Christian G. Fritz, emeritus at the University of New Mexico School of Law, has published Sounding the Alarm: The Role of States in Monitoring the Federal Government. It is in a series on political ideas and issues for school teachers published by the Center for the Study of Federalism. From the introduction:
In December 2025, more than 40 bipartisan state legislative leaders from over 30 states, working through the National Conference of State Legislatures, issued a resolution titled “Federalism Restoration and State Empowerment.” This resolution reflects an important tradition that dates back to the founding and deserves attention in K-12 classrooms.
The distinctive feature of American federalism has long been understood to be the distribution of powers between the national and state governments. James Madison captured this idea of shared authority or sovereignty when he said the Constitution created a “compound republic” (Federalist 51). The compound republic distributes power both among the branches of the national government (separation of powers) and between the national government and the state governments (federalism). Madison envisioned a double security for liberty in which the states played a prominent role in monitoring and checking the power of the national government and the national government could check the states.
This foundational element of our system of government—shared sovereignty—warrants revisiting by K-12 teachers and students. Although states may attempt to limit national power in ways such as withholding cooperation, exerting political pressure, and challenging federal authority through legal and institutional channels, this Digest focuses on the role and responsibility of state governments to “sound the alarm” when the federal government exceeds its authority.
--Dan Ernst