Research for a case that considered whether a state law was constitutional.What was the court case? what was the public policy being addressed? Decision made by the Supreme Court? What is cooperative or dual federalism?

Answer 1

One example of a case that considered whether a state law was constitutional is the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, decided in 1819 by the Supreme Court.

The public policy being addressed in this case was the power of the federal government to create a national bank, and specifically whether a state had the authority to tax a federal institution. The state of Maryland had attempted to tax the Second Bank of the United States, a federal institution, in an effort to limit its operations within the state.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that Maryland's tax on the national bank was unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for the Court, argued that the federal government had the power to create a national bank under the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, and that Maryland's attempt to tax the bank interfered with this power.

Cooperative federalism refers to a system of government in which powers and responsibilities are shared between the national and state governments. In this system, the two levels of government work together to address policy issues and provide public services. Dual federalism, on the other hand, is a system in which the national and state governments operate independently of each other within their respective spheres of authority, with little overlap or cooperation between the two levels of government.