Federalism matters. That was the unmistakable message of state Attorney General Douglas Chin’s successful legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.
The decision thrust Hawaii into the national spotlight as the unexpected leader of a coalition of states that are using powers granted to them by the Constitution to resist key parts of the Trump administration’s agenda.
Federalism has long been seen, with considerable justification, as a tool of conservatives. Many states, particularly in the South, have used it to oppose new mandates and regulations from Washington. More recently, some states turned to federalism to block the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid.
But as Hawaii’s legal victory demonstrates, federalism can serve the interests of blue states, too. Indeed, while Washington remains dominated by conservatives, it may offer the only path for advancing progressive policies and for thwarting objectionable federal directives.
There is, after all, a great deal that states can do without the national government’s permission — and Hawaii has considerable experience with this brand of federalism. The state once courageously pursued forward- thinking policies that were considered radical in their time.
We were the first state to legalize abortion in 1970, three years before the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
We were the first state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in March of 1972, just thirty-two minutes after it was approved by Congress.
We were the first state to require employers to provide health insurance, a law that has helped to make us the healthiest state in the nation.
Although it has been decades since Hawaii was a leader in national policy, the actions of the Trump administration seem to have spurred Gov. David Ige and the Legislature to action.
In his quietly defiant state of the state address, the governor pledged to continue the state’s commitment to clean energy “not because of new leadership or direction from Washington, but because this is what we’ve always done here in Hawaii.”
The Legislature has followed his lead with several proposals, such as Senate Bill 559, which would adopt the relevant provisions of the Paris Agreement on climate change as Hawaii state law, cutting the federal government out of the picture altogether.
Along with these opportunities for continued policy innovation, the federal structure of American government offers numerous avenues for states to resist new mandates from Washington through what Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken calls “uncooperative federalism.”
As powerful as the federal government may be, it relies upon the voluntary cooperation of states to enforce and administer most of its rules and regulations. It takes time and resources to fight unhelpful states, so blue-state intransigence may yield considerable policy accommodations from Washington.
But to be an effective leader, Hawaii must avoid political gamesmanship. House Bill 1581, which would require presidential candidates to release their federal income tax returns in order to qualify for a place on Hawaii’s ballot, seems nakedly partisan and petty — and it is unlikely to yield any results aside from drawing the ire of Trump.
The point of progressive federalism is to continue to make headway in the areas of civil rights, economic justice and environmental sustainability without engaging in destructive partisan bickering. We can best accomplish these goals by pursuing sound policies and by forcing Washington to compromise over objectionable ones, perhaps with the help of other likeminded states.
Now is not the time to succumb to defeatism or despair. As conservatives have demonstrated for the past 60 years, federalism can be an extremely effective tool even when the political environment in Washington is decidedly unfriendly. So let’s be innovative and uncooperative — and make Hawaii a progressive leader again.
Colin Moore is an associate professor of political science and director of the Public Policy Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
