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The Structure of the American Legal System

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The Structure of the American Legal System

I. The purpose of this paper is to describe the organization and structure of the American legal system by defining the roles of the federal and state governments as follows; The role of the federal government, the role of the state government, the shared roles of the federal and state government, the Supremacy Clause, and what happens when there is a direct conflict between federal and state laws. II. Role of the Federal Government
Over two hundred years ago, our founders designed the United States to be governed under a system of federalism. The Cornell University Law School defines federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government (2014). Specifically, in the U.S. the two levels of government are the federal or national level, and the individual state level. The creation of this system was deliberate as to eliminate the opportunity for any one person, and or branch of government, from having too much power over the country; consequently undermining the system of democracy as a whole. a. The national level of authority is known as the federal government, and has powers over the nation as a whole. The federal government is given express powers, of specific design, from the constitution itself. However, the branches of the federal government are also afforded the opportunity to interpret those powers in each circumstance that may arise, these are implied powers. Specifically the powers, to mint money, declare war, establish post offices, establish an army/navy, and enter into treaties. For instance the power to mint coin is reserved to the national level to create uniformity with commerce among the nation, and regulate interstate commerce. If each state had the ability to mint its own currency, not only would each states coin value be a

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