Answer to Question 1
An ideal response will:
1. Define preemption as a situation in which national law takes precedence over state or local law.
2. Give examples of national preemption including laws regulating hazardous substances, water quality, clean air standards, and many civil rights acts, especially the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
3. Explain that the preemption doctrine has been used by the courts to invalidate conflicting state laws and to strike down state laws that intrude upon an area that Congress has deemed exclusively within the province of federal law.
Answer to Question 2
An ideal response will:
1. Note that the formal structures of the political system have changed little since the 1780s, but that federalism operates very differently today.
2. Identify broad trends that have increased the power of the federal government relative to the states. These should include the growth of the national economy and the development of transportation and communication networks, all of which led to increasing demands on the national government.
3. Discuss the role of the Great Depression in stimulating programs that increased the power of the national government.
4. Explain the role of political claims in this process; that is, once programs are established, they create constituencies that seek to defend and expand them.
diagram of question asked
Don Gray, Stone #2, from the series Nine Stones.
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