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In the last century, federalism dramatically declined in significance to the American public. One reason for this deterioration was the development of new individual rights, particularly as a result of the civil rights movement, when state sovereignty was closely associated with opposition to racial integration and, more distantly, with slavery itself. The expansion of government at the national level also reduced the importance of states. If states sometimes did fulfill their vaunted function as laboratories of democracy, as was true with welfare reform, ensuing reforms enacted at the national level soon eclipsed the states' contribution.
Most people have not mourned this loss of state authority. In fact, only a few years ago, sophisticated observers became alarmed at what they perceived as the Supreme Court's attempts to engage in a radical, even revolutionary, effort to revive the role of states in the federal system. Over the past three years, however, the clamor has begun to subside as the Court has issued several rulings that once again expand the scope of Congress's power and limit state immunity from that power. These recent decisions, together with a long-running series of cases that constrict state regulatory authority through the aggressive creation of individual rights, make it clear that federalism is not nearly as high a priority for the justices as their occasional states' rights rhetoric might suggest.
Yet a lack of public or scholarly interest in states is not the same as a lack of interest in decentralization. In fact, since at least the 19505, considerable academic and journalistic concern has been expressed about the loss of political life at the local level. On both the right and left, many have called for the reinvigoration of neighborhood councils, school boards, and the various private clubs and associations that grow up around local governmental institutions. What makes this kind of decentralization appealing, of course, is that it provides the opportunity for direct, personal dealings among citizens and for decision making that is highly sensitive to local conditions.
These communitarian values have also attracted the justices of the Supreme Court. For instance, they have approved local financing of public education, despite the unequal funding patterns that result, because local taxation means local control. They have also urged district judges in school...