Concurrent Powers

4 Key excerpts on "Concurrent Powers"

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  eBook - ePub

  American Government

  Conflict, Compromise, And Citizenship

  • Christopher J Bosso, John Portz, Michael Tolley(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Promoters of national supremacy reject this notion. In their view there is only one sovereign entity: the federal government. What is more, national unity and the demands of equal treatment for all citizens require national government supremacy. The powers of the national government thus should be construed broadly, and “the national government should not be denied power unless its actions clearly conflict with enumerated constitutional limits or clearly have no constitutional basis.” 11 In a broader sense, the framers sowed in the Constitution the seeds of national supremacy. Their often vague statements provided the foundations for the national government to meet the demands posed by unforeseen circumstances and a changing society. Most of these changes have been in the direction of as much federal government responsibility as Americans will tolerate. P OWERS AND R ESPONSIBILITIES OF THE S TATES The states still retain a great deal of power and authority. Some of the powers exercised by the states are “shared” with the federal government. Others are “reserved” entirely to the states, at least on paper. As with the powers and responsibilities granted to the federal government, the powers of the states are often vaguely defined and subject to changing interpretations. C ONCURRENT P OWERS Discussions of federalism tend to focus on the differences between the powers granted to the national and state governments. This is not surprising: Those differences are the main sources of controversy and conflict. However, it is easy to forget that certain responsibilities of the federal and state governments are similar, and as a result both levels of government exercise those powers within their own separate spheres. These shared or Concurrent Powers affect citizens and businesses directly, but from different sources. In this section we examine some of the most important Concurrent Powers. The Power to Tax and Spend The federal and state governments have Concurrent Powers to tax

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  Local Politics and National Policy

  Multi-level Conflicts in Japan and Beyond

  • Ken Victor Leonard Hijino(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Perhaps more important than who wins what particular conflict is what the frequency of externalized conflict reveals. If one side is fully in control of the other in a relationship, conflicts would be unlikely to emerge as the dominated side would perceive any resistance as futile and costly. When there is uncertainty about outcomes, that is, either side believes in the possibility of prevailing, local (or national) governments would be more willing to challenge the other in open conflict. Thus, frequency of such conflicts, a state of disequilibrium, would indicate not only a breakdown in interdependent relations, but that neither side is dominant in the relationship.

  Defining local politics and power

  What determines this balance of power in an inter-governmental relationship? To answer this, we must first define the scope of local politics and then also define power.

  Local politics refers to a wide range of actors and processes, but primarily we are referring to politicians, legislatures, executives, branches of national parties, regional parties, local government officials, as well as elections and policy-making at the subnational level (either in regions or municipalities). National politics, in turn, refers to a wide range of actors and processes, but primarily we are referring to national politicians, legislatures, national parties, headquarters and leadership (the party executive), central ministries and bureaucracies as well as national elections and policy-making. Some actors hold both national and local roles, and are hard to characterize as being either purely local or national. For example, national legislators, local party branches, and party members may represent local concerns and identify with local interest, but they are also, oftentimes, agents of the party at national level. Thus ‘centre-local relations’ connote various relationships of the multiple actors between national and local levels of government, some of whom are not clearly identifiable in either camp.

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  War Powers

  The Politics of Constitutional Authority

  • Mariah Zeisberg(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  This means the third condition of conflict—shared powers—can’t be directly translated into a principle mediating reciprocal relationships between the courts and other branches. Different constitutional language in different areas of constitutional policy also complicates the translation of the relational conception into policy domains outside of war. While the branches, or the national government and states, share powers in a variety of areas, the text sets a variety of different terms on which those powers are shared. 121 The basic methodology behind the relational conception can be extended to other domains of constitutional policy, but its exact premises and conclusions cannot. The image of a constitution as settlement, framework, or law elides the many other ways that constitutions function to order politics. Constitutions are law, but they are also resources with which political actors imagine themselves; ideological templates by which we imagine how to achieve in practice the goals we bring to and find in politics. From the point of view of the relational conception, it is the practical strategizing of officeholders seeking an outcome—security—in a specific institutional context that constitutionally disciplines the government’s security powers. It is in the practical pursuit of goals textured by the contingencies of the moment that the Constitution is made authoritative by those it empowers. 1 See M.J.C. Vile, Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998). For a discussion of power-sharing between the branches, see Walter Murphy et al., American Constitutional Interpretation (New York: Foundation Press, 2003), 81–94. 2 “Underdeterminacy” refers to legal text that constrains but does not fully fix a legal outcome. See Lawrence B

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  The Powers of the U.S. Congress

  Where Constitutional Authority Begins and Ends

  • Brien Hallett, Brien Hallett(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • ABC-CLIO

    (Publisher)

  3THE POWER TO REGULATE COMMERCE

  Brien Hallett

  Article I, section 8, clause 3

  To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.

  KEY TERMS

  Concurrent Powers are powers shared by both the federal and the state governments in a federal system. Both levels of government may exercise these powers over the same territory, people, or subject matter at the same time. The distinction is with “states’ rights”—powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment—and “exclusive federal powers,” powers reserved to the federal government that can be exercised by the states only with permission of the federal government.

  Dictum (singular)/dicta (plural) are “things that are said.” In a judicial context, obiter dictum are “things that are said in passing” by a judge in an opinion. The judge finds the information or opinions expressed “in passing” to be indirectly persuasive, but not directly relevant either to the case or to his decision. Consequently, what is said “in passing” should not serve as a precedent.

  The “dormant” commerce clause (or “negative” commerce clause) is a self-executing power that prohibits states from improperly discriminating against interstate commerce, without congressional permission. Even when the Congress has not enacted a positive law, the “dormant” congressional power to regulate commerce “among the several states” is still plenary and renders null any such state law.

  Intrastate refers to any matter that occurs exclusively within the boundary of a state, any occurrence that does not cross the territorial or jurisdictional limits of a state.

  Interstate refers to any matter that involves two or more states, any occurrence that does cross the territorial or jurisdictional limits of a state.

  Police powers

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