ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes new federalism as an interpretative concept in American politics and constitutional development. After tracing its intellectual origins in the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it details its evolution as a judicial doctrine that attempted to create constitutional limits on federal power and reinvigorate state sovereignty in the 1980s and thereafter. It argues new federalism has matured into an established constitutional principle that adjudicates intergovernmental conflicts and one co-opted by conservatives and progressives in the United States culture wars. Today, it remains a malleable and opportunistic doctrine used by conservatives and progressive policymakers to protect their policy preferences.
