RYAN SAGER notes a surprising resurgence of interest in federalism:

Republicans have sometimes been the party of federalism, railing in the 1990s about “unfunded mandates” from the federal government making it impossible for states to run their own affairs and complaining that federal involvement in education was ruining local schools.

Unfortunately, the party has been willing to abandon this principle whenever it’s convenient — with President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law recently, and for years over the issue of states wanting to legalize medical marijuana.

But now a large number of disenfranchised Democrats seem willing to form a leave-me-alone coalition. They don’t want Bush and his theologians deciding whether or not to fund stem-cell research, they want California to step in if the federal government won’t. They don’t want a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, they want their individual states to decide.

Meanwhile, I suspect that at least some Republicans will find their interest in federalism flagging further as their majority position looks more secure.

UPDATE: Julian Sanchez has more on the new new federalism on the left.