Questions tagged [federalism]
Forms of government that mix a central government with regional governments.
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What would happen if an American state didn’t follow a ruling by the Supreme Court?
If the Supreme Court decided that same-sex marriage was a right on the federal level, what would happen if a specific state decided not to follow their ruling?
What power does the federal government ...
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A new proposal suggests subdividing Washington D.C. into 127 new states so that they can change the Constitution at will. Is this possible?
There is a new proposal in the Harvard Law Review titled: "Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation".
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(Why) does the US left promote federal powers over state powers?
This comment states that the modern left is often promoting federal powers over state powers.
I assume that the comment relates to the United States. It surprises me, because in (northern) Europe, ...
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Why did some places with a large population become states within a country when other places with smaller populations became countries of their own?
With a population of over 200 million, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has a much larger population than most EU countries(eg: Switzerland has approx 9 mil population). Why is it that small places ...
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Why are national guards in states nowhere near the US Mexico border getting involved in border security with Mexico?
I have seen an article saying that the state national guard of North Dakota is preparing to send troops to the US Mexico border. Other states have done this too, I just pick North Dakota because it is ...
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What are the conditions required for a territory to become part of United States?
This question is very related to Commonwealth United States Insular Areas, where I asked in detail about the Puerto Rico (and other areas) situation.
Now I am interested to know which are the legal ...
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Why didn't Liberal states all have state run health care?
For many years, there were attempts at making national health care coverage, which finally passed as the ACA.
The ACA ("Obamacare") was controversial vis a vis constitutionality (it won by a five-...
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Why are German local authorities taxing DoD employees, despite the protests of the US and of the German federal government?
There's a pretty long Stars and Stripes article on the matter of taxes on some DoD employees in Germany:
The U.S. contends the situation amounts to a treaty violation, but so far American officials ...
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How could Philadelphia join New Jersey?
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Senate voted to block a Philadelphia law which would require paid sick leave for employees. This is just one in a long series of examples where the heavily-Democrat ...
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How was the US able to create a Department of Education at the Federal level?
Looking through Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution (that part of the document that enumerates the powers of the Congress), there is nothing that talks about Congress' role in education. ...
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What does the Tenth Amendment actually do?
The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution says:
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 ...
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What type of organization is an American political party?
Legally, what is a political party in the US? I know they are not mentioned in the Constitution. They do not appear to be corporations or charities, or PACs, or any other type of formal organization ...
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Can a monarchy become a US state?
I'm wondering if a monarchy could technically become a State in the US (without switching to republic, obviously), according to US constitution and to US laws.
I.e., for the sake of the question, it ...
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Is there a ranking of states based on how unitary/federalized they are?
As an example, the UK is formally considered a unitary state but in reality its subregions enjoy a lot of autonomy and are able to pass laws of their own. On the other hand Russia is formally a ...
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Have congressional Republicans taken a position on whether they will give "consent" to the United States Climate Alliance as an interstate compact?
The United States Climate Alliance is an effort by state governments to support the Paris Climate Accord and help reduce emissions in the United States. There is however a constitutional problem with ...
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Trump is revoking California's Clean Air Act exemption. Does this automatically affect the 13 other states that use California's standards?
President Trump is reported to be revoking California's Clean Air Act exemption. Trump tweeted on September 18, 2019 that he was doing so. Since 1970, California has restricted automobile emissions ...
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Why do non-federations need bicameral parliaments?
Federations often have a bicameral parliament: one house speaks for the nation itself, whereas the other one speaks for the subjects within the federation (it could be summoned by the means of the ...
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Why does there not seem to be more support for state-specific border walls in the US?
While there seems to be a good amount of discussion about the border wall desired by President Trump, I have not seen much in the way of discussion regarding state-based approaches; that is, given the ...
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Can state governments be overthrown without national government involvement?
It is my understanding that the state and national government of the United States are separate entities (that's what federalism is, combining smaller states into a larger one).
Could unhappy ...
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Is the US one of the most decentralized countries in the world? [duplicate]
After living abroad in a small, politically centralized country, I came back to the United States and suddenly realized how strange federalism feels to me. Individual states have so much political ...
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Why should I care about federal vs state rights?
The premise behind most arguments about Obamacare, and other programs is that it's a "Federal" vs "State" rights issue.
I come from a corporate business background, and it seems to me that if enough ...
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How is the European integration process similar to the creation of the United States?
What are the similarities and what are the major differences (economically, socially and culturally) between the current European integration process and the historical formation of the United States? ...
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Supreme Court cases that were harbingers of New Federalism
Between the mid-1930s and late 1980s/mid-1990s the Supreme Court didn't invalidate any acts by Congress during the era of New Deal Federalism, but under the Rehnquist Court a revival of Federalism ...
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In the USA, who decides who can run for president, the states or the federal government?
From twitter
BREAKING: Maryland is on the verge of passing a law requiring all Presidential candidates to release their past 5 years of tax returns in order to be placed on the election ballot. ...
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What level of autonomy do regions within the Russian Federation have?
So, in the United States, of course, there is the 10th Amendment to the constitution, stating that powers not enumerated as adhering to the federal government are reserved either to the states or to ...
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What additional measures, within presidential authority, do people say the president should take against Covid-19?
It seems Donald Trump is under heavy scrutiny from a lot of the media and his political opponents for failing to appropriately respond to Covid-19. My question is: what more could he have done that ...
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Entire court impeached
The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee has voted to impeach the entire West Virginia Supreme Court. This vote means that it will go to the WV house floor for impeachment consideration.
Here's ...
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Did 'State' mean the same thing as today's 'country' during the time of the foundation of the USA?
It has been said that during the 18th century, the term State meant what we now refer to as countries. In other words, modern developments notwithstanding, did each US State start out as countries, ...
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Why is the Federal Government competing for medical supplies with the US States hit hardest by the COVID-19 Pandemic?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and first responders have struggled with a lack of PPE, ventilators, and other essential medical supplies. The Federal Government has urged individual states to ...
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What is the furthest an amendment has gotten to 'fix' the elastic and commerce clauses?
There exists a strain of political thought in the United States roughly as follows:
Most of the day to day government action (ie: not national defense)
should be handled by state governments. ...
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Does federalism lead to the separation of single states?
Federalism involves a great deal of power sharing, both at administrative and governmental levels. Federalism accepts the concept called 'right to self determination' to varying degrees, including '...
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Can states nullify the president's pardoning power by making federal offenses state offenses?
Can a state make federal offenses state offenses as well, so that even if the president pardons a criminal for a federal offense, they'll still be on the hook for the equivalent state offense?
Edit:
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Do municipal and state police have to cooperate with federal police?
To what level do local/state police have to cooperate with federal police when state law differs from national law, especially regarding the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington ...
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Is much of what the US federal government does unconstitutional?
Heard the argument that since much of what the federal government does these days - Freddie Mac, Social Security, Medicare, you name it - is not within explicitly listed Enumerated Powers in the ...
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How much is Russia actually a federation?
The official name of Russia is Federation of Russia. Federations are normally a bunch of semi-independant federated states that have their own local laws and tax-collecting habits, but that defer ...
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Is it possible for a federated state to be a member of two federations?
It's a well known fact territorial disputes are a constant source of instability and wars, especially if a territory contains both members of ethnicity X and Y.
Would it be possible by having the ...
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Is the President of the United States bound by state laws?
The state of New York is currently in the process of passing a law allowing Congress to access the state tax returns of elected officials and top appointed officials. This is seen as a potential "end-...
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What are some potential dangers of decentralization in fragile societies?
I'm working on a paper where I consider a decentralized*/federalized* political system in Afghanistan. While there are many journal articles (a quick google search would show this) arguing in favor of ...
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Can a U.S. county secede from a U.S. state? [duplicate]
Assume a county in State A wanted to join State B. Would that be possible? If so, what would be the procedure? If not, why not?
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Are there federal systems where federal laws do not have primacy?
The powers are distributed in a federal system. But often, the jurisdiction of the federal government and that of the state/province/etc. can intersect for a particular subject matter (e.g. federal ...
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Why does the Govt. of Maharashtra not use Moḍi as the official script of the Maraṭhi Language?
The Moḍi script was extensively used to write Maraṭhi during the rule of the Maraṭha confederacy. But during the British rule, Balbodh (बाळबोध) replaced Moḍi(𑘦𑘻𑘚𑘲) for Maraṭhi documentation in the ...
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Can states buy vaccines directly from the manufacturers?
New York and Michigan have been requesting to purchase vaccines directly from the manufacturers.
From NBC News' reporting:
No can do, Pfizer replied.
While the company is ready to collaborate with ...
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To what extent has the idea of "laboratories of democracy" worked in the US?
From how I understand it, the idea of "laboratories of democracy" in the US is that state and local governments can better experiment with policies than the entire country can. So we can see what ...
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How does a federal state differ from an anarchist "federation"?
Anarchists such as Proudhon, Bakunin, and Kropotkin advocate federalism. As far as I understood from their works, this entails an organizational structure in which power flows "upwards" and ...
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What are the conditions and benefits of U.S. insular properties like Puerto Rico? [closed]
I always wanted to know which is the legal status of the associated states of United States like Puerto Rico.
Who is the state head, of this kind of territory?
Why can't they vote for the United ...
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Is the there a term for state (or local) officers not caring about enforcing federal law?
I think it's generally accepted that in the US:
state officers cannot be compelled to enforce federal law.
For more details as to why that is accepted:
In Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898, ...
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Mark Levin and The Liberty Amendments: coordination of states proposing constitutional amendments
Article V of the United States Constitution says the following:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
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Why is Pondicherry divided into so many names and exists in so many states?
In Tamil Nadu it is called Punducheery. Yanam is in Andhra Pradesh and again I guess there is another territory where it exists. A slightly detailed insight into this will be most welcome.
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Is there an American counterpart of ”Euroscepticism”; in other words, is the states' rights movement associated with reduced chauvinism?
In Europe, people opposed to specific policies of the European Union, expansion of the European Union, or transfer of powers from member states to the European Union, are often described by the media ...
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If the EU were viewed as a federation, would it appear more decentralized than the U.S.?
The U.S. may appear distinctive compared to many European nations in the extent to which state laws differ from state to state, as they are given more jurisdiction to govern themselves. For example, ...