by Nathan Newman

Progressive States Network

Whether out of circumstance or an emerging trend, where state authority was at issue, this term the U.S. Supreme Court overwhelmingly deferred to state decisionmakers-- a significant reveral from last year.  There were major exceptions -- the Ricci decision preempting the affirmative action decision by the City of New Haven being the most prominent -- but the results in favor of state authority overall were relatively broadbased.   In the context of President Obama's recent endorsement of less preemption of state laws by federal regulators,  we may be seeing a more general reversal of trends that had increasingly undermined state authority.  Still, any trend on this Court is provisional since it continued its politicization and divisions, ruling on 79 cases where 23 of which were split 5-4. 

For the rest of this article, see http://www.progressivestates.org/node/23295

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