This book examines the theory, law, and reality of preemption choice. The Constitution's federalist structures protect states' sovereignty but also create a powerful federal government that can preempt and thereby displace the authority of state and local governments and courts to respond to a social challenge. Despite this preemptive power, Congress and agencies have seldom preempted state power. Instead, they typically have embraced concurrent, overlapping power. Recent legislative, agency, and court actions, however, reveal an aggressive use of federal preemption, sometimes even preempting more protective state law. Preemption choice fundamentally involves issues of institutional choice and regulatory design: should federal actors displace or work in conjunction with other legal institutions? This book moves logically through each preemption choice step, ranging from underlying theory to constitutional history, to preemption doctrine, to assessment of when preemptive regimes make sense and when state regulation and common law should retain latitude for dynamism and innovation.

“Preemption Choice is the best collection of essays ever published on the critical issue of federal preemption of state law. This volume brings together leading scholars articulating a variety of doctrinal and theoretical points. A common theme is that the Bush Administration and the Supreme Court have undermined both federalism and good regulatory policy by heeding business demands for preemption of state common law across whole areas of law. This is must reading for any lawyer---or Supreme Court Justice---interested in federalism, preemption, or regulatory policy.”
--William Eskridge, John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School

“Amidst the heated political battle over federal preemption, Buzbee’s deftly edited volume targets the key (and often overlooked) issues of institutional choice and regulatory design, in contexts ranging from environmental policy to product design and warnings. Buzbee and his collaborators offer formidable theoretical, doctrinal and institutional arguments against federal preemption that push the preemption debate to a higher level.”
--Catherine M. Sharkey, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

"...truly eye-opening...a worthwhile investment...accessible...strongly recommended reading for the actual players in the federal government, serving across the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, who make the decisions regarding preemption with state and local officials and their constituents have to live..."
--Staci L. Beavers, California State University San Marcos, The Law and Politics Book Review [Vol. 19 No. 5 (May 2009)]