AP US Gov Federalism Notes

**I'm sorry the formatting is bad but I don't have word yet!!!**

FEDERALISM

1/4/12

Federalism- the sharing of power/sovereignty between the national government and the states

• The local units (states) have a specially protected status- they have the right to exist protected by the Constitution
• States get to make final decisions on certain government matters
• Driving age, gay marriage (subject to change), gun control, marriage age
• Sometimes, the national government can intervene in these issues if there is a constitutional issue.  It is a constantly changing relationship between the national government and states
• As the national government has brought in more and more money through taxation, it has swung the balance of power in the direction of the national government

How is the federal relationship stated in the Constitution?

• Whatever is not given to the national government, nor denied to the states goes to the states and the people (Reserved Powers 10th Amendment)
• States use this to argue the national government when it tries to impose things on the states.  The states use it to protect their rights

Devolution- a movement to give power and control over certain programs back to the states

• Block grants- instead of giving money to the states with specific conditions on how to spend it, block grants give more power to the states to decide how they want to spend the money with broad guidelines
• Welfare- a lot of welfare money is decided by the states on how to spend it

How did the CIvil War alter the relationship between the national government and the states?

• The Civil War ended any legal justification for secession 
• Civil War got rid of nullification
• Nullification- if a state feels that something the national government is doing is unconstitutional, they are not legally obligated to follow it
• Three issues that led people to support nullification
• Slavery- southern states feared that the national government would begin to crack down on slavery with regulations
• Alien and Sedition Acts- made it easy for the government punish people who were criticizing the government in the media (newspapers), including non citizens, who could be deported.  States viewed this as unconstitutional, and states felt they could not enforce it
• Tariffs- such high rates were hurting people in the South

Dual Federalism and the Commerce Clause

• Tries to say that within the states themselves the states are sovereign and in national issues the federal government is sovereign
• Centered around the idea of commerce- if there was intrastate commerce, leave it up to state, and if it was interstate it was up to the federal government 
• The problem with this was that it was very hard to define what was considered interstate and what was considered intrastate. Because of this it came to a point where most of the regulating came by interstate commerce, and by the federal government (through the commerce clause)
• Cases where commerce was limited
• Guns- if you were caught with a gun within 200 yards of a school you are breaking a law. US vs Lopez- Supreme court said a federal law that having a gun by a school is an abuse of the commerce clause and the elastic clause, therefore this law was struck down as unconstitutional 
• Court case on Protecting women who are abused- struck down as an abuse of the commerce clause 

Things states do on their own that make them look like a direct democracy:

• Recall- only on state level- if the people are upset they can have an election to remove them
• Referendum- the people of a state get to vote on something that the state legislature has passed already, can strike it down if enough votes are tallied. This is usually only for certain select issues that the people can have strong views on 
• Initiative- when voters directly place a proposed law on the ballot. They aren’t voting on something the legislator already passed, they are proposing a law to be voted on, and then the people get to vote on it

How does the federal government distribute money to the states?

• Grants-in-Aid
• Categorical Grant
• Money is given for a specific purpose (build parks, airports)
• States have to give matching funds (national gives 90%, state gives 10%)
• There are restrictions that Congress dictates on how the money can be spent
• Unpopular among mayors and governors, because states feel boxed in because of so many restrictions
• Congress likes them because they give them more power, and pork barrel politics (spend money on things for their constituents and that will help them get reelected)
• Block Grants- 1980s
• Republicans are always wary of a strong national government, so Reagan wanted to give more power back to the states --> created block grants
• Money is for something general (law enforcement, community development), not for a specific purpose
• Not so many restrictions
• More freedom and power for the states
• They weren't working so well and there wasn't a high demand- Congress didn't like them (Congressmen didn't benefit from them) 
• Welfare used to be a categorical grant (AFDC), but then it began to become unpopular 
• Until the 70s and 80s most people who got welfare were married or couldn't make ends meet.  But then unmarried black and hispanic women with kids were getting benefits --> program became unpopular and thought the states should run it
• Congress abolished AFDC in the 90s, and created TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) in the Welfare Act, and welfare became a block grant- money and rules were decided by the states
• Revenue Sharing
• Doesn't exist anymore
• National government gives money to the states with no restrictions and no matching funds
• Mandates
• National government telling the states what to do
• Can be connected to aid, but not always
• Examples
• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
• National government told the states what they have to do to make public areas accessible to people on wheelchairs 
• Clean Air Act
• Regulates air quality from emissions from cars and factories
• Government dictates the regulations to the states