F2

1) a) The Americans With Disabilities Act protects the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. In particular it prevents discrimination in employment. This act gives the federal government the ability to regulate the way employers run their workplace and gives the federal government the power to enforce this anti-discriminatory act. States have no say in executing this law such as in establishing the drinking age but must succumb to the national government on this issue.

b) Preemption is the practice congress follows that states that state or local laws are invalid when they conflict with federal laws. This practice was exercised when No Child Left Behind was passed in that education is usually left up to the states but national standards were imposed on all public schools regardless of existing state education laws. This gives the national government ultimate power over state governments in that they can override all local laws with their own laws. The state governments essentially answer to the federal government.

2) a) U.S. v Lopez was a supreme court decision that limited the power of congress over the states. It resulted from an issue regarding carrying handguns to school but ended up with a clear establishment of where congress held power in states. The supreme court ruled that congress could not regulate social activity but only issues regarding channels of interstate commerce, people involved in interstate commerce, or issue that have a big effect on interstate commerce. This gave the states greater control over social issues and their schools and decreased the power of the national government.

b) Devolution is the practice of transferring power from the national government to state governments. This came into play in the Welfare Act passed under the Clinton Administration that changed welfare from an entitlement, which involves unlimited federal spending, to a block grant, a set amount of money given to each state to deal with as they see fit. Devolution allows states to have greater control over their affairs and forces the national government into a more hands-off approach.