Federalism is the division of governing power between the Federal government and the States. The U. S. Constitution enumerates the powers of the Federal government and spe-cifically reserves to the States or the people the powers it does not expressly delegate to the Federal government. Ac-cordingly, the Federal government is a government of enu-merated, or limited, powers, and a specified power must authorize each of its acts.
Federal supremacy- Although under our Federalist system the States retain sig-nificant powers, the Supremacy Clause of the U. S. Consti-tution provides that within its own sphere, Federal law is supreme and State law must, in case of conflict, yield. Accordingly, any State constitutional provision or law that conflicts with the U. S. Constitution or valid Federal laws or treaties is unconstitutional and may not be given effect. Under the Supremacy Clause, whenever Congress enacts legislation within its constitutional powers, the Federal action preempts ( overrides) any conflicting State legislation. Even a State regulation that is not obviously in conflict must give way if Congress clearly has intended that its enact-ment should preempt the field. …show more content…
S. Constitution. If governmental action violates the U. S. Constitution, under judicial review the courts will invalidate that action. Judicial review extends to legislation, acts of the executive branch, and the decisions of inferior courts.
Three distinct and independent branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judi-cial branches. The doctrine of separation of powers prevents excessive power from concentrating in any group or branch of government. Basically, the legislative branch is granted the power to make the law, the executive branch to enforce the law, and the judicial branch to interpret the