Suchergebnisse

The Virginia State Constitution examines constitutional amendments, court decisions, attorney general opinions, and legislative deliberations bearing on the development and interpretation of the Virginia Constitution. The book contains a detailed history of the Virginia Constitution, with particular attention to key moments in the state's constitutional development, from the 1776 Constitution through the current 1971 Constitution. The book also includes a provision-by-provision commentary on the evolution and meaning of each section of the Virginia Constitution. The second edition brings this

AbstractAlthough state constitutional conventions in the United States were once called frequently and brought about significant changes in governance, recent decades have seen little convention activity. I examine the contrast between the earlier regularity of conventions and their recent absence, but from a different perspective than is usually taken—not by explaining the recent absence but rather explaining the regularity from the 1770s through 1970s. I investigate why legislatures in prior eras agreed to call conventions and how legislators' traditional opposition to conventions was overcome on a regular basis. After identifying the state constitutional conventions held in the US and setting aside conventions that were called to join, leave, or rejoin the Union or were instigated by institutions other than legislatures, I focus on 82 conventions called at the discretion of legislators and for reasons unrelated to joining, leaving, or rejoining the Union. I identify the issues and circumstances that were responsible for legislators' willingness to overcome their traditional opposition to holding conventions, thereby contributing to a better understanding of both the challenges in calling conventions and the occasions when these challenges can be overcome.

AbstractState officials have challenged a number of federal policies during the Trump administration. In this article, I chronicle and categorize the tools that states have employed in resisting federal policies and show that states have relied primarily on three tactics: filing lawsuits, declining participation in federal programs, and passing policies inconsistent with federal policies. I also explain why state resistance has become such a prominent feature of U.S. politics. State challenges to federal policies are rooted in part in competing partisan perspectives, whereby members of the minority party at the federal level launch challenges from state offices that they control. State challenges are also grounded in contrasting intergovernmental perspectives, in that state officials who lack meaningful input in the passage of federal policies seek to challenge and shape these polices after they are enacted. In general, state resistance to federal policies during the Trump administration reflects continuity with state activity during other recent administrations and in a way that signals the institutionalization of state resistance to federal directives.

This article analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court's record in twenty-first-century federalism cases and compares these rulings with rulings issued in the late twentieth century, a time when the Court was aggressive in invalidating federal acts on federalism grounds and reluctant to limit state authority when reviewing state acts. The twenty-first-century Court has displayed a continued willingness to enforce limits on federal power when reviewing federal statutes but has been less willing than in recent years to sustain state laws with an eye to preserving state autonomy.