Assignment:
Watch the Federalism Video
1) Federalism defines the sharing of power between the federal and state governments. Recently, lawmakers in some states have proposed legislation to make it illegal for state and local law enforcement officials to implement (or enforce) any gun control restrictions that might be passed into law at the national level.
Which of the following is NOT a section of the Constitution that addresses the balance of power between states and the federal government?
Supremacy clause (Article VI, Clause 2)
Tenth Amendment
Eleventh Amendment
Impeachment procedures (Article II, Section4)
2) Which states in the video had seen proposals to limit the application of federal gun restrictions? What is it about these states that might explain their interest in such legislation?
3) What does the Constitution say about instances in which state and federal laws are in conflict with one another? That is, how is such conflict resolved, and who wins?
4) Identify one policy that should be decided by the federal government and one policy that should be decided by the states. Why, in each case, is that level of government most suited to decide such policy? (Be sure to give one example of each and the rationale for each.)