#federalism

#federalism

Criminal accountability is a non-starter between sovereign immunity and the inevitable blanket pardons Trump will issue. The Department has declared "war" on judges invoking contempt powers. And Justice already gutted its internal disciplinary resources. All that's left to deter the rampant ethical violations committed by government lawyers is for local bar licensing authorities to impose discipline.

"It has been baked in that the states are largely in charge of the election process, and that the federal government can set or override rules for that process if they wish, but it's very specific that that has to be done through Congress and not through lone executive action," said Justin Levitt, a constitutional and law of democracy scholar at Loyola Law School who was a non-partisan policy adviser for Democracy and Voting Rights during the Biden White House.

The recent tensions between local authorities in Minnesota and the immigration enforcement agencies of the Trump administration, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are not merely the stance of rebellious cities or states. They are the latest manifestation of a dispute as old as the nation itself: the resistance of local power against a federal center that periodically attempts to govern by imposition. To interpret what is happening today in Minneapolis and its consequences as an isolated episode of immigration policy is to remain on the surface.

The centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose," Carter wrote. "This risk threatens the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy.

it can use regular troops, almost certainly without invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 or any other statute. (This is the "protective" power.) The power the Trump administration is seeking here is much broader-and would almost certainly mean that federalized National Guard troops would start accompanying ICE officers on immigration raids and other operations-even if they're not making the arrests themselves. That would be a ... dramatic ... escalation relative to where we are today.

Shortly after the first government shutdown since 2019 began earlier this month, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced that he was freezing $8 billion in infrastructure projects exclusively in states that voted for Kamala Harris. The projects that Vought consigned to funding purgatory included a multibillion-dollar renovation and expansion of the Hudson Tunnel from New Jersey to New York City and an extension of the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line.

The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the States are reserved for the States or the people.

President Trump's administration scrapped a Texas law that provided financial aid for 'Dreamers,' undermining a nearly 25-year bipartisan agreement, through a joint motion with the Texas Attorney General.

The foundation of American government rests on a simple but powerful principle: states are not mere departments of the federal government. They are sovereign entities with both the right and the responsibility to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of their residents.

"We're still a federal state, and that means that there are powers that are given to the federal government in D.C. and powers that are given to states and localities," Ross Burkhart told me.