Federalism

What does it mean to have a federal system of government?

Federalism is a form of government that divides power between one national government and its lower governments. In the US, the national government, the 50 state governments, and the 574 federally-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are each sovereign governments, which means they have the authority and autonomy to govern their jurisdictions.

The US Constitution has competing clauses providing a strong national government while maintaining jurisdictional autonomy. Clauses promoting a strong national government include Article 1, Section 8, which gives Congress the authority to expand its lawmaking abilities, and the national supremacy clause (Article VI), which specifies that if there is a conflict between a state law and a national law, the national law wins.

On the other hand, the Tenth Amendment specifies that “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.” This provision is often called reserved powers and helps to provide boundaries for the scope of the national government’s powers.  

Beyond the Constitution, federal legislation has led to changes in the relationship between the national and state governments. For example, Congress used the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to give itself authority to protect the unionization of workers within the states through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. This interpretation expanded the ability of Congress, and therefore the federal level of government, to regulate policy issues traditionally overseen by state governments.

Article IV of the Constitution also has clauses that specify the relationship between state governments. The Privileges and Immunities Clause requires state governments to treat non-state and state residents similarly in most circumstances. Similarly, the Full Faith and Credit requires states to recognize each other’s laws. This provision means that although the requirements for getting a driver’s license may vary across the country, a license from one state is valid everywhere.  

What policy areas are governed by the states?

The states are primarily responsible for the public’s health, safety, and welfare, including education, health care policy, abortion, criminal justice systems, and social safety net programs. Before the New Deal, a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939, the state governments had near complete autonomy in these areas, while the federal government focused on foreign policy, interstate commerce, and international trade.

Since the New Deal, the federal government began influencing how states administer these policy areas. The federal government solely administers Social Security and Medicare while offering some funds for education; it coordinates with states on healthcare for the poor (Medicaid); it works with states on environmental policy. Nevertheless, state policies are still influential: for example variation in state health and environmental policies could impact national average life expectancy.

How has the federal government assumed some powers within policy areas that were intended for states?

In addition to the National Supremacy Clause discussed above, Congress has often invoked the Commerce Clause to expand its influence. The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, but it has also been used to regulate policy from labor relations to food and drugs to railroads. This power has been limited since the Supreme Court’s 1995 decision in United States v. Lopez, which struck down the Gun Free School Zones Act on the rationale that gun possession is not an economic activity that can be regulated by Congress through the Commerce Clause.

Another source of federal power is granted by the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which provides equal protection by the law for all US citizens in all states. Before this amendment, the Bill of Rights applied only to the protection of equal rights by the federal government. This amendment established that the federal government could require states to follow the Bill of Rights.

Are state governments able to defy the federal government? When do such disagreements happen?

The Constitution’s National Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Paragraph 2) puts the states in subordinate roles. Nonetheless, states have attempted to defy federal laws. In 1957, Arkansas delayed school desegregation in defiance of Brown vs. Board of Education. While it did successfully delay the implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision for some time, the episode ended with President Eisenhower sending the 101st Airborne to Little Rock’s Central High School to enforce the ruling. On the other hand, while the federal government considers marijuana an illegal “controlled substance,” 38 states allow cannabis for medical purposes, and 23 allow it for recreational purposes, in clear conflict with federal law.

How do states make policy?

States make policy through a similar process as the national government: each state has a legislative, executive, and judicial branch with similar functions and checks and balances as those at the federal level. Though state institutions are roughly similar to each other, states vary in policy-making capacity.

Some state legislatures are citizen legislatures, where legislators are in session for a short time, typically receiving little pay and have small staff. In professionalized legislatures, legislators receive higher pay, are in session nearly year-round, and typically have full-time staff. These professionalized legislatures are more responsive to constituents and generally more effective at administering the bureaucracy.  

States rely on local governments (counties, cities and towns, and school districts) to develop and implement state policies like elections, tax collection, and education. Local governments do not have independent autonomy from states. Rather, states have the ultimate authority to create or remove power from local governments. Under home rule, states can grant local governments the sole jurisdiction over certain issues within their borders.

What are the principal advantages and disadvantages of a federal system?

A federal system gives policy advocates more opportunities to change policy rather than limiting efforts to the national level. For example, green energy, abortion, or educational reform advocates focus on local, state, and national governments to identify the best venue for their goals.

The advantage of federalism is that policy work can be split up between levels of government, meaning more policy solutions can be reached than if they were handled by only one level of government. Further, citizens typically trust their local and state governments more than the federal government, and feel they can have more influence in local decision-making.

The disadvantage is that states often depend on the federal government for resources to accomplish the policy goals they are responsible for. This situation can lead to states competing against each other for limited resources. It can also lead to less effective implementation of policies than if the federal government were using its resources to implement a coordinated policy. For example, state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were very different state by state, which led to unequal access to government resources depending on which state you lived in. Similarly, federalism might make it difficult for citizens to know who is responsible for policies and services and, therefore, find it difficult to hold a government accountable.

What is the alternative to a federal system? How many countries have each type of government?

Federal systems are relatively rare: There are only 25 federal countries worldwide (including the United States, Canada, and Germany). The more common alternative to a federal system is a unitary system in which most, if not all, the power is vested in the central or national government. 166 of the 193 United Nations Member states are unitary systems of government.

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