Laboratories of Democracy
Encyclopedia
Laboratories of democracy is a concept that defines the system of federalism
within the United States
. This concept explains how within the federal framework, there exists a system of filtration of governments. Within this filtration, state and local governments act as “laboratories,” where law is created and enacted from the lowest level of the democratic system, up to the top level.
The Tenth Amendment
of the United States Constitution
makes all “powers not delegated by the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This is a basis for the laboratories of democracy concept, because the Tenth Amendment hands a number of responsibilities down to the state and local governments. Policy is experimented on the state level first, before it is on the national level, and because these governments are only tied together by the federal level government, a diverse patchwork of lower government practices is created.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis popularized the concept, in his dissenting opinion in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann
285 U.S. 262
(1932), in which he stated that "It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This concept explains how within the federal framework, there exists a system of filtration of governments. Within this filtration, state and local governments act as “laboratories,” where law is created and enacted from the lowest level of the democratic system, up to the top level.
The Tenth Amendment
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
makes all “powers not delegated by the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This is a basis for the laboratories of democracy concept, because the Tenth Amendment hands a number of responsibilities down to the state and local governments. Policy is experimented on the state level first, before it is on the national level, and because these governments are only tied together by the federal level government, a diverse patchwork of lower government practices is created.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis popularized the concept, in his dissenting opinion in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that due process prevented a state legislature from arbitrarily creating restrictions on new businesses only on the claim that their markets affected a public use.The New State Ice Company...
285 U.S. 262
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1932), in which he stated that "It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."
External links
- State and Local Governments: Laboratories of Democracy, America.gov, 16 December 2007
- Ralph Nader, State Legislatures as "Laboratories Of Democracy", CommonDreams.org, 31 May 2004
- Laboratories of Democracy: Anatomy of a Metaphor", AEI Federalist Outlook, Michael GreveMichael GreveMichael Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar and Director of the Federalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute...
, March 2001