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Full-Text Articles in Law

Frenemey Federalism, Scott P. Bloomberg Jan 2022

Frenemey Federalism, Scott P. Bloomberg

Faculty Publications

This article introduces the concept of Frenemy Federalism. The term “frenemy” is a portmanteau of “friend” and “enemy” that is defined as a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry. A frenemy relationship develops between the federal and state governments when the governments work together despite having conflicting objectives in an area of policy. In such situations, mutual incentives make cooperation between the governments conducive to achieving their respective goals, allowing what may otherwise be a contentious relationship to find stability. Amidst the growing body of federalism scholarship, I situate Frenemy Federalism as a point …


Legalization Without Disruption: Why Congress Should Let States Restrict Interstate Commerce In Marijuana, Scott P. Bloomberg Jan 2022

Legalization Without Disruption: Why Congress Should Let States Restrict Interstate Commerce In Marijuana, Scott P. Bloomberg

Faculty Publications

Over the past twenty-five years, states have developed elaborate regulatory systems to govern lawful marijuana markets. In designing these systems, states have assumed that the Dormant Commerce Clause (“DCC”) does not apply; Congress, after all, has banned all commerce in marijuana. However, the states’ reprieve from the doctrine may soon come to an end. Congress is on the verge of legalizing marijuana federally, and once it does, it will unleash the DCC, with dire consequences for the states and the markets they now regulate. This Article serves as a wake-up call. It provides the most extensive analysis to date of …


Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps Aug 2019

Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps

Maine Law Review

Over the past several Farm Bills, there has been a somewhat subtle shift in program design to better incorporate regional perspectives/localized areas of conservation concern into national conservation program delivery. The purpose of this Article is to specifically explore the various roles that regional considerations play in existing Farm Bill conservation programs and also consider whether further developments in this direction could result in more flexible program delivery, more effective partnerships, and ultimately, better conservation outcomes. To this end, section II will provide an overview of the history of the Farm Bill, from its origins to the emergence of a …


Sovereign Immunity And The Crisis Of Constitutional Absolutism: Interpreting The Eleventh Amendment After Alden V. Maine, Matthew Mustokoff Feb 2018

Sovereign Immunity And The Crisis Of Constitutional Absolutism: Interpreting The Eleventh Amendment After Alden V. Maine, Matthew Mustokoff

Maine Law Review

Toward the end of her article, The History of Mainstream Legal Thought, Elizabeth Mensch identifies federalism as a dominant theme in recent Supreme Court decisions. The Court's focus on questions of federalism, however, cannot be directly attributed to the emergence of any specific social or political issues dividing champions of strong central government from defenders of state sovereignty. Instead, the Court's scrutiny seems to have arisen from a perplexing, frustrating, and self-contradictory body of Eleventh Amendment jurisprudence and the perpetual call for judicial clarification it has produced. While the text of the Eleventh Amendment is unambiguous—its language specifically bestows immunity …


Food Federalism: States, Local Governments, And The Fight For Food Sovereignty, Sarah B. Schindler Jan 2018

Food Federalism: States, Local Governments, And The Fight For Food Sovereignty, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Recently, a number of states have sought to withdraw or restrain local power. In this Article, which is part of the “Re-Thinking State Relevance” symposium hosted by the Ohio State Law Journal, I write about a state taking the opposite approach, and attempting to affirmatively endow its local governments with additional powers. The state is Maine, and the context is control over local food production and sales. This Article begins by addressing the emergence of the sustainable local foods movement broadly, and reasons for the growth of this movement. It then focuses more pointedly on the food sovereignty movement, considering …


Congressional Power To Regulate Sex Discrimination: The Effect Of The Supreme Court's "New Federalism", Calvin Massey Dec 2017

Congressional Power To Regulate Sex Discrimination: The Effect Of The Supreme Court's "New Federalism", Calvin Massey

Maine Law Review

Congressional power to prevent and remedy sex discrimination in employment has been founded almost entirely upon the commerce power and Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which gives Congress power “to enforce, by appropriate legislation” the equal protection guarantee. The commerce power has enabled Congress to prohibit private sex discrimination in employment, and the combination of the commerce and enforcement powers has enabled Congress to prohibit such sex discrimination by public employers. From the late 1930s until the early 1990s the doctrinal architecture of these powers was relatively stable, even if statutory action to realize the promise of a nondiscriminatory …


Beyond The Reach Of States: The Dormant Commerce Clause, Extraterritorial State Regulation, And The Concerns Of Federalism, Peter C. Felmly Dec 2017

Beyond The Reach Of States: The Dormant Commerce Clause, Extraterritorial State Regulation, And The Concerns Of Federalism, Peter C. Felmly

Maine Law Review

The Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution provides that “[t]he Congress shall have Power ... [t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” Interpreting this explicit grant of power to Congress, the Supreme Court has long recognized the existence of an implied limitation on the power of a state to legislate in areas of interstate commerce when Congress has remained silent. Under what is referred to as the negative or “dormant” Commerce Clause, the federal courts have thus scrutinized state legislation for well over one hundred years. In the past several …


Allocating Power: Toward A New Federalism Balance For Electricity Transmission Siting, Kevin Decker Apr 2017

Allocating Power: Toward A New Federalism Balance For Electricity Transmission Siting, Kevin Decker

Maine Law Review

Expansion and improvement of the nation’s electricity transmission system are crucial for increasing the amount of electricity generated by renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and tidal, tend to be located far from population centers, and electricity transmission lines must bridge that gap. In addition to its importance for meeting renewable energy goals, a better connected and more robust transmission system also bolsters reliability because it can draw on many generation sources in the event that a generator or segment of the transmission network fails. And transmission facilitates generator competition by making it possible to transport lower-cost …