Commerce with Foreign Nations
The Article I, Section 8 power to regulate foreign commerce, the power that helped bring about the Constitution, has not caused the Court to…
Comity
“Comity” is generally recognized as a courtesy or privilege extended as a matter of deference and good will rather than as a matter of…
Younger v. Harris (1971)
Younger v. Harris was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on February 23, 1971. John Harris Jr. had been indicted in a California state…
New Judicial Federalism
See State Constitutional Rights Federalism.
Michigan v. Long (1983)
In deference to judicial federalism, the Supreme Court will not review a case that has been decided by a state court when the decision…
Reapportionment
“Apportionment” refers to the allocation of representatives in legislative bodies to particular geographical units, while “districting” refers to the design of the geographically based…
Cole v. Arkansas (1948)
See Incorporation (Nationalization) of the Bill of Rights
Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
The power the Supreme Court possesses to decide cases in which a state is a party conventionally dates from Cohens v. Virginia (1821). This…
Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816)
The Supreme Court first considered the relationship between state and federal courts in Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816). The framers of the U.S. Constitution…
Coercive Federalism
Coercive federalism is a period of American federalism that began in the late 1960's. It is characterized by substantial growth in the power of the federal…
No Child Left Behind Act
The first major legislative initiative of the Bush administration in 2001 reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. This new bi-partisan law,…
Intergovernmental Relations
The term “intergovernmental relations” (IGR) was invented in the 1930's as a phrase unique to the United States. It was a novel concept aimed…
