The U.S. Supreme Court and New Federalism
From the Rehnquist to the Roberts Court
By (author) Christopher P. Banks, John C. Blakeman
Publication date:
30 July 2012Length of book:
362 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
234x160mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780742535046
Constitutional scholars Christopher P. Banks and John C. Blakeman offer the most current and the first book-length study of the U.S. Supreme Court’s “new federalism” begun by the Rehnquist Court and now flourishing under Chief Justice John Roberts. Using descriptive and empirical methods in political science and legal scholarship, and informed by diverse approaches to judicial ideology, from historical to new institutionalist, they investigate how the U.S. Supreme Court rulings have shaped the political principle of federalism. While the Rehnquist Court reinvorgorated new federalism by protecting state sovereignty and set new constitutional limits on federal power, Banks and Blakeman show that in the Roberts Court new federalism continues to evolve in a docket increasingly attentive to statutory construction, preemption, and business litigation. In addition, they analyze areas of federalism not normally studied by scholars such as religious liberty and foreign affairs.
Over the last two decades, federalism has been one of the most important, and most widely discussed, issues for the US Supreme Court. While this subject has produced many important scholarly articles, this important and valuable volume by Banks (Kent State Univ.) and Blakeman (Univ. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) is the most comprehensive treatment of the Court's federalism jurisprudence. The authors analyze the historical development of the Court's federalism case law, but they also place these cases in a policy-making context. Tracking how conflict within the Court affects judicial reasoning and outcomes, Banks and Blakeman explore the ramifications for federalism found in a host of areas, including governance, religious freedom, and globalization. Special attention is paid to the different approaches to federalism taken by the Court under William Rehnquist, who kick-started the Court's federalism "revolution," and by his successor as chief justice, John Roberts. The book is especially timely given recent decisions on the Affordable Care Act and Arizona's immigration law, and each of these cases is covered in a brief concluding chapter. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate and research collections.