I think the discussions of the Shiavo case in the context of federalism are moot. Real federalism in America was all but destroyed in 1865 with the death of states’ rights, dual sovereignty (Madison’s phrase), and the rights of secession and nullification. Then in 1913 the income tax, the Seventeenth Amendment, and the Fed pounded the final nails in the coffin of federalism — the principal idea of the founders. Ever since then the states have been mere franchises or appendages of Washington, D.C. That includes the state courts, which must take orders from D.C. just as all the other … Continue reading Federalism? What Federalism?