STATES RIGHTS

Obama Gives Back to States

Reverses Bush policy.

While "states rights" is historically the rallying cry for the GOP, President Obama is expanding state power in contrast with his predecessor. He’s reversed “preemption,” a Bush-era policy that allowed for the federal government to overrule state laws on everything from health to the environment. The administration is also going to reexamine state laws currently being preempted by the government, and evaluate whether or not amend policies. The Bush administration used preemption primarily to protect corporations from restrictive state laws, and some predict Obama’s changes could upset businesses that depend on the shield of preemption. Obama said that he would move forward “only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the states and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption.”