The Upside-Down Constitution

by Michael S. Greve

Overview

The Constitution’s vision of federalism in which local, state, and federal government compete to satisfy preferences of individuals has given way to a cooperative, cartelized federalism that enables interest groups to leverage power at every level for their own benefit. Greve traces this inversion and dispels much received wisdom along the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674061910
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/29/2012
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Michael S. Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
Part One: Foundations
1. Constitutionalism
2. Federalism
3. Constitutional Structure
Part Two: Competitive Federalism
4. Commerce and Competition
5. Corporations
6. Federal Common Law
7. The Fiscal Constitution
Part Three: Transformation
8. Constitutional Inversion
9. Commerce, Cartels, and Concurrent Powers
10. Erie’s Federalism
11. Fiscal Federalism
Part Four: Our Federalism
12. Federalism after the New Deal: Rights, Revenues, and Regulation
13. From Experiments to Exploitation
14. The Supreme Court’s Federalism
Part Five: The State of Our Federalism
15. The Court, the Nation, and the States
16. Federalism among the States
17. Concluding Essay: Federalism at the Crossroads
Appendix: Constitutional Structure: Powers and Limitations
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

Michael Greve has written the best book on American federalism in years. One need not agree with his general argument in order to find constant stimulation and illumination in every chapter. No one interested in American constitutional development (and its future) can afford to ignore this book.
-- Sanford Levinson, author of Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance

Political events and extraordinary scholars have made this a golden age of argument about the Constitution. One of those scholars, Michael Greve, argues that promoting federalism—in the conventional sense of states' rights or the Tenth Amendment—may promote a greater quantity and poorer quality of government. This may seem counterintuitive, particularly to conservatives, but not to those who remember why various states' policies convinced James Madison that the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced by the Constitution.
-- George F. Will

Michael Greve is one of the most creative thinkers today about the Constitution's deep structures. In this remarkable reinterpretation of American federalism, he argues that competition between states is central to the Constitution's political goals. This brilliant book will turn your complacent conceptions about the American Constitution upside down.
-- Jack M. Balkin, author of Living Originalism and Constitutional Redemption

A learned, yet eye-opening and provocative analysis of one of the perpetual dilemmas of our federal system. Mr. Greve's quite significant contribution to our understanding of this complex subject will cause considerable rethinking of much conventional wisdom and deeply rooted dogma.
-- Theodore B. Olson

The Upside-Down Constitution tackles in a fast-paced and no-nonsense style the full range of issues that surround the transformation of American federalism from the founding period to today. No naive originalist, and no free-form modernist, Greve skillfully shows how the original plan that supported competitive federalism has given way to a misguided New Deal synthesis that works to enrich politicians at all levels of government at the expense of the ordinary individuals whom our Constitution was intended, today as always, to protect.
-- Richard A. Epstein, author of Design for Liberty

If there is to be a recovery of the Constitution's federalism, it will involve a retreat by the federal courts from the culture wars and, simultaneously, a renewed commitment by them to policing the boundaries of state authority over national commerce. A precondition for any such recovery is the conservative intellectual reorientation that Greve is attempting to advance. Thoughtful conservatives understand, as he notes, that the free market is not the same thing as "the opportunistic demands of the Fortune 500." They ought to begin distinguishing as well between federalism and the desires of state governments.
-- Ramesh Ponnuru National Review online

Marvelous and challenging.
-- Mario Loyola National Review online

Greve portrays an ever-increasing trend that will lead to more and more government and to greater fiscal recklessness. He approaches his subject from a historical perspective and with careful systematic documentation. In a very well-written concluding essay, the author discusses where the nation is at the current moment and offers solutions to the current situation.
-- R. A. Carp Choice

From the Publisher

The Upside-Down Constitution tackles in a fast-paced and no-nonsense style the full range of issues that surround the transformation of American federalism from the founding period to today. No naive originalist, and no free-form modernist, Greve skillfully shows how the original plan that supported competitive federalism has given way to a misguided New Deal synthesis that works to enrich politicians at all levels of government at the expense of the ordinary individuals whom our Constitution was intended, today as always, to protect.

Richard A. Epstein

Michael Greve is one of the most creative thinkers today about the Constitution's deep structures. In this remarkable reinterpretation of American federalism, he argues that competition between states is central to the Constitution's political goals. This brilliant book will turn your complacent conceptions about the American Constitution upside down.

Jack M. Balkin

If there is to be a recovery of the Constitution's federalism, it will involve a retreat by the federal courts from the culture wars and, simultaneously, a renewed commitment by them to policing the boundaries of state authority over national commerce. A precondition for any such recovery is the conservative intellectual reorientation that Greve is attempting to advance. Thoughtful conservatives understand, as he notes, that the free market is not the same thing as "the opportunistic demands of the Fortune 500." They ought to begin distinguishing as well between federalism and the desires of state governments.

National Review online - Ramesh Ponnuru

Michael Greve has written the best book on American federalism in years. One need not agree with his general argument in order to find constant stimulation and illumination in every chapter. No one interested in American constitutional development (and its future) can afford to ignore this book.

Sanford Levinson

A learned, yet eye-opening and provocative analysis of one of the perpetual dilemmas of our federal system. Mr. Greve's quite significant contribution to our understanding of this complex subject will cause considerable rethinking of much conventional wisdom and deeply rooted dogma.

Theodore B. Olson

Greve portrays an ever-increasing trend that will lead to more and more government and to greater fiscal recklessness. He approaches his subject from a historical perspective and with careful systematic documentation. In a very well-written concluding essay, the author discusses where the nation is at the current moment and offers solutions to the current situation.

Choice - R. A. Carp

Marvelous and challenging.

National Review online - Mario Loyola

Political events and extraordinary scholars have made this a golden age of argument about the Constitution. One of those scholars, Michael Greve, argues that promoting federalism—in the conventional sense of states' rights or the Tenth Amendment—may promote a greater quantity and poorer quality of government. This may seem counterintuitive, particularly to conservatives, but not to those who remember why various states' policies convinced James Madison that the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced by the Constitution.

George F. Will