Up in Smoke: Federalism Today

Students write a 5 to 6 page paper analyzing the challenges of balancing power between the national and state governments inherent in federalism. Using the current issue of medical marijuana, students are asked to consider the distribution of power in the Constitution and relevant Supreme Court cases to make an argument for which level of government should have responsibility for determining the legality of the sale of medical marijuana. The goal of the assignment is to have students consider the power and authority of each level of government as well as their interdependence.