CONSTITUTIONAL MYTHS & REALITIES - Eight of 'em, so pay attention! - Part IV

This is part three in an eight part series adapted from a speech delivered on April 29, 2003, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Dearborn, Michigan. Reprinted by permission from Imprimus, the national speech digest of Hillsdale College. [Part III is here]

Myth or Misconception 4:Federalism is the same thing as state's rights.

"State's rights" in the constitutional sense refers to all of the rights of sovereignty retained by the states under the Constitution. But in this sense, state's rights refers to only half of what federalism is, the other half consisting of those powers either reserved for the national government or affirmatively prohibited to the states.

In popular use, "state's rights" has had a checkered history. Before the Civil War, it was the rallying cry of southern opponents of proposals to abolish or restrict slavery. By the 20th century, it had become the watchword of many of those who supported segregation in the public schools, as well as those who criticized generally the growing power of the central government.

While I share the view that federal power has come to supplant "state's rights" in far too many areas of governmental responsibility, "state's rights" are truly rights only where an examination of the Constitution reveals both that the national government lacks the authority to act and that there is nothing that prohibits the state governments from acting. There is no "state right," for example, for one state to impose barriers on trade coming from another, or to establish a separate foreign policy. These responsibilities are reserved to the national government by the Constitution.