Predominance of Federal Governance in the American Model of a Federal State – Legal and Constitutional Aspects

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the evolution of federal government
powers towards the establishment of federal hegemony system in which the
predominance of the powers of Washington within the formula of cooperative
federalism – or dual federalism – is not questioned any more. Due to the key
role of the Supreme Court on the individual stages of the federal governance
consolidation, the most important political events will be illustrated by
court decisions which show that with the use of the right to supervise the
constitutionality of law (judicial review), the Court decided on the course of
changes in the state. The activeness of the judges of the Supreme Court in the
field of interpretation of central government’s role in the United States can
be divided into two periods. In the first one, i.e. the 19th century, the judges
extended the influence of the federal government so to speak when protecting
the economic philosophy of laissez-faire and the oligarchic interests of big
business circles (substantive due process). In the second period, starting in the
1930s, the Supreme Court, under the pressure of public opinion and social
and economic changes, decided to protect a new interpretation of citizens’
rights and freedoms (procedural due process of law).
Reflection on the transformations of the American political system and
the evolution of complex relations between Washington and individual states
towards bigger centralization in the context of the European Union institutional
transformations after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force inspires
to assess the possibility of comparing the American model of federalism
and experience with the European routes to integration. Could American
experience in state creation be useful in the process of creating effectively
functioning Europe?