The State of American Federalism 2022–2023: Escalating Culture Wars in the States

Abstract

American federalism in 2022–2023 saw a continued escalation of the culture wars, with persistent battles fought between the heavily polarized political parties, different levels of government (including federal versus state governments and state versus local governments), and between states and private business. Policy conflicts have centered on a variety of issues related to reproductive rights, K-12 education, and gun policy, among others. This overview of American federalism during the last year proceeds by first considering major policy activity in Congress, much of which holds significant implications for federalism. Next, we discuss the 2022 midterm elections and the dynamics that largely prevented what many expected to be a “red wave”. We then move to discuss significant policy shifts in the areas of civil rights and liberties, environmental policy, and labor, with an emphasis on state policymaking and court decisions. A central theme has been the intensification of cultural disputes as a policymaking focus, particularly at the state level.

The Transaction Costs of the Administrative Presidency: Evidence From a Trump-Era Clean Water Act Enforcement Reduction

“…Our results affirm concerns about presidential administrations becoming more emboldened to use executive authority to meet political environmental policy goals (Fiorino, 2022;Rabe, 2022;Shafie, 2020). Given that congress remains extremely polarized on environmental policy matters (Bromley-Trujillo & Nolette, 2023;Deslatte, 2023;Dishman, 2023) current and future presidential administrations are expected to use executive actions to alter environmental policy again (Rabe, 2022;Shafie, 2020). This could lead to poor implementation outcomes at the local level, warranting further investigation into the link between the administrative presidency and local environmental governance.…”

“…We provided an example of how the current federal environmental governance system could negatively impact implementation outcomes at the local level. Recent scholarship indicates that congressional polarization over environmental policy will likely persist thus future presidential administrations will likely continue to use executive actions to alter environmental policy (Bromley-Trujillo & Nolette, 2023;Cha et al, 2022;Goelzhauser & Konisky, 2019;Konisky & Nolette, 2021;Thompson & Gusmano, 2022). Therefore, additional research is needed into the water policy sector and other environmental policy areas to identify if the problematic effects of administrative enforcement reductions detected in our study emerge elsewhere.…”