How North Carolina’s controversial bathroom bill provides a window into the complexities of public policymaking in a federalist system

In March, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill to overturn an earlier non-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, North Carolina, which had expanded protections for the transgendered. Sierra Smucker writes that the situation shows the complexities of the US federal system, which was established as a compromise between the national government and the states. This federal system allows the states – and even cities and local constituencies – to make their own policies, but these policies can still lead to conflict with the laws and norms of the rest of the country, and the federal government.