ABSTRACT
The few studies on intersectionality in state legislatures have proven the importance of examining the race and gender of state lawmakers with respect to descriptive and substantive representation. Thus, federal–state relations would become a tug-of-war known as "devolution," the process of taking power and responsibility away from the federal government and giving it to state and local governments. The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Thus, the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of the state courts is important in the African American quest for a universal freedom and social justice. Tensions over federalism and state autonomy and power came in direct response to the federal government and judicial protections for of African American citizens, particularly in the South where racial conflict has characterized much of its history.
