CHAPTER THREE • FEdERAlISM 53
support the Constitution. Hence, any legitimate exercise of national governmental
power supersedes any conflicting state action. Of course, deciding whether a conflict
actually exists is a judicial matter, as you will soon learn when we discuss the case of
McCulloch v. Maryland.
The National Guard can serve as an example of how federal power supersedes that
of the states. Normally, the National Guard functions as a state militia under the com
mand of the governor. It is frequently called out to assist with recovery efforts after natural
disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. The president can assume command
of any National Guard unit at any time, however. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack
Obama repeatedly “federalized” such units for deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq. In
the conflicts in these countries, National Guard members and reservists made up a larger
percentage of the forces on combat duty than during any previous war in U.S. history.
National government legislation in a concurrent area is said to preempt (take pre
cedence over) conflicting state or local laws or regulations in that area. One of the ways
in which the national government has extended its powers, particularly since 1900, is
through the preemption of state and local laws by national legislation. In the first decade
of the twentieth century, fewer than twenty national laws preempted laws and regulations
issued by state and local governments. By the beginning of the twentyfirst century, the
number had grown into the hundreds.Interstate Relations
So far, we have examined only the relationship between central and state governmental
units. The states, however, have constant commercial, social, and other dealings among
themselves. The national Constitution imposes certain “rules of the road” on interstate
relations. These rules have had the effect of preventing any one state from setting itself
apart from the other states. The three most important clauses governing interstate rela
tions in the Constitution, all taken from the Articles of Confederation, require each state
to do the following:n Give full faith and credit to every other state’s public acts, records, and judicial pro
ceedings (Article IV, Section 1).
n Extend to every other state’s citizens the privileges and immunities of its own citizens
(Article IV, Section 2).
n Agree to return persons who are fleeing from justice in another state back to their
home state when requested to do so (Article IV, Section 2).States may also enter into agreements with each other, called interstate compacts, so
long as the compacts do not increase the power of the contracting states relative to other
states or to the federal government. An example is the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey, established by an agreement between those states in 1921.Defining Constitutional Powers—The Early Years
Although political bodies at all levels of government play important roles in the process
of settling disputes over the nature of our federal system, normally it is the United States
Supreme Court that casts the final vote. As might be expected, the character of the ref
eree will have an impact on the ultimate outcome of any dispute. From 1801 to 1835, the
Supreme Court was headed by Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist who advocatedLO3: Discuss how, in the
early years of the republic, the
United States Supreme Court
confirmed the authority of the
national government, and how
that authority was ratified by the
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