| Abstract: | The U.S. Supreme Court has held that state sovereignty is protectedby principles of common law rather than explicit constitutionalguarantees under the Tenth and Eleventh Amendments. The Courthas also cautioned that congressional actions, even under delegatedpowers, may not threaten the integrity of states as sovereignentities in the federal system. The National League of Citiesdecision in 1976 appeared to reverse this doctrine by implyingthe existence of Tenth Amendment protections of state actionsin traditional functional areas. However, the federal courtsdiscounted the NLC ruling as a compelling precedent in subsequentfederalism cases because of its vagueness and its fundamentalinconsistency with established doctrine. In 1985, the SupremeCourt overturned the ruling in Garcia v. San Antonio, reaffirmingthe common law nature of state sovereignty and arguing thatconstitutional protection of state interests lies primarilyin the representative structure of the federal system ratherthan in specific constitutional guarantees. |
