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21 St. John's J. Legal Comment. 527 (2006-2007)
Stop Federalism before It Kills Again: Reflections on Hurricane Katrina

handle is hein.journals/sjjlc21 and id is 535 raw text is: STOP FEDERALISM BEFORE IT KILLS AGAIN: REFLECTIONS ON HURRICANE KATRINA STEPHEN M. GRIFFIN* Like ideas, institutions have consequences. Federalism is both. To understand federalism within the context of constitutionalism in the United States, we must look beyond the conventional definition that runs in terms of primary and subordinate sovereignties. From a developmental and institutional perspective, Our Federalism is just as much a commitment to localism and the value of the fragmentation of government authority as it is a commitment to maintaining dual national and state governments. And it is just as much a set of values, even an ideology, as it is a system of institutions. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush remarked, It's a - very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government, and the local government when it comes to major catastrophe.' The President was correct in seeing federalism as central to what was largely a government-created disaster. One could wonder, however, how it was that there was not a better understanding about who would do what prior to Katrina's terrible landfall. Hurricane Katrina operated like a CT or MRI scan on governance in the United States and the results were not pretty. It is widely agreed that our separated system of federal, state, and local jurisdictions did not work together and did not work . Rutledge C. Clement, Jr. Professor in Constitutional Law, Tulane Law School. Prepared for St. John's Conference on Federalism Past, Federalism Future, March 3, 2006. Email: sgriffin@law.tulane.edu. 1 CNN REPORTS, KATRINA: STATE OF EMERGENCY 128 (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2005).

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