William L. Kovacs

February 16, 2026

William L. Kovacs

The headlines tell it all –Trump calls to “nationalize elections,” and states are “agents” of the federal government. His comments follow more than two centuries of the federal government diminishing state sovereignty. The federal government has dramatically changed the original Constitution from one of limited government and federalism to one of a master-servant relationship.

The continued erosion of state sovereignty is bringing the federal government to the point of being the direct ruler of the people, with no intermediaries to negotiate peace.

The federal government is too big, too remote, and too massively powerful to deal directly with citizens. Federalism is needed to have a government closer to the people that understands their concerns and helps people in their daily lives. While federalism may limit some actions of the federal government, it also allows the federal government to assist with the domestic needs of citizens while spending its time and resources on protecting the nation’s safety and economy.

The current protests in Minnesota are a perfect example of a conflict between the people of the nation and a federal government that rarely understands local matters.

The list of federal diminishments to states.

Long before the federal government began taking charge of specific state activities, the Supreme Court in the early 1800s clearly asserted the “Supremacy” of federal laws. The court held that federal power includes all powers delegated to it, as well as implied powers and those necessary and proper to implement its delegated powers. Simplified, the federal government has the power to do almost anything.

Direct Election of Senators. Under the original Constitution, state legislatures selected Senators to represent their states in Congress. As such, the respective states controlled one House of Congress. It allowed the states to balance the House of Representatives, which was elected by the people, and resist a president elected by the Electoral College. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution provided for the direct election of Senators. With citizens electing the entire Congress, the states lost considerable power over the federal government.

Shrinking the reach of the Tenth Amendment. The Amendment reads, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. While states’ rights proponents and a few legal scholars argue that, aside from powers delegated by the Constitution, the rest of governmental powers are reserved for the states. This reasoning was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v Darby Lumber Co.(1941) described the Tenth Amendment as “but a truism.” The effect of Darby is to render the Tenth Amendment redundant. The court explained:

There is nothing in the history of its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the relationship between the national and state governments, as it had been established by the Constitution before the amendment.

In effect, the Court held that the powers left to the states are whatever the federal government is not using, and those powers last only until the federal government wants to use them.

In a 1992 case, New York v. U.S., the Supreme Court carved out a narrow Tenth Amendment path for states to defeat federal claims of authority. In that case, Congress enacted legislation mandating that states dispose of all low-level nuclear waste generated within the state or take title to all the waste, including liability for its long-term disposal. Since the federal government mandated the state legislature to enact a law to address the issue, the court held that Congress cannot commandeer New York’s legislative process.

Federal grants to States. Recognizing that the federal government cannot commandeer states to carry out all its commands, it can bribe states with grant money. The federal government makes over $ 1 trillion in grants to states to implement almost 1,000 federal programs. The feds tax the states and send a portion of the collected revenue back to them to enforce federal mandates. Federal grants make up, on average, 36% of all state budgets.

Sanctuary states and cities. The federal government wants local police to assist with immigration law enforcement. Sanctuary cities don’t want to participate. They believe enforcing immigration law will harm residents’ cooperation with the local government. Trump has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against Sanctuary cities and four lawsuits against states, including Minnesota. The federal courts have not ruled on any of the cases, but Congress could easily attach provisions that condition federal money on state acquiescence.

Blackmailing states. The federal government, without any congressional approval, is freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for local projects. The most recent is the New York Hudson Tunnel Project. The Biden administration authorized $15 billion for the project. That congressionally authorized money is for building a new tunnel under the Hudson River to connect NY and New Jersey. Trump will only release the money if the Democrats agree to rename Dulles International Airport in Virginia and Penn Station in New York City as Trump monuments. The suspension affects 1,000 workers and stalls billions in regional economic activity.

Feds withhold evidence in criminal cases. In the two deaths of Minneapolis residents by ICE, the federal government is refusing to share investigative evidence so the state can investigate murder charges. Since murder is primarily a state crime, the feds’ refusal to share evidence blocks the state’s criminal process.

Zoning is the most local of all governmental activities. In an effort to make homeownership more affordable, Trump proposes a national building code to speed up housing construction. Legislation to implement his proposals is moving in both the House and Senate.

Trump seeks to nationalize voting in the U.S. Article I, sec. 4, of the Constitution places the authority to hold elections in the states. President Trump seeks to “nationalize” state-run elections. He believes states are mere agents of the federal government.

The loss of federalism is disastrous for the nation. Almost all state authority is being pre-empted, eliminated, or arbitrarily impeded by the federal government. By stripping states of sovereignty, the federal government makes itself the direct ruler of the people. That is, a governing system is closer to China than to our Constitution.

The States serve as a protective barrier between the people and a massive federal power. The states implement federal programs that the federal government cannot implement due to a lack of personnel and, at times, constitutional authority.

The events in Minneapolis over the last several weeks show how difficult it would be for the federal government to take on dozens of cities in resistance. The protesters would learn from other cities how to use whistles, the Internet, and cameras to track what they call the “oppressors.” Writer and Professor Scott Galloway is promoting “Resist and Unsubscribe.” He is proposing “a month-long economic strike targeted at the companies driving the markets and enabling our president.

Eventually, the citizens will reread Gandhi’s Non-Violent Resistance, and then the feds will have real trouble as protests and strikes go nationwide. Eventually, the states might refuse all federal money. Federal programs would disappear.

The federal government might believe it is all-powerful, but Americans still want a government that operates under their consent. The federal government, no matter how large its military and police force, no matter how much money it spends, is still responsible for governing a nation by protecting its freedom and safety. To achieve this goal, the federal government needs to retreat from its war on states and bring the states back into the governing process since it cannot run the nation without them.

William L. Kovacs served as senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chief counsel to a congressional committee. His book, Reform the Kakistocracy, received the 2021 Independent Press Award for Political/Social Change. His second book, Devolution of Power: Rolling Back the Federal State to Preserve the Republic received five stars from Readers’ Favorite. He can be contacted at [email protected]