Opinion ID: 6978959
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Role of National Political Process

Text: The framers envisioned from the outset the prominent role the political process would play in preventing the accumulation of national power at the expense of local interests. See James Thomas Flexner, The Young Hamilton 393 (1978) (“Hamilton and Madison responded [to objections to central power by Rhode Island in 1782] with arguments that presaged their defense of the-eventual national Constitution in The Federalist. The security of general liberty lay not in clipping the wings of the central authority, but in frequent elections and rotation of offices that would keep the central power representative of all interests.”). Madison’s own experience as Virginia’s representative under the Articles of Confederation gave him a first-hand practical appreciation for how federal representatives must balance their dual responsibilities to their state and to the nation. See Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution 38 (1996) (“The recurring need to balance national and state loyalties shaped the development of Madison’s political thinking in important ways.”). “The prepossessions, which the members [of Congress] themselves w[ould] carry into the federal government, w[ould] generally be favourable to the States.” The Federalist No. 16, at 296 (Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961). This was not only a background assumption of the constitutional plan, but a prerequisite for its successful functioning, which would depend on the assertion of a multiplicity of interests and points of view. See, e.g., The Federalist No. 10, at 83 (Madison) (Clinton Rossiter, ed., 1961) (“Extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.”). Scholars and commentators have identified a number of features of the national political process which serve to maintain the strong position of the states in the federal system. Some of these protective mechanisms, such as the Electoral College and the equal state vote in the Senate, are components of our formal, constitutional structure. See, e.g. Herbert Wechsler, The Political Safeguards of Federalism: The Role of the States in the Composition and Selection of the National Government, 54 Colum.L.Rev. 543, 558 (1954) (outlining the structural safeguards of federalism built into the Constitution and emphasizing “the role of the states in the composition and selection of the central government [as] intrinsically well adapted to retarding or restraining new intrusions by the center on the domain of the states”); Daniel J. Elazar, Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations in Cooperation and Conflict: Readings in American Federalism 9 (Daniel J. Elazar, et al. eds., 1969) (“[Pjeople and their interests gain formal representation in the councils of government through their location in particular places and their ability to capture political control of territorial political units.”); David L. Shapiro, Federalism: A Dialogue 116-117 (1995) (discussing the “significant structural reasons for the retention of state authority in so many areas of general importance” and the “built in role of the states in the administration of the central government”). Other checks on the national power are nonstruetural in nature. That is, they are rooted in the political process itself. See, e.g., Elizabeth Garrett, Enhancing the Political Safeguards of Federalism? The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, 45 U.Kan. L.Rev. 1113,1114 (1996) (discussing “possible safeguards of federalism that are truly political, giving due attention to political institu-' tions, politicians and interest groups”); D. Brace La Pierre, Political Accountability in the National Political Process — The Alternative to Judicial Review of Federalism Issues, 80 Nw.L.Rev. 577, 633 (1982) (“[Political checks and Congress’ political accountability, and not simply the representation of state interests in Congress by representatives elected from the states, are the political safeguards of federalism.”); Larry Kramer, Understanding Federalism, 47 Vand.L.Rev. 1485, 1520-47 (1994) (arguing that the political party system and extensive interactions between federal and state administrators play a particularly important role in protecting state autonomy). Despite the general effectiveness of these formal and informal mechanisms in protecting state interests, the potential for breakdowns in the political process exists. Such “process failures” threaten both the autonomy of the states and the representativeness of the national government itself. See An-drzej Rapaczynski, From Sovereignty to Process: The Jurisprudence of Federalism After Garcia, 1985 Sup.Ct.Rev. 341, 394. (“[I]n undermining the states, the federal government at the same time undercuts those very features of the national political process as a whole (on both the state and national level) on which its own health crucially depends.”). The Supreme Court has rejected the idea that political safeguards are sufficient, in and of themselves, to protect the states against federal overreaching. See Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 98, ---, 117 S.Ct. 2365, 2382-83, 138 L.Ed.2d 914 (1997); New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 168-69, 112 S.Ct. 2408, 120 L.Ed.2d 120 (1992); see also La Pierre, supra, at 665 (“[I]f Congress is not politically accountable, national statutes that intrude on state interests are not justified, and judicially imposed restrictions on Congress’ powers are necessary to protect the states.”). Rapaczynski, 1985 Sup.Ct.Rev. at 380-419 (analyzing political processes which serve to protect federalism and failures in those processes which may warrant judicial scrutiny). In both New York v. United States, 505 U.S. at 168-69, 112 S.Ct. 2408, and Printz v. United States, at - -, 117 S.Ct. at 2382-83, the Court recognized- that “process failures” had blurred the lines of political accountability between state and federal representatives to the detriment of our system of dual sovereignty. In New York v. United States the Court reasoned that “where the Federal Government directs the States to regulate, it may be state officials who will bear the brunt of public disapproval, while the federal officials who devised the regulatory program may remain insulated from the electoral ramifications of their decision.” New York v. United States, 505 U.S. at 169, 112 S.Ct. 2408. The Court’s decision in Printz rested in part on a similar rationale: By forcing state governments to absorb the financial burden of implementing a federal regulatory program, Members of Congress can take credit for “solving” problems without having to ask their constituents to pay higher taxes. And even when the States are not forced to absorb the costs of implementing a federal program, they are still put in the position of taking the blame for its burdensomeness and for its defects. Printz, at -, 117 S.Ct. at 2382. While the federalism-based considerations permeating these decisions do not constitute an absolute restraint on congressional action, they do demonstrate the Court’s reluctance to uphold federal legislation that distorts the balanced federal-state political process. Application of the FCA’s qui tam provisions to the states interferes with the political process in ways which seriously undermine the position of the states vis-á-vis the federal government. As will be demonstrated in Part IV.C.3, infra, assigning the federal government’s decision to sue a state to private qui tam plaintiffs — who are accountable to no one and motivated primarily by the hope of financial gain — prevents congresspersons from fulfilling their representative function of interceding on behalf of their home states in disputes with the federal government and interferes in the cooperative relationships between state agencies and their federal counterparts.