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The Coercion Doctrine Invigorated: Conditional Spending Since Nfib V. Sebelius, Marcus Harmon Waterman

Political Science Capstone Research Papers

The federal government has long utilized the practice of attaching conditions to the receipt of its funds. In the few instances that the Supreme Court had reviewed state challenges to conditions, it had ultimately set only minimal limitations on Congress’ spending power. That is why, when the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius was delivered, a host of scholarly predictions emerged. Some thought the ruling would prompt an unraveling of other conditional spending programs. Others anticipated more indirect, structural changes to flow from the decision. I find that elements of both have occurred. Over …