The Institutionalization of State Resistance to Federal Directives in the 21st Century

Abstract

Abstract State officials have challenged a number of federal policies during the Trump administration. In this article, I chronicle and categorize the tools that states have employed in resisting federal policies and show that states have relied primarily on three tactics: filing lawsuits, declining participation in federal programs, and passing policies inconsistent with federal policies. I also explain why state resistance has become such a prominent feature of U.S. politics. State challenges to federal policies are rooted in part in competing partisan perspectives, whereby members of the minority party at the federal level launch challenges from state offices that they control. State challenges are also grounded in contrasting intergovernmental perspectives, in that state officials who lack meaningful input in the passage of federal policies seek to challenge and shape these polices after they are enacted. In general, state resistance to federal policies during the Trump administration reflects continuity with state activity during other recent administrations and in a way that signals the institutionalization of state resistance to federal directives.