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A Technology Debate That Is Really a Constitutional Debate
Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to issue an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence instantly sparked a national debate over innovation, competitiveness, and the future of one of the fastest-developing technologies in the economy. Supporters argue that a single national framework is needed to avoid a confusing patchwork of rules. Critics counter that such a move would crush state authority and consolidate sweeping domestic power in the executive branch.
Most of the public discussion has centered on policy. But beneath that policy dispute lies a more fundamental issue: federalism. The real question is not merely how artificial intelligence should be regulated, but which level of government is empowered to make those decisions in the first place.
Federalism is the principle that divides power between the federal government and the states. The national government is granted specific powers, and everything else remains with the states or the people. This structure was designed as a safeguard against the concentration of political power.
The Tenth Amendment makes that design unmistakably clear:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Artificial intelligence is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution. That does not resolve the debate, but it does frame the central question: by what constitutional authority does a president declare that states are forbidden from acting in this policy space?
To be continued after the paywall…
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In the section below, you will find:
The DeSantis constitutional argument is shaping this fight nationwide
Why California’s AI laws expose the risk of federal preemption by decree
The precedent problem when executive orders become national vetoes
How the Supreme Court’s posture on executive power could decide the case
The nearly 90-year constitutional expansion shadowing today’s AI debate...

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