the USA is federal

• State sovereignty

  Citizen’s rights e.g. abortion/gun control/marijuana

  Criminal punishment - 27 states have the death penalty with 5 different methods of execution

  Electoral regulation - as stated in Article I (

  Tax - varies from 0% to 1.3%
• Spending

  $4bn investment in the Race to the Top programme to boost education in the states helped increase fed money to the states
• Great federal law

  The federal government is reliant on states to enforce federal law

  • 2016 - 9 states had initiatives on their ballot papers regarding the legislation on marijuana

  Many of Bush’s actions were opposed especially by Republicans

  • 25 Republican representatives + 9 Republican Senators voted no on the final passage of his Medicare expansion bill

  Obama’s healthcare reform act, called the “end of federalism” was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012 following the suit of some states
• SCOTUS

  From the mid-1980s under Justice Rehnquist and Roberts, the Court has taken a much more restrictive view of these clauses, limiting the role of Congress and the federal government

  • June 2022 - review of Roe v. Wade
• Constitution


  Amendments require ⅔ of state approval
• Role of the executive

  Focus of POTUS has shifted federalism before

  • Bush was focussed on war and terrorism which were matters of the federal government whilst Obama was focussed on domestic policy, which is largely the domain of the states
  • Obama’s stimulus package to the states amounted to $246 billion whilst Bush’s was only $20 billion
• Role of the executive

  Executive orders can be overruled to ensure state sovereignty and federalism

  • DAPA and DACA

  Cole memo issued by the DoJ said it wouldn’t enforce federal restrictions except in certain circumstances e.g. firearms/gun violence
• Need for a federal government

  States and cities have defied changes made by the federal gov -> “sanctuary cities” shows the reliance of the federal government on states to enforce law

  Tensions between the state and federal government shows the reliance of the federal government on states to enforce law

  • Trump threatened to withhold fed funds from sanctuary cities but federal courts ruled this unconstitutional in some cases like Chicago
• COVID

  Federal government’s slow + vague response highlighted the effectiveness and necessary need for State control

  State responses differed

  • American Samoa declared a state of emergency in January whilst Vermont did so in March
  • South Dakota didn’t impose any stay at home orders whilst America’s most populous state (Califonia) was the first to do so on March 19th.