The State of U.S. Federalism, 2000-2001: Continuity in Crisis

Despite the 2000 presidential-election crisis, basic continuity prevailed in American federalism, including survival of the electoral college and furtherance of the more recent shift of federal policymaking from places to persons during today's era of coercive or regulatory federalism. The year revealed the enduring salience of political parties and the prominent role of interest groups in the politics of federalism, as well as the ways in which the federal system shapes, and is shaped by, policy debates. The U.S. Supreme Court continued its state-friendly decision-making while Congress continued to preempt state authority, attach new conditions to federal aid, federalize criminal law, and nationalize power even while giving state and local governments more administrative discretion. The year also illustrated the declining impact of federal aid on state-local revenues compared to the increasing fiscal impact of the federal government's substantive, monetary, and fiscal policies. Copyright , Oxford University Press.