Ch.3: Texas in the Federal System Flashcards
A system of government in which one central government has ultimate authority, any regional or local governments are subordinate to the central government.
unitary system
Asystemofgovernmentin which member state or regional governments have all authority and any central institutions have only the power that regional governments choose to give to them
Confederal System
Conflicts:
– The states’ right to leave the union
– The power of government to regulate business – The implementation of political reforms
– Problems of race, poverty, and abortion
Powers are strictly separated between the federal and state governments
Dual Federalism
possessing supreme political authority within a geographical area
sovereign
a way of describing the system of dual federalism in which there is a division of responsibilities between the state and the national governments
Layer-cake Federalism
at heart of dual federalism. It ensured that states retained those powers that were not given to the federal government
Tenth Amendment
a way of describing federalism where the boundaries between the national government and state government have become blurred
marble-cake federalism
a type of federalism existing since the New Deal Era in which grants in aid have been used to encourage Staes and localities to pursue nationally defined goals also known as intergovernmental cooperation
cooperative federalism
congressionally appropriated grants to states and localities on the condition that expenditures be limited to a problem or group specified by law
categorical grants
the attempts by Presidents Nixon and Reagan to return to power to the states through block grants
New Federalism
federal grants that allow states considerable discretion on how funds are spent
block grants
federal policies that force states to change their policies to achieve national goals
coercive federalism
federal requirements that states or local governments pay the costs of federal policies
unfunded mandates
where the national government imposes its priorities and prevents the state from acting in a particular field
preemption
Federal mandates of across the board requirements that affect all or most federal assistance programs such as environmental impact statement.
Cross-cutting requirements
Federal mandates whereby state and local governments will lose federal funding for non compliance
Cross-over sanctions
Federal mandates embodied in a congressional law or regulation that must be enforced or state and local officials may be held accountable by civil and criminal penalties.
direct orders
rights in the Bill of Rights that are held to apply to the states because they are part of the “liberty” protected from the states in the Fourteenth Amendment
Selective Incorporation
held in Gitlow v New York that has the first amendment right of free speech was a fundamental right that applied to the states
Sanford Dictum
an interpretation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment that held that states could segregate races as long as equal facilities were provided; it was overturned in 1954
seperate but equal
the most rigorous equal protection standard. It requires that the gov show a compelling state interest in order to successfully defend a law that makes certain classifications. Additionaly, the classification must be one the is narrowly tailored by the least drastic means possible to achieve the government’s objectives.
strict scrutiny
presumes that the legal classification made by the government is constitutional; all the government must show is some rational justification for the law
rational basis test
primarily used for classifications in the law based on sex; for the law to be constitutional the gov must show important gov objectives and the law must be substantially related to achievement of those objectives
intermediate standard of view
