1. Contemporary Federalism: The State and Federal Relationship

2. State Authorities
Amendment IX – “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Amendment X – “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.”
Reserved powers of states – commonly known as police powers
Gonzales v. Oregon (2006)
United States v. Lopez (1995)

3. Congressional Action: Preemption
Preemption doctrine – three instances where state regulation is precluded or invalidated by federal regulation:
When Congress expressly states that it intends to preempt state regulation
When a state law is inconsistent with federal law, even though no express preemption statement has been made by Congress
When Congress has enacted a legislative scheme that comprehensively regulates a field

4. Congressional Inaction: The Dormant Commerce Clause
Basic Question: Does the commerce clause preclude state action in some circumstances, even in the absence of federal legislation?
Cooley v. Board of Wardens (1851)
Cooley doctrine – If a subject in interstate commerce is by nature national in character or needs uniformity of law to be effective, then its regulation is exclusively federal. If not federal, then it falls within the state sphere.

5. Other Issues Discriminatory State Laws Burdensome State Laws
Liquor Laws
State Taxation as Discriminatory and Burdensome
State as Market Participant
Privileges and Immunities

6. Intergovernmental Immunity
Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) 11th Amendment McCulloch v. Maryland National League of Cities v. Usery San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority New York v. United States Gregory v. Ashcroft Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida Alden v. Maine Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents Board of Trustees of University of Alabama v. Garrett Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs

7. Compacts and Interstate Comity
Article I, § 10, clause 1:prohibits states from entering into treaties, alliances, or confederations with foreign nations. Clause 3 of this section further states that “[n]o State shall, without the Consent of Congress … enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power.”

8. Comity
Cooperation, or comity, between the states is constitutionally mandated in some circumstances.
Article IV, § 1: full faith and credit.
Interstate rendition clause (Article IV, § 2, clause 2):
[a] Person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.

9. Guarantee and Militia Clauses
Article IV, §4, states:
The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a Republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

10. State Constitutionalism and the New Federalism
State constitutional law may not decrease or limit federally secured rights, but a state may extend civil rights beyond what the federal Constitution secures.
Washington state constitution protects “private affairs”
Georgia’s constitution protects freedom of “conscience”
Illinois prohibits both public and private actors from infringing freedom of expression

11. Approaches to Dual Constitutionalism
Three approaches (models)
Primacy
Interstitial
Dual sovereignty
Doctrine of adequate and independent state grounds