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DOI: 10.1177/0002716201574001012 © 2001 American Academy of Political & Social Science State Sovereignty and the Anti-Commandeering CasesThe anti-commandeering doctrine, recently announced by the Supreme Court in New York v. United States and Printz v. United States, prohibits the federal government from commandeering state governments: more specifically, from imposing targeted, affirmative, coercive duties upon state legislators or executive officials. This doctrine is best understood as an external constraint upon congressional poweranalogous to the constraints set forth in the Bill of Rightsbut one that lacks an explicit textual basis. Should the Constitution indeed be interpreted to include a judicially enforceable constraint upon national powerand, if so, should that constraint take the form of an anti-commandeering rule?
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