clean Air Act sets air quality regulations but instructs states to design implementation plans to achieve such standards
CONTENDING ISSUES
Immigration federalism describes the gradual movement of states into the immigration policy domain.
Marital rights for gays and lesbians have also significantly changed in recent years.
The diffusion of marriage equality across states was driven in large part by federal district and appeals courts, which have used the rationale underpinning the Windsor case (i.e., laws cannot discriminate between same-sex and opposite-sex couples based on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment) to invalidate state bans on same-sex marriage.
Due Process Clause
Is a clause in the U.S. Constitution that embodies a system of rights based on moral principles.
The due process principle states that the government must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person according to the law.
Thus the due process clause in the constitution prohibits the state and local government from depriving people of their life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken.
In the U.S. Constitution, the concept of due process is discussed under the 5th, 6th, and 14th,amendments to the constitution.
Equal Protection Clause
The constitutional guarantee that no person or class of persons shall be denied the same protection of the laws that is enjoyed by other persons or other classes in like circumstances in their lives, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness.
The Declaration of Independence states:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Full Faith and Credit Clause
Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution—provides that the various states must recognize legislative acts, public records, and judicial decisions of the other states within the United States.
It states that "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.
" The statute that implements the clause, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738, further specifies that "a state's preclusion rules should control matters originally litigated in that state."
The Full Faith and Credit Clause ensures that judicial decisions rendered by the courts in one state are recognized and honored in every other state.
It also prevents parties from moving to another state to escape enforcement of a judgment or to regulate a controversy already decided elsewhere, a practice known as forum shopping.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
The Privileges and Immunities Clauses are found in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment. Both clauses apply only to citizens of the United States. Aliens and corporations are not citizens and, therefore, are not entitled to this protection.
The purpose of the clause was to facilitate the unification of the independent states into one nation so that citizens traveling throughout the country would receive the same treatment as the citizens of the states through which they passed.
The privileges and immunities that are protected under Article IV include the right to receive protection from state government; the right to acquire and possess all kinds of property; the right to travel through or reside in any state for purposes of trade, agriculture, or professional endeavors; the right to claim the benefit of the writ of Habeas Corpus; the right to sue and defend actions in court; and the right to receive the same tax treatment as that of the citizens of the taxing state.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
This clause forbids a state from unjustly depriving citizens from other states of any rights derived from state citizenship solely on the basis of non-residence.
Yet the Supreme Court has never interpreted it to preclude all deferential treatment of in-state citizens. As a result, the Privileges and Immunities Clause does not bar differential state standards governing the practice of certain professions.
Out-of-state doctors, lawyers, and other professionals may be required to prove their competency based on standards that are higher than those applied to their in-state counterparts.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Tuition rates at public Colleges and Universities are typically lower for in-state students.
Out-of-state residents are charged more for hunting and fishing licenses than are in-state residents.
Such discrepancies are generally accepted as justifiable because they advance legitimate state interests.
The Supreme Court has struck down state laws that infringed rights guaranteed by the Privileges and Immunities Clause
Interstate Rendition Clause
Rendition means to surrender or handing over of a person or property, particularly from one jurisdiction to another.
Interstate rendition clause refers to a clause in the U.S. Constitution that provides for the extradition of a criminal back to the state where s/he has committed a crime.
Rendition in common parlance means the surrender or handing over of a person or property, particularly from one jurisdiction to another.
Interstate Compacts
Under Article I, Section 10, Clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution, "No State shall, without the Consent of Congress … enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State.“
Interstate compacts in the United States were first used by the American colonies to settle boundary disputes.
After the American Revolution, states continued to use interstate compacts to meet their various needs.
Although these compacts were necessary for peaceful interaction between the states, they posed a threat to the future of the United States: if states were allowed to form powerful coalitions, they might be tempted to break away from the rest of the country and fracture the Union.
Interstate Rendition Clause
In the U.S. Constitution, the provision for interstate rendition is referred under USCS Const. Art. IV, § 2, Cl 2.
This provision of the constitution reads as “A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime”.
Each state has a presumptive duty to render the suspects on the request of another state.
This clause is also known as extradition clause.
Original Jurisdiction
The lawful authority of a court to hear or to act on a case from it’s beginning and to pass judgment on the law and the facts.
The authority may be over specific geographic area or over particular types of cases.
Guarantee Clause
Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution is popularly known as the guarantee clause.
Under this clause the federal government ensures for the states both a republican form of government and protection from invasion or internal insurrection.
It says “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
Cooperative Federalism
Cooperative federalism is a political and constitutional concept developed in the early 20th century that emphasizes the decentralization of power not necessarily equal sharing of governmental responsibilities between federal, state and local agencies and institutions.
National and state governments tackle issues together in a cooperative fashion as opposed to a system in which policy is imposed on local administrators by an all-powerful federal regime.
As a result, both national and state governments are simultaneously independent and interdependent with an overlap of functions and financial resources, but it is difficult for one person or one institution to accumulate absolute power.
Cooperative Federalism
In addition, this distribution of government provides multiple points of access for citizens interested in influencing state and federal institutions, laws and policies.
The idea was first introduced in the United States during the New Deal era of the 1930s and, as a result, the constitutional concept of dual federalism nearly disappeared.
Under dual federalism, the U.S. national government was granted a limited number of powers with the states otherwise sovereign.
Cooperative Federalism
The states were considered to be as powerful as the federal government within their respective political spheres and each was responsible for specific government functions that did not overlap.
States with a vested interest in prolonging an economy based on slavery relied on dual federalism to support their rejection of federal government intervention.
Centralized Federalism
Centralized Federalism is the relationship between the national and state governments, in which the national government imposes its policy preferences on state governments. A strong federal government can accomplish the tasks of government much better than the states can, however, it can cause a lot of problems as well.
Centralized government was a time period when the national government decided to stop helping out on a domestic level with policy making. Instead it set goals for states on a social level and then made the states compete for money from the federal government and the ability to use that program in their state.
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