Federalism During the Trump Era and Beyond

Abstract

This chapter explains how liberal states, with the enthusiastic support of progressives across the country, repeatedly exercised their authority as sovereigns to oppose and challenge some of the Trump administration’s most misguided, harmful, and discriminatory policies. State-based resistance to the Trump administration was particularly robust in matters related to immigration and environmental regulations. State-based policies were also crucial in filling the void left by the Trump administration’s failure to provide effective national leadership on issues that desperately demanded it, including the stemming of gun violence and controlling the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The chapter argues that if progressives going forward embrace federalism only situationally—defending it when there is a conservative in the White House, but dismissing its relevance or appropriateness when there is a liberal in that position—then it is less likely that the principle will remain a viable and effective tool in resisting the policies of a future right-wing administration in the Trumpian mold. In contrast, if progressives after the Trump era defend federalism as a matter of principle, then it is more likely that the concept will retain its constitutional and political legitimacy, making it available to progressives in future years when confronting another right-wing and potentially autocratic federal administration.