The Revival of States' Rights: A Progress Report and a Proposal

Abstract

This is an edited version of remarks presented at the 17th Annual National Federalist Society Symposium on "Reviving the Structural Constitution" in March 1998. Focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in United States v. Lopez (1995) and Printz v. United States (1997), it offers both a brief progress report on the Court's seeming revival of states' rights and some suggestions for how the Court might proceed in the future.

Keywords: federalism, spending power, commerce clause, states' rights, Constitution

JEL Classification: K10