Inside the Federalism Cases: Concern About the Federal Courts

Abstract

This article considers some of the Supreme Court's recent efforts at preserving the role of state and local government despite vigorous congressional attempts at regulating in areas that had traditionally been left to local policymaking. Focusing on the commerce clause cases and cases interpreting Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, this article ties federalism interests to the Supreme Court's concerns about the function of the federal courts: the statutes that prompted the Court's new vigor in limiting congressional power imposed on the workload of the federal courts and on what the Court sees as the judiciary's exclusive role of constitutional interpretation.