Federalism and Judicial Activism in the United States

Abstract

The article analyzes the formation of American federalism and the role of judicial activism in consolidating constitutional supremacy and civil rights in the United States, with the aim of demonstrating how the Supreme Court acted in defining the balance between the Union and the States. It adopts a legal-historical and analytical-comparative methodology based on the examination of American constitutional development, the phases of federalism, the interstate commerce clause, due process of law, equal protection of the laws, and landmark Supreme Court precedents. It argues that American federalism was structured through the distribution of powers between the central government and the states, under the supremacy of the Constitution and under judicial review exercised especially by the Supreme Court, which in historic decisions both strengthened federal authority and limited its excesses. The article also shows that judicial activism took on different forms over time, at times expanding the Court’s authority in structural federalism issues and at other times advancing the protection of civil rights, especially during the Warren Court, through the incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the States and the review of discriminatory practices and restrictions on fundamental freedoms. It concludes that judicial federalism and Supreme Court activism are central elements of the constitutional experience of the United States, functioning as instruments for adapting the federal system to the political, social, and axiological transformations of American society.