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The United States Supreme Court and National State Expansion, 1789- 1997

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The United States Supreme Court and National State Expansion, 1789- 1997 THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AND NATIONAL STATE EXPANSION, 1789- 1997 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Michael Anthony Dichio August 2014 © 2014 Michael Anthony Dichio THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AND NATIONAL STATE EXPANSION, 1789- 1997 Michael A. Dichio, Ph.D. Cornell University 2014 This dissertation examines the Supreme Court’s impact on the constitutional development of the federal government. By applying a central state authority framework to an original database of hundreds of Supreme Court decisions, I uncover the ways in which the Court has constitutionally expanded and restricted the powers of the federal government from 1789 to 1997. I code each decision’s overall effect on central state authority as either restrictive, neutral, or expansion as well as code decisions along seven different dimensions of the federal government according to the central state authority framework. These constitutional decisions were gathered from fifty-eight constitutional law casebooks and treatises published between 1822 and 2010, and the decisions that repeated most frequently across these books were included into the dataset for analysis. After this systematic and empirical analysis of the decisions, it becomes clear that the Supreme Court has persistently constricted and expanded the national government, but, at the same time, its decisions have always leaned toward supporting and developing the national government’s powers across each constitutional issue area. Thus, this dissertation speaks to scholarship that not only reconsiders nineteenth century national state power but also underscores the important role that judges play in advancing national state development. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Michael Dichio was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and was raised in Westford, Massachusetts. He attended the town’s high school, Westford Academy, and received his Bachelors of Arts from Boston College, majoring in both political science and history. iii To my parents, Anthony and Anna Dichio, and To my grandparents, Antonio and Michelina DiLuca iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing a dissertation requires the help, support, and encouragement of a vast amount of people. Let me begin by thanking those who contributed most directly to the substantive development of this project—my dissertation committee. Along the way, my committee provided nothing but support, much needed criticism, and, perhaps most importantly, genuine curiosity in the project. Elizabeth Sanders offered invaluable historical references and incredible attention to the prose while treating me to long lunches and coffee. Her warm and generous guidance has made me a better adviser to my own students. Aziz Rana’s persistent curiosity and excitement over my project renewed my intellectual energy when I struggled the most. Each time we met, I left his office feeling revived and eager to tackle additional questions—the sign of a gifted adviser. Michael Jones-Correa’s incisive questions undoubtedly helped me relate my ideas to research communities outside of public law. As an adviser during my undergraduate years at Boston College, Ken Kersch is the committee member who I’ve known the longest. Agreeing to sit on my committee was a generous undertaking for which I don’t think I can ever fully repay. From the beginning, Ken not only took great interest in my research ideas but also took interest in me as a person and as a professional. Of all these wonderful advisers, however, none were more integral to my development as a scholar than my dissertation chair, Richard Bensel. Richard’s attentiveness to his students is truly ineffable. He read everything—down to the very last, tiny footnote in this project—and he did it with remarkable speed and still provided extensive commentary. After six years at Cornell, I have only because more amazed at Richard as an adviser and as a scholar. Beyond my dissertation committee, I have had the help of many others. Ted Lowi and the John L. Senior Chair of Institutions provided generous support so I could hire four excellent research assistants—Dan Marcus, Eric Silverberg, Malhar Naik, and Julius Kairey. Their help in data collection and coding made this project far more manageable than it would have been otherwise. While at Cornell, I was also lucky to meet a number of colleagues who have become dear friends— Danielle Thomsen, Martha Wilfahrt, and Alexis Walker. Over countless late night conversations, Jason Hecht and Igor Logvinenko, in particular, provided support and encouragement when I most needed it. Pat Maguire and Bob Pellegrino—friends from before Cornell—offered important distraction and conversation especially during the most intense writing phase of the project. But, most importantly, I would be nowhere without the ceaseless support and unbounded love from my family—especially my parents, Anna and Anthony Dichio, my siblings, Justin and Alexa, and my grandparents, Lina and Tony DiLuca. They help me keep everything in perspective and remind me of life’s most precious gifts. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction and Problem ....................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Research Problem .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Significance ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 What is Constitutional Development? ....................................................................................................... 7 The Evolution of Constitutional Law: Primary Findings ...................................................................... 10 Overview of Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 13 Organization of the Project ....................................................................................................................... 14 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2: Literature and Research Design ............................................................................ 18 Law and American Political Development .............................................................................................. 18 Developmental Explanations .................................................................................................................... 23 Expectations of Development .............................................................................................................. 25 Dataset Construction .................................................................................................................................. 26 Key Variables ........................................................................................................................................... 34 State Authority and the Supreme Court: Applications of the Variables ............................................. 40 Justifications for Casebook Design .......................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 3: The Constitutional Foundations of American Central State Expansion .............. 48 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 48 Central State Dimensions and Constitutional Issues ............................................................................. 49 The Court and Central State Expansion: Descriptive Findings ........................................................... 50 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 4: Structures of Constitutional Development ............................................................ 70 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 70 Constitutional Design at the Founding: Federal versus State Sovereignty ......................................... 72 Economic Independence at the Founding .............................................................................................. 77 Constitutional Architects: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison .................................................. 80 Constitutional Interpretation on the Marshall Court ............................................................................. 82 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 5: The Court and the Rise of the Modern State, 1870-1920 ....................................... 91 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................
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