Unit 1 - Federalism
Weekly FRQ Concept Application
Social Studies Lab | One Scenario Every Week
Weekly FRQ #2Week of August 3, 2026
The Beagle in Chief
This week's scenario is about who actually controls the National Guard — the state or the federal government. It's Unit 1 federalism, live and in color. Read it, then answer all three parts like it's the real AP exam. You've got 15 minutes. Go.
📐 Connects to: Unit 1 — Federalism / State vs. Federal Power
🗞️ Today's Scenario
Throughout 2025 and 2026, the federal government has repeatedly deployed National Guard troops into American cities to support immigration enforcement and, according to the administration, to reduce crime. In several cases, the president federalized a state's National Guard under a federal statute that allows this during emergencies, even over the objection of that state's governor. Governors, who normally command their state's National Guard as state militia, argued in court that the deployments violated the balance of power between state and national government and that no emergency justified bypassing their consent. Federal judges in multiple states have sided with the governors and ordered troops withdrawn, but several of those rulings have since been paused by higher courts while the legal fight continues, leaving Guard troops in place in some cities today.
Based on real reporting from NPR's National Guard Deployments coverage and public court filings, as of late July 2026. Source link: NPR: National Guard Deployments
A
Describe the legal authority that allows the president to federalize a state's National Guard.
1 Point
B
In the context of the scenario, explain how the governors' legal objections reflect the constitutional principle of federalism.
1 Point
C
Explain how the role of the federal courts in this scenario relates to the constitutional system of checks and balances, such as by explaining how the interaction between lower courts and higher courts (via stays and appeals) shapes the outcome of a federalism dispute.
1 Point
15:00
✅ Scoring Guideline — 3 Points Total
PART A1 PT
Award the point if the response correctly identifies/describes the president's statutory authority under federal law (Title 10 of the U.S. Code) to call a state's National Guard into federal service during specified emergencies — and notes that once federalized in this way, the unit answers to the president rather than the governor, distinguishing it from the normal Title 32/state-controlled status of the Guard.
PART B1 PT
Award the point if the response explains that federalism divides power between national and state governments, that governors ordinarily command their state's National Guard as a reserved/state power, and that the governors' lawsuits reflect an ongoing struggle over where the line between state authority and national authority actually falls — a core and recurring tension in the federal system.
PART C1 PT
Award the point if the response explains that the judiciary acts as a check on executive action by reviewing whether the federalization is lawful, and that the interaction between district courts (which ruled against the deployments) and appellate courts (which paused those rulings) shows how checks and balances operate within a single branch as well as between branches — no single court's ruling is final until the appeals process plays out, which is itself a limit on any one actor's power.
