Newly Published: Christian Fritz, Monitoring American Federalism: The History of State Legislative Resistance (Cambridge University Press, 2023) @UNM_Law @CambridgeUP

 Newly published:

Christian Fritz, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of New Mexico, Monitoring American Federalism: The History of State Legislative Resistance (Cambridge University Press, 2023) (Studies In Legal History). Here from the publisher's website is a description of the book's contents.

Monitoring American Federalism examines some of the nation's most significant controversies in which state legislatures have attempted to be active partners in the process of constitutional decision-making. Christian G. Fritz looks at interposition, which is the practice of states opposing federal government decisions that were deemed unconstitutional. Interposition became a much-used constitutional tool to monitor the federal government and organize resistance, beginning with the Constitution's ratification and continuing through the present affecting issues including gun control, immigration and health care. Though the use of interposition was largely abandoned because of its association with nullification and the Civil War, recent interest reminds us that the federal government cannot run roughshod over states, and that states lack any legitimate power to nullify federal laws. Insightful and comprehensive, this appraisal of interposition breaks new ground in American political and constitutional history, and can help us preserve our constitutional system and democracy.

 

Provides a comprehensive analysis of key controversies of federal and state relations from the 1790s to the present

          Sheds new light on the constitutional tool of state interposition

          Reveals how interposition forms part of a larger pattern of constitutional and political conflict –              and resolution in American history

Cambridge Core link here.