We have certainly centralized from the Federal system originally envisioned by the Framers. But I don't think one can completely blame the Court for that. The nation made a deliberate decision in the wake of the calamatous Civil War to change our institutions from a more decentralized union of States to a national Republic. That was the clear import of the Amendments enacted to the Constitution in the Antebellum period. The 13th through 15th Amendments took away the states' powers to deny any of their citizens rights that were viewed as "national" rights; the 16th gave broad new taxation powers to the national government; the 17th specifically removed from state legislatures the power to name Senators, who would be more indebted to state interests. All of these were deliberate efforts to forge a unified national government.
One can bemoan the trend, but it's hard to blame on the Court. In its further defense, the current Court has been moving steadily toward an envigoration of state power vis-a-vis the federal government, but the antebellum amendments will prove a check on returning the balance to its original design.
This is important because the SCOTUS will either affirm our individual rights against a tyrannical government, or consign us to servitude, depending on how they rule on Obamacare and the "individual mandage" Because, if the Federal Government can make you buy medical coverage, they can pretty much make you do anything.
Will we have Freedom Affirmed or will we have Revolution? I think those are the only rational alternatives. I don't know about you, but for me, slavery is not an option.
The Gunslinger
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