Law Commons^™

Current Challenge To Federalism: The Confederating Proposals, William F. Swindler

Faculty Publications

Professor Swindler treats the three recently proposed constitutional amendments as the culmination of state frustration at the evolution of ascendant federalism especially as embodied in modern Supreme Court decisions. Equating the proposals, in effect, to the fragmented system under the Articles of Confederation, he rejects them as contrary to the weight of constitutional history. The Constitution having established a new concept of federalism-an amalgam of the people of the United States-the author concludes that representative government is the essence of that federalism and that neither the states, their legislatures, nor their courts can have authority in the area of activity …