Federalism

Federalism

The Constitution of the United States was drafted at a time when our country was in dire need of many answers to political and social questions. In addition to many other things, the drafters of the Constitution were concerned with solidifying our central government and the Constitution was intended to provide a solid structure from which our burgeoning nation could grow. The Constitution gave explicit powers to the federal government and provided the states with the Tenth Amendment which states ,"Powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states respectively…" Of the enumerated powers given to the federal government by the Constitution, the interpretation of the Commerce Clause as prescribed in Article I, section 8, has caused political and legal controversy known to our nation. In part, Article I, section 8, gives Congress the power to regulate commerce between states, with other nations and with Indian Tribes. Two competing theories about federalism inform the political and legal debates that deal with the Commerce Clause provided to the Congress by the Constitution. Dual Federalism, a political theory that purports states rights, champions the view that federal and state powers, as prescribed by the Constitution, are "mutually exclusive, conflicting, and antagonistic." (Ducat,p.271) This view suggests that the Constitution created dual sovereigns and that both levels of government had their own responsibilities. In order to understand what the legal ramification of dualist theory, one must first understand its interpretations of the Constitution. The dualist approach requires an exact and strict interpretation of the enumerated powers given to the nation...

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...t that, invariably in the three decisions that gave states more rights, a need to curb national government supremacy was a more important factor than the Tenth Amendment. Indeed, the dual federalist approach was not the major factor either because the three aforementioned cases were all decided more as a response to the expansion of national supremacy than a desire to exert states rights. The Supreme Court has not always been capable of following the correct interpretation of the Constitution because of the effects of prior cases and political influences. In order to do so in the future, the Supreme Court need only remember that the constitution was meant to-- enhance national government power, the national government is supreme when its laws are made in the pursuance of the Constitution, and the Tenth Amendment gives the states a passive and not aggressive power.