Download Federalism Case Studies

FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
We already know that the government has grown in power over time, so we know that the
Centralists will win a lot of the battles in these cases. Pay attention to HOW they win…and
when the battle starts to turn in favor of the Decentralists.
CASE A-- McCulloch v. Maryland
In 1819, the argument over national supremacy erupted in the Supreme Court’s decision
in McCulloch v. Maryland. In 1818 Maryland passed a law taxing the national bank’s
Baltimore branch. When the Baltimore branch refused to pay, the state sued the cashier,
James McCulloch, for payment. Maryland challenged the constitutionality of the bank,
arguing that the power to create a national bank was not among those granted by the
Constitution. McCulloch was convicted, but he appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
The Court dismissed the charges against McCulloch, ruling that the First Bank of
the United States was constitutional, based on the Elastic Clause. Marshall asserted that
the power to establish a national bank was implied in the enumerated power of Congress,
including the powers to lay and collect taxes, to borrow money, and to regulate
commerce. A national bank, he said, would conceivably be useful for carrying out those
powers and was therefore constitutional.
Marshall went on to say that no state has the power to tax the national bank or any
other arm of the federal government …[because] “the power to tax involves the power to
destroy.”1 Chief Justice John Marshall reasoned that “the government of the United
States, though limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action.” According to
Marshall, “all means which are appropriate…which are not prohibited, but consistent
with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.” 2
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of (what is their opinion of the issue?)
Decentralists
Centralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain
“McCulloch v. Maryland: Making the Constitution the Supreme Law of the Land,” Government Alive!: Power,
Politics, and You (Palo Alto: TCI, 2009), 77.
2
Stephen C. Sansone and Ethel Wood, “McCulloch v. Maryland,” American Government: A Complete Coursebook
(Greatsource, 2000), 50.
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FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE B – South Dakota vs. Dole (1987)
In the 1987 case of South Dakota vs Dole, the Supreme Court considered a federal law that
required the Secretary of Transportation to withhold 5% of a state's federal highway dollars if the
state allowed persons less than 21 years of age to purchase alcoholic beverages. South Dakota,
which allowed 18-year-olds to drink and stood to lose federal funds for highway construction, sued
Secretary Dole, arguing that the law was not a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress to
spend--but rather was an attempt to enact a national drinking age.3 South Dakota claimed that the
law is unconstitutional because the 21st amendment (repealing prohibition) gave power to the
states for regulating alcoholic beverages.
In a 7-to-2 decision, the Court held direct congressional control of the drinking age in the states
would be unconstitutional but that Congress, acting indirectly to encourage uniformity in states'
drinking ages, was within constitutional bounds. The Court found that the legislation was in
pursuit of "the general welfare," and that the means chosen to do so were reasonable. (Article 1,
Section 8 says “Congress shall have Power to lay and collected Taxes…to pay the Debts and
provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.”) The five percent loss
of highway funds was not unduly coercive.4
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of
Decentralists
Centralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain…
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, “The Reach of Congressional Power,” available at:
<http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/congpowers.htm> (accessed 29 Oct 2008).
4
The Oyez Project, “South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (1987),”
available at: <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1986/1986_86_260/>
(accessed Thursday, October 30, 2008).
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FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE C - Johnson’s Great Society (1960s)
Part 1 – Overview of Span of Programs
Under Johnson's leadership, Congress enacted
 Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a program
providing health-care assistance for the poor.
 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided major funding for
American public schools.
 An Omnibus Housing Act provided funds to construct low-income housing,
provided rent supplements for the poor
 The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities used public money to fund
artists and galleries.
 The Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests and other discriminatory methods
states used to deny suffrage to African Americans.
 Congress tightened pollution controls with stronger Air and Water Quality Acts.
 Standards were raised for safety in consumer products, in part because of the
efforts of a young lawyer, lobbyist and consultant named Ralph Nader. In his
1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American
Automobile, Nader argued that many cars could cause death or damage in even
low-speed accidents. Nader said that automobile manufacturers were sacrificing
safety features for style, and he named specific models in which faulty
engineering contributed to highway fatalities. In September 1966, Johnson signed
into law two transportation bills. The first provided funds to state and local
governments for developing safety programs, while the other set up federal safety
standards for cars and tires.
In all, the Great Society was the greatest burst of legislative activity since the New Deal.
Some of these included mandates. A mandate is a requirement that states undertake an
activity or provide a service, in keeping with minimum national standards. A mandate
may require that state remove specified pollutants from public drinking water supplies,
for example.
Part 2 – Example of how they were runMedicaid was created on July 30, 1965. Each
state administers its own Medicaid program while the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the state-run programs and establishes requirements
for service delivery, quality, funding, and eligibility standards.
Part 3 – Finances example
Congress created a major public works financing program for municipal sewage
treatment in the 1972 Clean Water Act. A system of grants for construction of municipal
wastewater treatment plants was authorized and funded. In the initial program the federal
portion of each grant was up to 75 percent of a facility's capital cost, with the remainder
financed by the state. In subsequent amendments Congress reduced the federal
proportion of the grants. Industrial and other private facilities are required to finance
their own treatment improvements on the "polluter pays" principle.
FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of
Decentralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain
Centralists
FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE D - Federalism and Gun Control Laws – US v. Lopez5
In 1990, Congress passed the Gun-Free School Zones Act as a part of its crime control legislation.
The law made it illegal for any person to possess a firearm in a place that he or she knows is a
school zone, unless that person is acting in a law enforcement capacity. Most people thought this
new law was a good idea.
There was soon a major challenge to the law. Early in 1992, 12th grader Alfonso Lopez Jr. brought a
concealed handgun into Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas. School officials received an
anonymous tip and confronted him. Lopez admitted to the handgun, was convicted in federal district
court of violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act and was sentenced to 6 months in prison and
another two years of supervised release.
Lopez appealed his conviction, arguing that Congress did not have the constitutional power to pass
the act. The government, in contrast, contended that the Commerce Clause…gave lawmakers the
appropriate constitutional power. It argued that possession of a firearm in a school zone leads to
violent crime, which affects the national economy (commerce) by causing insurance rates to rise and
by discouraging travel through areas that are thought to be unsafe. The government also argued that
allowing guns in schools would be seen as dangerous, resulting in students’ being scared and
disturbed; this would, in turn, inhibit learning; and this, in turn, would lead to a weaker national
economy since education is a crucial element of the nation’s financial health.
The Court ruled that having a gun in a school zone “has nothing to do with ‘commerce’ or any sort
of economic enterprise, however broadly one might define those terms.” The law is a criminal
statute. Allowing government to have that power would be infringing on the general policing power
of the state governments.
QUESTIONS:
How the Decentralists saw it
How the Centralists saw it
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain
Adapted from Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, Inc. “Federalism and Gun Control Laws,” as found in the lesson on
“Federalism: National, State, and Local Powers,” Government Alive!: Power, Politics, and You (Palo Alto: TCI,
2009).
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FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE E – Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 – Part of Contract with
America
In 1994, Republican majorities win control of Congress. It was known as the Republican
Revolution. Along with the Republican Revolution came a further change in federalism
relationships.
They passed the Unfunded Mandates Relief Act of 1995 which requires the
Congressional Budget office to prepare cost estimates of any newly proposed national
legislation that would impose more than $50 million a year in costs on state and local
governments or more than $100 million a year in costs on private businesses. It also
requires a cost analysis of the impact of new agency regulations on governments and
private businesses.
Those costs can only be passed on to states after holding a separate vote specifically
imposing a requirement on other governments without providing the money to carry it
out. So, if a new law would require the states to spend more than $50 million a year they
would take 2 votes in Congress, 1) to verify the cost analysis and impose the requirement
of how much the states would be spending of their own money and then 2) a vote on the
bill itself.
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of
Decentralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited ?
Explain
Centralists
FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE F -- Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 1964
In 1964, Congress signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public places,
particularly in public accommodations. President Kennedy said that its purpose was "to promote the general
welfare by eliminating discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in . . . public
accommodations through the exercise by Congress of the powers conferred upon it . . . to enforce the
provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, to regulate commerce among the several States, and to
make laws necessary and proper to execute the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution."6
The Heart of Atlanta motel was a large motel in Atlanta, GA which refused to rent rooms to black patrons.
The owner filed suit in federal court, arguing that Congress had overstepped its boundaries in creating the
Civil Rights Act and was instead restricting his rights.
The owner argued that the act violated his Fifth Amendment rights to choose customers and operate his
business as he wished and resulted in unjust deprivation of his property without due process of law and just
compensation. Finally, the owner argued that Congress had placed him in a position of involuntary servitude
by forcing him to rent available rooms to blacks, thereby violating his Thirteenth Amendment rights.7
The Court disagreed. It ruled that “Congress acted well within its jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce
clause in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It found no merit in the arguments pursuant to the Thirteenth
Amendment, finding it hard to conceive that such an Amendment might possibly be applicable in restraining
civil rights legislation. Having observed that 75% of the Heart of Atlanta Motel's clientele came from out-ofstate, and that it was strategically located near Interstates 75 and 85 as well as two major U.S. Highways, the
Court found that the business clearly affected interstate commerce. As such, it therefore upheld the permanent
injunction issued by the District Court, and required the Heart of Atlanta Motel to receive business from
clientele of all races.”8
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of
Decentralists
Centralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain
“ATLANTA MOTEL v. UNITED STATES,” available at:
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=379&invol=241> (accessed 29 Oct 2008).
7
“Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States,” available at: <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Atlanta_Motel_v._United_States> (accessed 29 Oct 2008).
8
Ibid.
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FEDERALISM -- STUDENT CASE STUDY
CASE G -- Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 1937
The Social Security Act of 1935 was one of many pieces of legislation drafted by
President Roosevelt during the New Deal. The Social Security Act was a way to address
some of the dangers “in the modern American life, including old age poverty, and
unemployment…The Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed by a payroll
tax on current workers’ wages.” 9
Though the Supreme Court struck down many provisions of the New Deal legislation,
given the problems of the Great Depression, the Court noted that: “The fact developed
quickly that the states were unable to give the requisite relief. The problem had become
national in area and dimensions. There was need of help from the nation if the people
were not to starve. [It] is too late today for the argument to be heard with tolerance that
in a crisis so extreme the use of the moneys of the nation to relieve the unemployed and
their dependents is a use for any purpose narrower than the promotion of the general
welfare".
The arguments opposed to the Social Security Act were that the Act went beyond the
powers that were granted to the federal government in the Constitution. They argued that,
by imposing a tax on employers that could be avoided only by contributing to a state
unemployment-compensation fund, the federal government was essentially forcing each
state to establish an unemployment-compensation fund that would meet its criteria, and
that the federal government had no power to enact such a program. 10
QUESTIONS:
Arguments in favor of
Decentralists
Centralists
Who won (D/C)?
TOOLS: Federal power was Extended or Limited using…
Explain
“Creation: The Social Security Act,” available at:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Act#Creation:_The_Social_Security_Act> (accessed 29 Oct 2008).
10
“Steward Machine Company v. Davis,” available at: <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steward_Machine_Company_v._Davis t> (accessed 29 Oct 2008).
9