Federalism and Civil Liberties Decisions of the Supreme Court Evolution of Federalism Cooperative Federalism after 1937 Modern Variations of Federalism The Bill of Rights Liberties vs Rights Nationalization of the Bill of Rights I II III IV V VI VII I II McCulloch v Maryland 1819 Court has to interpret what the document means for the early cases About federalism congress creates charters bank of the United States using the commerce power branch of bank in Maryland state decides to pass a law taking the bank to make money and forcing the bank out of business McCulloch is the cashier of the U S bank and when asked to pay the state tax he refuses Federal state issue John Marshall who is the Supreme Court justice believes in a strong national government he s a nationalist He questions 1 Does Congress have the power to create a national bank yes 2 Does Maryland have the power to tax the branch no Supremacy clause power to tax is the power to destroy could destroy the national government Lays the groundwork for activist national government The Supreme Court gave Congress this extended power commerce Gibbons v Ogden 1824 has to do with commerce power State and federal issue New York grants monopoly to Robert Fulton to run a fairy service from New York to New Jersey Fulton gives license to Ogden so he can run fairies from New York Gibbons is an ex partner of Fulton he gets a monopoly from the federal government to run fairies from New York to New Jersey John Marshall is the chief justice The commerce power of congress comprehensive congress power Gibbons is allowed to run because of the federal interstate commerce license Comprehensive commerce power Barron v Baltimore 1833 Whether the Bill of Rights protects you at the state level Barron owns a warf in Baltimore He charges people to fish or hangout there That s how he makes his livelihood Baltimore does city improvements by digging and building They dump dirt around the warf so it becomes a warf on dry land It s now worthless so he sues the city He uses the 5 th amendment takings clause the government can t take property without compensation Barron says they should compensate it The Supreme Court says no because of dual citizenship meaning that citizens of the state of which you reside of the federal government back then Does the Bill of Rights protect you at the state level It only protects you from the federal government Means that the Bill of Rights doesn t apply to the states o you can t sue the city Madison argued for an amendment to protect you from the federal and state government Roger Taney takes over after John Marshall steps down Taney states rights limited federal power national power strict regulations on national power which serves through the Civil War Dred Scott Decision how this court is different from the Taney court Court tells Congress it doesn t have power to prohibit slavery in western territory Limiting power of Congress Late 19th century coincides with industrialization Big change in society and congress attempts to enter arena to help fix problems with child labor laws factory conditions Supreme Court interested in laissez faire deal with Supreme Court saying no because doesn t have the power Cannot go down in the states that deal with local conditions shift from dual federalism to cooperative federalism Stock market crash Great Depression all have national problems National call for action Public wants Congress not the states to fix this FDR is the president at the time New Deal Proposals are sent to Congress to fix the national economy Congress passes them Supreme court says no to them because Congress can t do anything with local issues Roosevelt reelected Wins by a landslide Everyone favors the New Deal He decides to play hard ball The Constitution doesn t say how many Supreme Court justices there can be The Court packing scheme he tries to change the court by asking congress to increase the number of Supreme Court justices there can be He wants to put people in who favor the New Deal so it will get passed Supreme Court decides to rethink The Switch in Time that Saves 9 NLRB v Jones and Laughlin Steel Congress uses commerce power to create NLRB National Labor Relations Board to adjudicate labor disputes Congress attempts to regulate local commerce John and Laughlin fire employees and they complain to NLRB They look into the case and agree to reinstate employees but Jones and Laughlin take it to the Supreme Court The Supreme Court says NLRB is fine This case expands commerce power and allows them to regulate local conditions Shifts to cooperative federalism Different to see where the federal powers end and where the state powers start Limited power national they work with the states Grants and aid federal government sends money down to the states with purpose and it becomes less cooperative the later it gets more heavy handed LBJ s great society programs are requiring a lot of money Medi care for less cooperative Conditions on money for states use this money as long as you do this example the drinking age If you want highway funds raise the drinking age to 21 III IV Unfunded mandates federal government tells the states to do something but didn t give enough money to cover or no money at all Nixon backlash with this power new federalism return power back to the states Shift towards states and not the national government Liked blocked grants when you take earlier grants that required states to do things but take away requirement and send to state and stipulate what it should used for Civil rights no shift to state power national government retains hold over the states Federal government didn t want us to have or keep discriminatory practices example of power doesn t go to the states Civil liberties John Locke s natural rights Liberties vs Rights they are not the same thing Our Bill of Rights protects our liberties most like British rights protected by parliament institution Liberties individual and legal constitutional protection against government Negative freedom free from government action in certain sphere The government can t infringe on rights in our sphere 2 liberties a Substantive liberties what the government can t do b Procedural liberties how must government behave itself example Amendment 6 must give speedy trial Liberties v Rights Rights are policies the government institutes Protects us against arbitrary or discriminatory practices between governments or other people Positive duty what the
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