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Federalism And Civil Rights: Complementary And Competing Paradigms, James F. Blumstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Until the Nixon Administration, federalism was not talked about much in the United States in the post-New Deal period and was not taken seriously as an intellectual matter. Increasingly, however, federalism has become an important domestic' and a critical worldwide issue. It may not be an exaggeration to say that federalism has indeed become the pervasive legal/political issue around the world.

In this Article I will make four points. First, by way of background and overview, I will conclude that the goal of federalism is and should be to encourage and facilitate geographically-based political autonomy without placing at risk the …