Elizabeth Jo

It's not thought of too often, but it is an important source of powers and protections for the states.

So when we talk about the relationship between the federal government and that of the states, we refer to that structure as federalism.

And we've talked about federalism lots of times.

But maybe we could really call that vertical federalism.

What do you mean by that?

Well, that's because it's the federal government sort of how it relates to each one of the 50 states.

But the states have relationships with one another.

And sections one and two of article four are actually about the relationships among the states.

And we can talk about that as horizontal federalism.

Got it.

Yeah.

So why don't we start with section one?

Roman, why don't you read section one?

All right, that's a mouthful.

So Section 1 is also known as the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

And the Full Faith and Credit Clause embodies the idea that we need some kind of interstate cooperation in our system for the system to work.

And the basic idea with the Full Faith and Credit Clause is that the states are supposed to respect the laws, records, and court decisions of other states.

That's the general idea.

Well, what it means in the specifics, however, is that if, for instance, you have a state court issue a judgment in your favor, let's say you win a case and the court awards you damages or money, you can ask a court in another state to enforce or respect that judgment.

Let's say if the person who owes you money now has left the state and taken their assets with them.