Defending Dual Federalism: A Self-Defeating Act

Dual federalism is a doctrine of American constitutional law. Defending dual federalism is a self-defeating act because of what dual federalism is and what it means to defend it. Dual federalism is states’ rights federalism. It holds that when national authorities exercise their constitutional powers they must respect the reserved powers of the states. Dual federalism is to be distinguished from national federalism, which comes in two forms, Marshallian federalism and process federalism. I concentrate on Marshallian federalism here, though I’ll conclude with a comment on process federalism.