This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Feb. 11, 2026

State law against federal power: How federalism is rewriting civil rights strategy

As damages remedies against federal officials wither, constitutional violations are increasingly recognized but left without a forum, pushing civil rights lawyers to look to state law not as interference but as a means of restoring accountability.

K. Chike Odiwe

Civil Rights Attorney
The Law Offices of Kenneth C. Odiwe, PC

2880 Zanker Road, Ste 203
San Jose , CA 95134

Fax: (669) 315-4431

See more...

State law against federal power: How federalism is rewriting civil rights strategy
Shutterstock

Civil rights law rarely collapses all at once. It narrows. It tightens. It retreats by increments until one day practitioners realize that the tools they relied upon no longer function the way they once did. The shift often hides behind technical language. Courts reaffirm constitutional principles while quietly dismantling the mechanisms that give those principles force.

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$895, but save $100 when you subscribe today… Just $795 for the first year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Enewsletter Sign-up