delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case, appellees successfully challenged the constitutionality of Titles I and III, and of § 210 of Title II, of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-617, 92 Stat. 3117 (PURPA or Act). We conclude that appellees’ challenge lacks merit and we reverse the judgment below.

I

On November 9, 1978, President Carter signed PURPA into law.1 The Act was part of a package of legislation,2 approved the same day, designed to combat the nationwide energy crisis.

At the time, it was said that the generation of electricity consumed more than 25% of all energy resources used in the United States. S. Rep. No. 95-442, p. 7 (1977). Approximately one-third of the electricity in this country was generated through use of oil and natural gas, and electricity generation was one of the fastest growing segments of the Nation’s economy. S. Rep. No. 95-361, p. 32 (1977). In part because of their reliance on oil and gas, electricity utilities were plagued with increasing costs and decreasing efficiency in the use of their generating capacities; each of these *746factors had an adverse effect on rates to consumers and on the economy as a whole. S. Rep. No. 95-442, at 9. Congress accordingly determined that conservation by electricity utilities of oil and natural gas was essential to the success of any effort to lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil, to avoid a repetition of the shortage of natural gas that had been experienced in 1977, and to control consumer costs.

A

Titles I and III

PURPA’s Titles I and III, which relate to regulatory policies for electricity and gas utilities, respectively, are administered (with minor exceptions) by the Secretary of Energy. These provisions are designed to encourage the adoption of certain retail regulatory practices. The Titles share three goals: (1) to encourage “conservation of energy supplied by . . . utilities”; (2) to encourage “the optimization of the efficiency of use of facilities and resources” by utilities; and (3) to encourage “equitable rates to . . . consumers.” §§ 101 and 301, 92 Stat. 3120 and 3149, 16 U. S. C. § 2611 (1976 ed., Supp. IV), 15 U. S. C. § 3201 (1976 ed., Supp. IV).3 To achieve these goals, Titles I and III direct state Utility regulatory commissions and nonregulated utilities to “consider” the adoption and implementation of specific “rate design” and regulatory standards.

Section 111(d) of the Act, 16 U. S. C. § 2621(d), requires each state regulatory authority and nonregulated utility to consider the use of six different approaches to structuring rates: (1) promulgation, for each class of electricity consumers, of rates that, “to the maximum extent practicable,” would “reflect the costs of . . . service to such class”; (2) *747elimination of declining block rates;4 (3) adoption of time-of-day rates;5 (4) promulgation of seasonal rates;6 (5) adoption of interruptible rates;7 and (6) use of load management techniques.8 The Act directed each state authority and non-regulated utility to consider these factors not later than two years after PURPA’s enactment, that is, by November 8, 1980, and provided that the authority or utility by November 8, 1981, was to have made a decision whether to adopt the standards. § 2622(b). The statute does not provide penalties for failure to meet these deadlines; the state authority or nonregulated utility is merely directed to consider the standards at the first rate proceeding initiated by the authority after November 9, 1980. § 2622(c).

Section 113 of PURPA, 16 U. S. C. §2623, requires each state regulatory authority and nonregulated utility to consider the adoption of a second set of standards relating to the *748terms and conditions of electricity service: (1) prohibition of master-metering in new buildings;9 (2) restrictions on the use of automatic adjustment clauses;10 (3) disclosure to consumers of information regarding rate schedules; (4) promulgation of procedural requirements relating to termination of service; and (5) prohibition of the recovery of advertising costs from consumers. Similarly, § 303, 15 U. S. C. §3203, requires consideration of the last two standards — procedures for termination of service and the nonrecovery of advertising costs — for natural gas utilities. A decision as to the standards contained in §§113 and 303 was to have been made by November 1980, although, again, no penalty was provided by the statute for failure to meet the deadline.

Finally, § 114 of the Act, 16 U. S. C. §2624, directs each state authority and nonregulated utility to consider promulgation of “lifeline rates” — that is, lower rates for service that meets the essential needs of residential consumers — if such rates have not been adopted by November 1980.

Titles I and III also prescribe certain procedures to be followed by the state regulatory authority and the nonregulated utility when considering the proposed standards. Each standard is to be examined at a public hearing after notice, and a written statement of reasons must be made available to the public if the standards are not adopted. 16 U. S. C. §§ 2621(b) and (c)(2), and §§ 2623(a) and (c); 15 U. S. C. §§ 3203(a) and (c). “Any person” may bring an action in state court to enforce the obligation to hold a hearing and *749make determinations on the PURPA standards. 16 U. S. C. § 2633(c)(1); 15 U. S. C. § 3207(b)(1).

The Secretary of Energy, any affected utility, and any consumer served by an affected utility is given the right to intervene and participate in any rate-related proceeding considering the Title I standards. 16 U. S. C. § 2631(a). Under Title III, the Secretary alone has the right to intervene. 15 U. S. C. § 3205. Any person (including the Secretary) who intervenes or otherwise participates in the proceeding may obtain review in state court of any administrative determination concerning the Title I standards, 16 U. S. C. § 2633 (c)(1), and the Secretary has the right to participate as an amicus in any Title III judicial review proceeding initiated by another. 15 U. S. C. § 3207(b)(2). The right to intervene is enforceable against the state regulatory authority by an action in federal court. 16 U. S. C. § 2633(b); 15 U. S. C. § 3207(a)(2).

Titles I and III also set forth certain reporting requirements. Within one year of PURPA’s enactment, and annually thereafter for 10 years, each state regulatory authority and nonregulated utility is to report to the Secretary “respecting its consideration of the standards established.” 16 U. S. C. § 2626(a); 15 U. S. C. § 3209(a). The Secretary, in turn, is to submit a summary and analysis of these reports to Congress. 16 U. S. C. § 2626(b); 15 U. S. C. § 3209(b). Electricity utilities also are required to collect information concerning their service costs. 16 U. S. C. § 2643. This information is to be filed periodically with appellant Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and with appropriate state regulatory agencies, and is to be made available to the public. Title III requires the Secretary, in consultation with FERC, state regulatory authorities, gas utilities, and gas consumers, to submit a report to Congress on gas utility rate design. 15 U. S. C. § 3206.

Despite the extent and detail of the federal proposals, however, no state authority or nonregulated utility is required to *750adopt or implement the specified rate design or regulatory standards. Thus, 16 U. S. C. §§ 2621(a) and 2623(a) and 15 U. S. C. § 3203(a) all provide: “Nothing in this subsection prohibits any State regulatory authority or nonregulated . . . utility from making any determination that it is not appropriate to implement [or adopt] any such standard, pursuant to its authority under otherwise applicable State law.” Similarly, 16 U. S. C. § 2627(b) and 15 U. S. C. § 3208 make it clear that any state regulatory authority or nonregulated utility may adopt regulations or rates that are “different from any standard established by this [subchapter or] chapter.”

B

Section 210

Section 210 of PURPA’s Title II, 92 Stat. 3144, 16 U. S. C. § 824a-3, seeks to encourage the development of cogen-eration and small power production facilities.11 Congress believed that increased use of these sources of energy would reduce the demand for traditional fossil fuels. But it also felt that two problems impeded the development of nontraditional generating facilities: (1) traditional electricity utilities were reluctant to purchase power from, and to sell power to, the nohtraditional facilities,12 and (2) the regulation of these alternative energy sources by state and federal utility *751authorities imposed financial burdens upon the nontraditional facilities and thus discouraged their development.13

In order to overcome the first of these perceived problems, § 210(a) directs FERC, in consultation with state regulatory authorities, to promulgate “such rules as it determines necessary to encourage cogeneration and small power production,” including rules requiring utilities to offer to sell electricity to, and purchase electricity from, qualifying co-generation and small power production facilities. Section 210(f), 16 U. S. C. § 824a-3(f), requires each state regulatory authority and nonregulated utility to implement FERC’s rules. And § 210(h), 16 U. S. C. § 824a-3(h), authorizes FERC to enforce this requirement in federal court against any state authority or nonregulated utility; if FERC fails to act after request, any qualifying utility may bring suit.

To solve the second problem perceived by Congress, § 210(e), 16 U. S. C. § 824a-3(e), directs FERC to prescribe rules exempting the favored cogeneration and small power facilities from certain state and federal laws governing electricity utilities.

Pursuant to this statutory authorization, FERC has adopted regulations relating to purchases and sales of electricity to and from cogeneration and small power facilities. See 18 CFR pt. 292 (1980); 45 Fed. Reg. 12214-12237 (1980). These afford state regulatory authorities and nonregulated utilities latitude in determining the manner in which the regulations are to be implemented. Thus, a state commission may comply with the statutory requirements by issuing regulations, by resolving disputes on a case-by-case basis, or by taking any other action reasonably designed to give effect to FERC’s rules.14

*752HH HH

In April 1979, the State of Mississippi and the Mississippi Public Service Commission, appellees here, filed this action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi against FERC and the Secretary of Energy, seeking a declaratory judgment that PURPA’s Titles I and III and §210 are unconstitutional. App. 3.15 Appellees maintained that PURPA was beyond the scope of congressional power under the Commerce Clause and that it constituted an invasion of state sovereignty in violation of the Tenth Amendment.16

Following cross-motions for summary judgment, the District Court, in an unreported opinion, held that in enacting PURPA Congress had exceeded its powers under the Commerce Clause. App. to Juris. Statement la. The court observed that the Mississippi Public Service Commission by state statute possessed the “power and authority to regulate and control intrastate activities and policies of all utilities operating within the sovereign state of Mississippi.” Id., at 2a. Relying on Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U. S. 238 (1936), the court stated: “There is literally nothing in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution which authorizes or justifies the federal government in taking over the regulation and control of public utilities. These public utilities were ac*753tually unknown at the writing of the Constitution.” App. to Juris. Statement 4a. Indeed, in the court’s view, the legislation “does not even attempt to regulate commerce among the several states but it is a clear usurpation of power and authority which the United States simply does not have under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.” Id., at 7a.

Relying on National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976), the court also concluded that PURPA trenches on state sovereignty.17 It therefore pronounced the statutory provisions void because “they constitute a direct intrusion on integral and traditional functions of the State of Mississippi.” App. to Juris. Statement 8a-9a. For reasons it did not explain, the court also relied on the guarantee of a republican form of government, U. S. Const., Art. IV, § 4, and on the Supremacy Clause, Art. VI, cl. 2. App. to Juris. Statement 2a, n. 1, and 9a.

FERC and the Secretary of Energy appealed directly to this Court pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 1252. See Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264, 274, n. 15(1981). We noted probable jurisdiction. 452 U. S. 936 (1981).

Ill

The Commerce Clause

We readily conclude that the District Court’s analysis and the appellees’ arguments are without merit so far as they concern the Commerce Clause. To say that nothing in the Commerce Clause justifies federal regulation of even the intrastate operations of public utilities misapprehends the proper role of the courts in assessing the validity of federal legislation promulgated under one of Congress’ plenary powers. The applicable standard was reiterated just last Term in Hodel v. Indiana, 452 U. S. 314 (1981):

*754“It is established beyond peradventure that ‘legislative Acts adjusting the burdens and benefits of economic life come to the Court with a presumption of constitutionality . . . Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U. S. 1, 15 (1976). . . . A court may invalidate legislation enacted under the Commerce Clause only if it is clear that there is no rational basis for a congressional finding that the regulated activity affects interstate commerce, or that there is no reasonable connection between the regulatory means selected and the asserted ends.” Id., at 323-324.18

Despite these expansive observations by this Court, appel-lees assert that PURPA is facially unconstitutional because it does not regulate “commerce”; instead, it is said, the Act directs the nonconsenting State to regulate in accordance with federal procedures. This, appellees continue, is beyond Congress’ power: “In exercising the authority conferred by this clause of the Constitution, Congress is powerless to regulate anything which is not commerce, as it is powerless to do anything about commerce which is not regulation.” Carter *755v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U. S., at 297. The “governance of commerce” by the State is to be distinguished from commerce itself, for regulation of the former is said to be outside the plenary power of Congress.19

It is further argued that the proper test is not whether the regulated activity merely “affects” interstate commerce but, instead, whether it has “a substantial effect” on such commerce, citing Justice Rehnquist’s opinion concurring in the judgment in the Hodel cases, 452 U. S., at 311-312. PURPA, appellees maintain, does not meet this standard.

The difficulty with these arguments is that they disregard entirely the specific congressional finding, in § 2 of the Act, 16 U. S. C. § 2601, that the regulated activities have an immediate effect on interstate commerce. Congress there determined that “the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, the preservation of national security, and the proper exercise of congressional authority under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce require,” among other things, a program for increased conservation of electric energy, increased efficiency in the use of facilities and resources by electricity utilities, and equitable retail rates for electricity consumers, as well as a program to improve the wholesale distribution of electric energy, and a program for the conservation of natural gas while ensuring that rates to gas consumers are equitable. 16 U. S. C. § 2601. The findings, thus, are clear and specific.

The Court heretofore has indicated that federal regulation of intrastate power transmission may be proper because of the interstate nature of the generation and supply of electric power. FPC v. Florida Power & Light Co., 404 U. S. 453 (1972). Our inquiry, then, is whether the congressional find*756ings have a rational basis. Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S., at 277; Hodel v. Indiana, 452 U. S., at 323-324.

The legislative history provides a simple answer: there is ample support for Congress’ conclusions. The hearings were extensive. Committees in both Houses of Congress noted the magnitude of the Nation’s energy problems and the need to alleviate those problems by promoting energy conservation and more efficient use of energy resources. See S. Rep. No. 95-442, at 7-10; H. R. Rep. No. 95-543, vol. I, pp. 5-10 (1977); H. R. Rep. No. 95-496, pt. 4, pp. 3-7, 125-130 (1977).20 Congress was aware that domestic oil production had lagged behind demand and that the Nation had become increasingly dependent on foreign oil. Id., at 3. The House Committee observed: “Reliance upon imported oil to meet the bulk of U. S. oil demands could seriously jeopardize the stability of the Nation’s economy and could undermine the independence of the United States.” Ibid. See H. R. Rep. No. 95-543, vol. I, at 5-6. Indeed, the Nation had recently experienced severe shortages in its supplies of natural gas. Id., at 7. The House and Senate Committees both noted that the electricity industry consumed more than 25% of the total energy resources used in this country while supplying only 12% of the user demand for energy. S. Rep. No. 95-442, at 7-8; H. R. Rep. No. 95-496, pt. 4, at 125. In recent years, the electricity utility industry had been beset by numerous problems, id., at 129, which resulted in higher bills for the consuming public, a result exacerbated by the rate structures employed by most utilities. S. Rep. No. 95-442, at 26. Congress naturally concluded that the energy prob*757lem was nationwide in scope,21 and that these developments demonstrated the need to establish federal standards regarding retail sales of electricity, as well as federal attempts to encourage conservation and more efficient use of scarce energy resources. See id., at 24-32; H. R. Rep. No. 95-496, pt. 4, at 131-133, 136-138, 170-171.

Congress also determined that the development of co-generation and small power production facilities would conserve energy. The evidence before Congress showed the potential contribution of these sources of energy: it was estimated that if proper incentives were provided, industrial cogeneration alone could account for 7%-10% of the Nation’s electrical generating capacity by 1987. S. Rep. No. 95-442, at 21, 23.

We agree with appellants that it is difficult to conceive of a more basic element of interstate commerce than electric energy, a product used in virtually every home and every commercial or manufacturing facility. No State relies solely on its own resources in this respect. See FPC v. Florida Power & Light Co., supra. Indeed, the utilities involved in this very case, Mississippi Power & Light Company and Mississippi Power Company, sell their retail customers power that is generated in part beyond Mississippi’s borders, and offer reciprocal services to utilities in other States. App. 93-94. The intrastate activities of these utilities, although regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, bring them within the reach of Congress’ power over interstate commerce. See FPC v. Florida Power & Light Co., 404 U. S., at 458; New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, 455 U. S. 331 (1982).22

Even if appellees were correct in suggesting that PURPA *758will not significantly improve the Nation’s energy situation, the congressional findings compel the conclusion that “‘the means chosen by [Congress are] reasonably adapted to the end permitted by the Constitution.’” Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S., at 276, quoting Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U. S. 241, 262 (1964). It is not for us to say whether the means chosen by Congress represent the wisest choice. It is sufficient that Congress was not irrational in concluding that limited federal regulation of retail sales of electricity and natural gas, and of relationships between cogenerators and electric utilities, was essential to protect interstate commerce. That is enough to place the challenged portions of PURPA within Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause.23 Because PURPA’s provisions concern private nonregulated utilities as well as state commissions, the statute necessarily is valid at least insofar as it regulates private parties. See Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S., at 286.

<1

The Tenth Amendment

Unlike the Commerce Clause question, the Tenth Amendment issue presented here is somewhat novel. This case obviously is related to National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976), insofar as both concern principles of state sovereignty. But there is a significant difference as well. National League of Cities, like Fry v. United States, 421 U. S. 542 (1975), presented a problem the Court often con*759fronts: the extent to which state sovereignty shields the States from generally applicable federal regulations. In PURPA, in contrast, the Federal Government attempts to use state regulatory machinery to advance federal goals. To an extent, this presents an issue of first impression.

PURPA, for all its complexity, contains essentially three requirements: (1) § 210 has the States enforce standards promulgated by FERC; (2) Titles I and III direct the States to consider specified ratemaking standards; and (3) those Titles impose certain procedures on state commissions. We consider these three requirements in turn:

A. Section 210. On its face, this appears to be the most intrusive of PURPA’s provisions. The question of its constitutionality, however, is the easiest to resolve. Insofar as § 210 authorizes FERC to exempt qualified power facilities from “State laws and regulations,” it does nothing more than pre-empt conflicting state enactments in the traditional way. Clearly, Congress can pre-empt the States completely in the regulation of retail sales by electricity and gas utilities and in the regulation of transactions between such utilities and cogenerators. Cf. Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona, 325 U. S. 761, 769 (1945). The propriety of this type of regulation — so long as it is a valid exercise of the commerce power — was made clear in National League of Cities, and was reaffirmed in Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn.: the Federal Government may displace state regulation even though this serves to “curtail or prohibit the States’ prerogatives to make legislative choices respecting subjects the States may consider important.” 452 U. S., at 290.

Section 210’s requirement that “each State regulatory authority shall, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, implement such rule (or revised rule) for each electric utility for which it has ratemaking authority,” 16 U. S. C. § 824a-3(f)(1) (emphasis added), is more troublesome. The statute’s substantive provisions require electricity utilities to purchase electricity from, and to sell it to, qualifying co-*760generator and small power production facilities. § 824a-3(a). Yet FERC has declared that state commissions may implement this by, among other things, “an undertaking to resolve disputes between qualifying facilities and electric utilities arising under [PURPA].” 18 CFR § 292.401(a) (1980). In essence, then, the statute and the implementing regulations simply require the Mississippi authorities to adjudicate disputes arising under the statute. Dispute resolution of this kind is the very type of activity customarily engaged in by the Mississippi Public Service Commission. See, e. g., Miss. Code Ann. §§ 77-1-31, 77-3-5, 77-3-13(3), 77-3-21, 77-3-405 (1973).

Testa v. Katt, 330 U. S. 386 (1947), is instructive and controlling on this point. There, the Emergency Price Control Act, 56 Stat. 34, as amended, created a treble-damages remedy, and gave jurisdiction over claims under the Act to state as well as federal courts. The courts of Rhode Island refused to entertain such claims, although they heard analogous state causes of action. This Court upheld the federal program. It observed that state courts have a unique role in enforcing the body of federal law, and that the Rhode Island courts had “jurisdiction adequate and appropriate under established local law to adjudicate this action.” 330 U. S., at 394. Thus the state courts were directed to heed the constitutional command that “the policy of the federal Act is the prevailing policy in every state,” id., at 393, “‘and should be respected accordingly in the courts of the State.’” Id., at 392, quoting Mondou v. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co., 223 U. S. 1, 57 (1912).

So it is here. The Mississippi Commission has jurisdiction to entertain claims analogous to those granted by PURPA, and it can satisfy § 210’s requirements simply by opening its doors to claimants. That the Commission has administrative as well as judicial duties is of no significance.24 Any other *761conclusion would allow the States to disregard both the preeminent position held by federal law throughout the Nation, cf. Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304, 340-341 (1816), and the congressional determination that the federal rights granted by PURPA can appropriately be enforced through state adjudicatory machinery. Such an approach, Testa emphasized, “flies in the face of the fact that the States of the Union constitute a nation,” and “disregards the purpose and effect of Article VI of the Constitution.” 330 U. S., at 389.

B. Mandatory Consideration of Standards. We acknowledge that “the authority to make . . . fundamental. . . decisions” is perhaps the quintessential attribute of sovereignty. See National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S., at 851. Indeed, having the power to make decisions and to set policy is what gives the State its sovereign nature. See Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U. S. 350, 360 (1977) (State Supreme Court speaks as sovereign because it is the “ultimate body wielding the State’s power over the practice of law”). It would follow that the ability of a state legislative (or, as here, administrative) body — which makes decisions and sets policy for the State as a whole — to consider and promulgate regulations of its choosing must be central to a State’s role in the federal system. Indeed, the 19th-century view, expressed in a well-known slavery case, was that Congress “has no power to impose on a State officer, as such, any duty whatever, and compel him to perform it.” Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66, 107 (1861).

Recent cases, however, demonstrate that this rigid and isolated statement from Kentucky v. Dennison—which suggests that the States and the Federal Government in all circumstances must be viewed as coequal sovereigns — is not representative of the law today.25 While this Court never *762has sanctioned explicitly a federal command to the States to promulgate and enforce laws and regulations, cf. EPA v. Brown, 431 U. S. 99 (1977), there are instances where the Court has upheld federal statutory structures that in effect directed state decisionmakers to take or to refrain from taking certain actions. In Fry v. United States, 421 U. S. 542 (1975), for example, state executives were held restricted, with respect to state employees, to the wage and salary limitations established by the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970. Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn., 443 U. S. 658 (1979), acknowledged a federal court’s power to enforce a treaty by compelling a state agency to “prepare” certain rules “even if state law withholds from [it] the power to do so.” Id., at 695.26 And certainly Testa v. Katt, supra, by declaring that “the policy of the federal Act is the prevailing policy in every state,” 330 U. S., at 393, reveals that the Federal Government has some power to enlist a branch of state government — there the judiciary — to further federal ends.27 In doing so, Testa clearly *763cut back on both the quoted language and the analysis of the Dennison case of the preceding century.28

Whatever all this may forebode for the future, or for the scope of federal authority in the event of a crisis of national *764proportions, it plainly is not necessary for the Court in this case to make a definitive choice between competing views of federal power to compel state regulatory activity. Titles I and III of PURPA require only consideration of federal standards. And if a State has no utilities commission, or simply stops regulating in the field, it need not even entertain the federal proposals. As we have noted, the commerce power permits Congress to pre-empt the States entirely in the regulation of private utilities. In a sense, then, this case is only one step beyond Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., supra. There, the Federal Government could have pre-empted all surface mining regulations; instead, it allowed the States to enter the field if they promulgated regulations consistent with federal standards. In the Court’s view, this raised no Tenth Amendment problem: “We fail to see why the Surface Mining Act should become constitutionally suspect simply because Congress chose to allow the States a regulatory role.” 452 U. S., at 290. “[T]here can be no suggestion that the Act commandeers the legislative *765processes of the States by directly compelling them to enact and enforce a regulatory program.” Id., at 288.

Similarly here, Congress could have pre-empted the field, at least insofar as private rather than state activity is concerned; PURPA should not be invalid simply because, out of deference to state authority, Congress adopted a less intrusive scheme and allowed the States to continue regulating in the area on the condition that they consider the suggested federal standards.29 While the condition here is affirmative in nature — that is, it directs the States to entertain proposals — nothing in this Court’s cases suggests that the nature of the condition makes it a constitutionally improper one. There is nothing in PURPA “directly compelling” the States to enact a legislative program. In short, because the two challenged Titles simply condition continued state involvement in a pre-emptible area on the consideration of federal proposals, they do not threaten the States’ “separate and independent existence,” Lane County v. Oregon, 7 Wall. 71, 76 (1869); Coyle v. Oklahoma, 221 U. S. 559, 580 (1911), and do not impair the ability of the States “to function effectively *766in a federal system.” Fry v. United States, 421 U. S., at 547, n. 7; National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S., at 852. To the contrary, they offer the States a vehicle for remaining active in an area of overriding concern.

We recognize, of course, that the choice put to the States— that of either abandoning regulation of the field altogether or considering the federal standards — may be a difficult one. And that is particularly true when Congress, as is the case here, has failed to provide an alternative regulatory mechanism to police the area in the event of state default. Yet in other contexts the Court has recognized that valid federal enactments may have an effect on state policy — and may, indeed, be designed to induce state action in areas that otherwise would be beyond Congress’ regulatory authority. Thus in Oklahoma v. CSC, 330 U. S. 127 (1947), the Court upheld Congress’ power to attach conditions to grants-in-aid received by the States, although the condition under attack involved an activity that “the United States is not concerned with, and has no power to regulate.” Id., at 143. The Tenth Amendment, the Court declared, “has been consistently construed ‘as not depriving the national government of authority to resort to all means for the exercise of a granted power which are appropriate and plainly adapted to the permitted end,”’ ibid., quoting United States v. Darby, 312 U. S. 100, 124 (1941)—the end there being the disbursement of federal funds. Thus it cannot be constitutionally determinative that the federal regulation is likely to move the States to act in a given way, or even to “coerc[e] the States” into assuming a regulatory role by affecting their “freedom to make decisions in areas of ‘integral governmental functions.’” Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S., at 289.

Equally as important, it has always been the law that state legislative and judicial decisionmakers must give preclusive effect to federal enactments concerning nongovernmental activity, no matter what the strength of the competing local interests. See Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat., at 340-341. This requirement follows from the nature of gov-*767emmental regulation of private activity. “[Individual businesses necessarily [are] subject to the dual sovereignty of the government of the Nation and of the State in which they reside,” National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S., at 845; when regulations promulgated by the sovereigns conflict, federal law necessarily controls. This is true though Congress exercises its authority “in a manner that displaces the States’ exercise of their police powers,” Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., Inc., 452 U. S., at 291, or in such a way as to “curtail or prohibit the States’ prerogatives to make legislative choices respecting subjects the States may consider important,” id., at 290 — or, to put it still more plainly, in a manner that is “extraordinarily intrusive.” Id., at 305 (Powell, J., concurring). Thus it may be unlikely that the States will or easily can abandon regulation of public utilities to avoid PURPA’s requirements. But this does not change the constitutional analysis: as in Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn., “[t]he most that can be said is that the . . . Act establishes a program of cooperative federalism that allows the States, within limits established by federal minimum standards, to enact and administer their own regulatory programs, structured to meet their own particular needs.” Id., at 289.30

*768To be sure, PURPA gives virtually any affected person the right to compel consideration of the statutory standards through judicial action. We fail to see, however, that this places any particularly onerous burden on the State. Mississippi by statute already grants “[a]ny interested, person . . . the right to petition the [Public Service] [Commission for issuance, amendment or repeal of a rule or regulation,” Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-45 (1973) (emphasis added), and provides that “any party aggrieved by any final finding, order or judgment of the commission shall have the right, regardless of the amount involved, of appeal in chancery court.” Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-67(1) (Supp. 1981) (emphasis added). Indeed, “[a]ny person whose rights may be directly affected by said appeal may appear and become a party . . . .” Ibid. And *769“[ajppeals in accordance with law may be had to the supreme court of the State of Mississippi from any final judgment of the chancery court.” Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-71 (1973).

It is hardly clear on the statute’s face, then, that PURPA’s standing and appeal provisions grant any rights beyond those presently accorded by Mississippi law, and appellees point to no specific provision of the Act expanding on the State’s existing, liberal approach to public participation in ratemak-ing.31 In this light, we again find the principle of Testa v. Katt, supra, controlling: the State is asked only to make its administrative tribunals available for the vindication of federal as well as state-created rights. PURPA, of course, establishes as federal policy the requirement that state commissions consider various ratemaking standards, and it gives individuals a right to enforce that policy; once it is established that the requirement is constitutionally supportable, “the obligation of states to enforce these federal laws is not lessened by reason of the form in which they are cast or the remedy which they provide.” Testa v. Katt, 330 U. S., at 391. See Second Employers’ Liability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 57 (1912).

In short, Titles I and III do not involve the compelled exercise of Mississippi’s sovereign powers. And, equally important, they do not set a mandatory agenda to be considered in all events by state legislative or administrative decision-makers. As we read them, Titles I and III simply establish requirements for continued state activity in an otherwise pre-emptible field.32 Whatever the constitutional problems as*770sociated with more intrusive federal programs, the “mandatory consideration” provisions of Titles I and III must be validated under the principle of Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Recl. Assn.33

C. The Procedural Requirements. Titles I and III also require state commissions to follow certain notice and comment procedures when acting on the proposed federal standards. In a way, these appear more intrusive than the “consideration” provisions; while the latter are essentially hortatory, the procedural provisions obviously are prescriptive. Appellants and amici Maryland et al. argue that the procedural requirements simply establish minimum due process standards, something Mississippi appears already to provide,34 and therefore may be upheld as an exercise of Con*771gress’ Fourteenth Amendment powers. We need not go that far, however, for we uphold the procedural requirements under the same analysis employed above in connection with the “consideration” provisions. If Congress can require a state administrative body to consider proposed regulations as a condition to its continued involvement in a pre-emptible field — and we hold today that it can — there is nothing unconstitutional about Congress’ requiring certain procedural min-ima as that body goes about undertaking its tasks. The procedural requirements obviously do not compel the exercise of the State’s sovereign powers, and do not purport to set standards to be followed in all areas of the state commission’s endeavors.

The judgment of the District Court is reversed.

It is so ordered.

concurring in part and dissenting in part.

The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-617, 92 Stat. 3117 et seq. (PURPA), imposes unprecedented burdens on the States. As Justice O’Connor ably demonstrates, it intrusively requires them to make a place on their administrative agenda for consideration and potential adoption of federally proposed “standards.” The statute does not simply ask States to consider quasi-legislative matters that Congress believes they would do well to adopt. It also prescribes administrative and judicial procedures that States must follow in deciding whether to adopt the proposed standards. At least to this extent, I think the PURPA violates the Tenth Amendment.

*772I

Most, if not all, of the States have administrative bodies— usually commissions — that regulate electric and gas public utility companies. As these utilities normally are given monopoly jurisdiction, they are extensively regulated both substantively and procedurally by state law. Until now, with limited exceptions, the Federal Government has not attempted to pre-empt this important state function, and certainly has not undertaken to prescribe the procedures by which state regulatory bodies make their decisions. The PURPA, for the first time, breaks with this longstanding deference to principles of federalism.

Now, regardless of established procedures before state administrative regulatory agencies and of state law with respect to judicial review, the PURPA forces federal procedures on state regulatory institutions. The PURPA prescribes rules directing that “the Secretary [of Energy], any affected electric utility, or any electric consumer of an affected electric utility may intervene and participate as a matter of right” in regulatory proceedings required by the PURPA respecting electrical rates.1 It directs that “[a]ny person (including the Secretary) may bring an action to enforce” the obligations with respect to electrical rate consideration that the PURPA lays upon state regulatory commissions.2 The statute provides that “[a]ny person (including *773the Secretary) may obtain [judicial] review of any determination” made by a state regulatory commission regarding the PURPA’s electrical rate policies.3 The foregoing requirements by the PURPA intrude upon — in effect pre-empt— core areas of a State’s administrative and judicial procedure.

HH HH

In sustaining these provisions of the Act, the Court reasons that Congress can condition the utility regulatory activities of States on any terms it pleases since, under the Commerce Clause, Congress has the power to pre-empt completely all such activities. Ante, at 765-766. Under this “threat of pre-emption” reasoning, Congress — one supposes —could reduce the States to federal provinces. But as National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833, 841 (1976), stated, and indeed as the structure of the Court’s opinion today makes plain, ante, at 753 and 758, the Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment embody distinct limitations on federal power. That Congress has satisfied the one demonstrates nothing as to whether Congress has satisfied the other.4

*774“The general rule, bottomed deeply in belief in the importance of state control of state judicial procedure, is that federal law takes the state courts as it finds them.” Hart, The Relations Between State and Federal Law, 54 Colum. L. Rev. 489, 508 (1954). I believe the same principle must apply to other organs of state government. It may be true that the procedural provisions of the PURPA that prompt this dissent may not effect dramatic changes in the laws and procedures of some States. But I know of no other attempt by the Federal Government to supplant state-prescribed procedures that in part define the nature of their administrative agencies. If Congress may do this, presumably it has the power to pre-empt state-court rules of civil procedure and judicial review in classes of cases found to affect commerce. This would be the type of gradual encroachment hypothesized by Professor Tribe: “Of course, no one expects Congress to obliterate the states, at least in one fell swoop. If *775there is any danger, it lies in the tyranny of small decisions— in the prospect that Congress will nibble away at state sovereignty, bit by bit, until someday essentially nothing is left but a gutted shell.”5

I limit this dissent to the provisions of the PURPA identified above. Despite the appeal — and indeed wisdom — of Justice O’Connor’s evocation of the principles of federalism, I believe precedents of this Court support the constitutionality of the substantive provisions of this Act on this facial attack. See Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264 (1981); Testa v. Katt, 330 U. S. 386 (1947). Accordingly, to the extent the procedural provisions may be separable, I would affirm in part and reverse in part.

with whom The Chief Justice and Justice Rehnquist join, concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.

I agree with the Court that the Commerce Clause supported Congress’ enactment of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-617, 92 Stat. 3117 (PURPA). I disagree, however, with much of the Court’s Tenth Amendment analysis. Titles I and III of PURPA conscript state utility commissions into the national bureaucratic army. This result is contrary to the principles of National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976), antithetical to the values of federalism, and inconsistent with our constitutional history. Accordingly, I dissent from Parts IV-B and IV-C of the Court’s opinion.1

*776I

Titles I and III of PURPA require state regulatory agencies to decide whether to adopt a dozen federal standards governing gas and electric utilities.2 The statute describes, in some detail, the procedures state authorities must fol*777low when evaluating these standards,3 but does not compel the States to adopt the suggested federal standards. 15 U. S. C. § 3203(a) (1976 ed., Supp. IV); 16 U. S. C. §§ 2621 (a), 2623(a), 2627(b) (1976 ed., Supp. IV). The latter, deceptively generous feature of PURPA persuades the Court that the statute does not intrude impermissibly into state sovereign functions. The Court’s conclusion, however, rests upon a fundamental misunderstanding of the role that state governments play in our federalist system.

State legislative and administrative bodies are not field offices of the national bureaucracy. Nor are they think tanks to which Congress may assign problems for extended study. Instead, each State is sovereign within its own domain, governing its citizens and providing for their general welfare. While the Constitution and federal statutes define the boundaries of that domain, they do not harness state power for national purposes. The Constitution contemplates “an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States,” a system in which both the State and National Governments retain a “separate and independent existence.” Texas v. *778White, 7 Wall. 700, 725 (1869); Lane County v. Oregon, 7 Wall. 71, 76 (1869).

Adhering to these principles, the Court has recognized that the Tenth Amendment restrains congressional action that would impair “a state’s ability to function as a state.” Transportation Union v. Long Island R. Co., 455 U. S. 678, 686 (1982); National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S., at 842-852; Fry v. United States, 421 U. S. 542, 547, n. 7 (1975). See also Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light Co., 435 U. S. 389, 423-424 (1978) (Burger, C. J., concurring in judgment). For example, in National League of Cities v. Usery, supra, the Court held that Congress could not prescribe the minimum wages and maximum hours of state employees engaged in “traditional governmental functions,” id., at 852, because the power to set those wages and hours is an “attribute of state sovereignty” that is “ ‘essential to [a] separate and independent existence.’ ” Id., at 845 (quoting Lane County v. Oregon, supra, at 76).

Just last Term this Court identified three separate inquiries underlying the result in National League of Cities. A congressional enactment violates the Tenth Amendment, we observed, if it regulates the “‘States as States,”’ addresses “matters that are indisputably ‘attributed of state sovereignty,”’ and “directly impair[s] [the States’] ability to ‘structure integral operations in areas of traditional governmental functions.’ ” Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264, 287-288 (1981) (quoting National League of Cities, supra, at 854, 845, 852). See also Transportation Union, supra, at 684.4

Application of these principles to the present case reveals the Tenth Amendment defects in Titles I and III. Plainly *779those Titles regulate the “States as States.” While the statute’s ultimate aim may be the regulation of private utility companies, PURPA addresses its commands solely to the States. Instead of requesting private utility companies to adopt lifeline rates, declining block rates, or the other PURPA standards, Congress directed state agencies to .appraise the appropriateness of those standards. It is difficult to argue that a statute structuring the regulatory agenda of a state agency is not a regulation of the “State.”

I find it equally clear that Titles I and III address “attribute[s] of state sovereignty.” Even the Court recognizes that “the power to make decisions and to set policy is what gives the State its sovereign nature.” Ante, at 761. The power to make decisions and set policy, however, embraces more than the ultimate authority to enact laws; it also includes the power to decide which proposals are most worthy of consideration, the order in which they should be taken up, and the precise form in which they should be debated. PURPA intrudes upon all of these functions. It chooses 12 proposals, forcing their consideration even if the state agency deems other ideas more worthy of immediate attention. In addition, PURPA hinders the agency’s ability to schedule consideration of the federal standards.5 Finally, PURPA specifies, with exacting detail, the content of the standards that will absorb the agency’s time.6

*780If Congress routinely required the state legislatures to debate bills drafted by congressional committees, it could hardly be questioned that the practice would affect an attribute of state sovereignty. PURPA, which sets the *781agendas of agencies exercising delegated legislative power in a specific field, has a similarly intrusive effect.

Finally, PURPA directly impairs the States’ ability to “structure integral operations in areas of traditional governmental functions.” Utility regulation is a traditional function of state government,7 and the regulatory commission is the most integral part of that function. By taxing the limited resources of these commissions, and decreasing their ability to address local regulatory ills, PURPA directly impairs the power of state utility commissions to discharge their traditional functions efficiently and effectively.8

The Court sidesteps this analysis, suggesting that the States may escape PURPA simply by ceasing regulation of public utilities. Even the Court recognizes that this choice “may be a difficult one,” ante, at 766, and that “it may be unlikely that the States will or easily can abandon regulation of public utilities to avoid PURPA’s requirements.” Ante, at 767. In fact, the Court’s “choice” is an absurdity, for if its analysis is sound, the Constitution no longer limits federal regulation of state governments. Under the Court’s analysis, for example, National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 *782U. S. 833 (1976), would have been wrongly decided, because the States could have avoided the Fair Labor Standards Act by “choosing” to fire all employees subject to that Act and to close those branches of state government.9 Similarly, Congress could dictate the agendas and meeting places of state legislatures, because unwilling States would remain free to abolish their legislative bodies.10 I do not agree that this dismemberment of state government is the correct solution to a Tenth Amendment challenge.

The choice put to the States by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, 91 Stat. 447, 30 U. S. C. § 1201 et seq. (1976 ed., Supp. IV), the federal statute upheld in *783Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264 (1981), and discussed by the Court, ante, at 764-765, 768, n. 30, is quite different from the decision PURPA mandates. The Surface Mining Act invites the States to submit proposed surface mining regulations to the Secretary of the Interior. 30 U. S. C. § 1253 (1976 ed., Supp. IV). If the Secretary approves a state regulatory program, then the State enforces that program. If a State chooses not to submit a program, the Secretary develops and implements a program for that State. § 1254. Even States in the latter category, however, may supplement the Secretary’s program with consistent state laws.11 The Surface Mining Act does not force States to choose between performing tasks set by Congress and abandoning all mining or land use regulation. That statute is “a program of cooperative federalism,” Hodel, supra, at 289, because it allows the States to choose either to work with Congress in pursuit of federal surface mining goals or to devote their legislative resources to other mining and land use problems. By contrast, there is nothing “cooperative” about a federal program that compels state agencies either to function as bureaucratic puppets of the Federal Government or to abandon regulation of an entire field traditionally reserved to state authority.12 *784Yet this is the “choice” the Court today forces upon the States.

The Court defends its novel decision to permit federal conscription of state legislative power by citing three cases upholding statutes that “in effect directed state decisionmakers to take or to refrain from taking certain actions.” Ante, at 762. Testa v. Katt, 330 U. S. 386 (1947), is the most suggestive of these decisions.13 In Testa, the Court held that state trial courts may not refuse to hear a federal claim if “th[e] same type of claim arising under [state] law would be enforced by that State’s courts.” Id., at 394. A facile reading of Testa might suggest that state legislatures must also entertain congressionally sponsored business, as long as the federal duties are similar to existing state obligations. Application of Testa to legislative power, however, vastly expands the scope of that decision. Because trial courts of general jurisdiction do not choose the cases that they hear, the *785requirement that they evenhandedly adjudicate state and federal claims falling within their jurisdiction does not infringe any sovereign authority to set an agenda.14 As explained above, however, the power to choose subjects for legislation is a fundamental attribute of legislative power, and interference with this power unavoidably undermines state sovereignty. Accordingly, the existence of a congressional authority to “enlist . . . the [state] judiciary ... to further federal ends,” ante, at 762, does not imply an equivalent power to impress state legislative bodies into federal serviced The Court, finally, reasons that because Congress could have pre-empted the entire field of intrastate utility regulation, the Constitution should not forbid PURPA’s “less intrusive scheme.” Ante, at 765, and n. 29.15 The Court’s eval*786uation of intrusiveness, however, is simply irrelevant to the constitutional inquiry. The Constitution permits Congress to govern only through certain channels. If the Tenth Amendment principles articulated in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976), and Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264 (1981), foreclose PURPA’s approach, it is no answer to argue that Congress could have reached the same destination by a different route. This Court’s task is to enforce constitutional limits on congressional power, not to decide whether alternative courses would better serve state and federal interests.16

I do not believe, moreover, that Titles I and III of PURPA are less intrusive than pre-emption.17 When Congress pre*787empts a field, it precludes only state legislation that conflicts with the national approach. The States usually retain the power to complement congressional legislation, either by regulating details unsupervised by Congress or by imposing requirements that go beyond the national threshold.18 Most importantly, after Congress pre-empts a field, the States may simply devote their resources elsewhere. This country does not lack for problems demanding legislative attention. PURPA, however, drains the inventive energy of state governmental bodies by requiring them to weigh its detailed standards, enter written findings, and defend their determinations in state court. While engaged in these congres-sionally mandated tasks, state utility commissions are less able to pursue local proposals for conserving gas and electric power. The States might well prefer that Congress simply impose the standards described in PURPA; this, at least, would leave them free to exercise their power in other areas.

Federal pre-emption is less intrusive than PURPA’s approach for a second reason. Local citizens hold their utility commissions accountable for the choices they make. Citizens, moreover, understand that legislative authority usually includes the power to decide which ideas to debate, as well as which policies to adopt. Congressional compulsion of state agencies, unlike pre-emption, blurs the lines of political accountability and leaves citizens feeling that their representatives are no longer responsive to local needs.19

The foregoing remarks suggest that, far from approving a minimally intrusive form of federal regulation, the Court’s *788decision undermines the most valuable aspects of our federalism. Courts and commentators frequently have recognized that the 50 States serve as laboratories for the development of new social, economic, and political ideas.20 This state innovation is no judicial myth. When Wyoming became a State in 1890, it was the only State permitting women to vote.21 That novel idea did not bear national fruit for another 30 years.22 Wisconsin pioneered unemployment insurance,23 *789while Massachusetts initiated minimum wage laws for women and minors.24 After decades of academic debate, state experimentation finally provided an opportunity to observe no-fault automobile insurance in operation.25 Even in the field of environmental protection, an area subject to heavy federal regulation, the States have supplemented national standards with innovative and far-reaching statutes.26 Utility regulation itself is a field marked by valuable state invention.27 PURPA, which commands state agencies to spend their time evaluating federally proposed standards and defending their decisions to adopt or reject those standards, will retard this creative experimentation.

In addition to promoting experimentation, federalism enhances the opportunity of all citizens to participate in representative government. Alexis de Tocqueville understood well that participation in local government is a cornerstone of American democracy:

“It is incontestably true that the love and the habits of republican government in the United States were engendered in the townships and in the provincial assemblies. [I]t is this same republican spirit, it is these manners and customs of a free people, which are engendered and nurtured in the different States, to be afterwards applied to *790the country at large.” 1 A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 181 (H. Reeve trans. 1961).28

Citizens, however, cannot learn the lessons of self-government if their local efforts are devoted to reviewing proposals formulated by a faraway national legislature. If we want to preserve the ability of citizens to learn democratic processes through participation in local government, citizens must retain the power to govern, not merely administer, their local problems.

Finally, our federal system provides a salutary check on governmental power. As Justice Harlan once explained, our ancestors “were suspicious of every form of all-powerful central authority.” Harlan, supra n. 16, at 944. To curb this evil, they both allocated governmental power between state and national authorities, and divided the national power among three branches of government. Unless we zealously protect these distinctions, we risk upsetting the balance of power that buttresses our basic liberties. In analyzing this brake on governmental power, Justice Harlan noted that “[t]he diffusion of power between federal and state authority . . . takes on added significance as the size of the federal bureaucracy continues to grow.” Ibid,.29 Today, the Court disregards this warning and permits Congress to kidnap state utility commissions into the national regulatory family. Whatever the merits of our national energy legislation, I am *791not ready to surrender this state legislative power to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

HH

As explained above, the Court’s decision to uphold Titles I and III violates the principles of National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976), and threatens the values promoted by our federal system. The Court’s result, moreover, is at odds with our constitutional history, which demonstrates that the Framers consciously rejected a system in which the National Legislature would employ state legislative power to achieve national ends.

The principal defect of the Articles of Confederation, 18th-century writers agreed, was that the new National Government lacked the power to compel individual action. Instead, the central government had to rely upon the cooperation of state legislatures to achieve national goals. Thus, Alexander Hamilton explained that “[t]he great and radical vice in the construction of the existing Confederation is in the principle of legislation for states or governments, in their corporate or collective capacities and as contradistinguished from the individuals of whom they consist.” The Federalist No. 15, p. 93 (J. Cooke ed. 1961) (emphasis omitted). He pointed out, for example, that the National Government had “an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money,” but “no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.” Ibid.

The Constitution cured this defect by permitting direct contact between the National Government and the individual citizen, a change repeatedly acknowledged by the delegates assembled in Philadelphia. George Mason, for example, declared:

“Under the existing Confederacy, Congress represents] the States not the people of the States: their acts operate on the States not on the individuals. The case will be *792changed in the new plan of Government.” 1 The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, p. 133 (M. Farrand ed. 1911) (hereinafter Farrand) (abbreviations expanded in this and subsequent quotations).

Hamilton subsequently explained to the people of New York that the Constitution marked the “difference between a league and a government,” because it “extend[ed] the authority of the union to the persons of the citizens, — the only proper objects of government.” The Federalist No. 15, supra, at 95. Similarly, Charles Pinckney told the South Carolina House of Representatives that “the necessity of having a government which should at once operate upon the people, and not upon the states, was conceived to be indispensable by every delegation present;. . . however they may have differed with respect to the quantum of power, no objection was made to the system itself.” 4 Elliot’s Debates on the Federal Convention 256 (2d ed. 1863).

The speeches and writings of the Framers suggest why they adopted this means of strengthening the National Government. Mason, for example, told the Convention that because “punishment could not [in the nature of things be executed on] the States collectively,” he advocated a National Government that would “directly operate on individuals.” 1 Farrand 34. Hamilton predicted that a National Government forced to work through the States would “degenerate into a military despotism” because it would have to maintain a “large army, continually on foot” to enforce its will against the States. The Federalist No. 16, p. 101 (J. Cooke ed. 1961). See also id., at 102; The Federalist No. 15, supra, at 95-96.

Thus, the Framers concluded that government by one sovereign through the agency of a second cannot be satisfactory. At one extreme, as under the Articles of Confederation, such a system is simply ineffective. At the other, it requires a degree of military force incompatible with stable government *793and civil liberty.30 For this reason, the Framers concluded that “the execution of the laws of the national government . . . should not require the intervention of the State Legislatures,” The Federalist No. 16, supra, at 103, and abandoned the Articles of Confederation in favor of direct national legislation.

At the same time that the members of the Constitutional Convention fashioned this principle, they rejected two proposals that would have given the National Legislature power to supervise directly state governments. The first proposal would have authorized Congress “to call forth the force of the Union against any member of the Union failing to fulfill its duty under the articles thereof.” 1 Farrand 21. The delegates never even voted on this suggestion. James Madison moved to postpone it, stating that “the more he reflected on the use of force, the more he doubted the practicability, the justice and the efficacy of it when applied to people collectively and not individually.” Id., at 54. Several other delegates echoed his concerns,31 and Madison ultimately reported that “[t]he practicability of making laws, with coercive sanc*794tions, for the States as political bodies [has] been exploded on all hands.” 2 id., at 9.

The second proposal received more favorable consideration. Virginia’s Governor Randolph suggested that Congress should have the power “to negative all laws passed by the several States, contravening in the opinion of the National Legislature the articles of Union.” 1 id., at 21. On May 31, 1787, the Committee of the Whole approved this proposal without debate. Id., at 61. A week later, Pinckney moved to extend the congressional negative to all state laws “which [Congress] should judge to be improper.” Id., at 164. Numerous delegates criticized this attempt to give Congress unbounded control over state lawmaking. Hugh Williamson, for example, thought “the State Legislatures ought to possess independent powers in cases purely local,” id., at 171, while Elbridge Gerry thought Pinckney’s idea might “enslave the States.” Id., at 165. After much debate, the Convention rejected Pinckney’s suggestion.

Late in July, the delegates reversed their approval of even Randolph’s more moderate congressional veto. Several delegates now concluded that the negative would be “terrible to the States,” “unnecessary,” and “improper.” 2 id., at 27.32 Omission of the negative, however, left the new system without an effective means of adjusting conflicting state and national laws. To remedy this defect, the delegates adopted the Supremacy Clause, providing that the Federal Constitution, laws, and treaties are “the supreme Law of the Land” and that “the Judges in every State shall be bound *795thereby.” Art. VI, cl. 2. Thus, the Framers substituted judicial review of state laws for congressional control of state legislatures.

While this history demonstrates the Framers’ commitment to a strong central government, the means that they adopted to achieve that end are as instructive as the end itself.33 Under the Articles of Confederation, the National Legislature operated through the States. The Framers could have fortified the central government, while still maintaining the same system, if they had increased Congress’ power to demand obedience from state legislatures. In time, this scheme might have relegated the States to mere departments of the National Government, a status the Court appears to endorse today. The Framers, however, eschewed this course, choosing instead to allow Congress to pass laws directly affecting individuals, and rejecting proposals that would have given Congress military or legislative power over state governments. In this way, the Framers established independent state and national sovereigns. The National Government received the power to enact its own laws and to enforce those laws over conflicting state legislation. The States retained the power to govern as sovereigns in fields that Congress cannot or will not pre-empt.34 This product of *796the Constitutional Convention, I believe, is fundamentally inconsistent with a system in which either Congress or a state legislature harnesses the legislative powers of the other sovereign.35

Ill

During his last Term of service on this Court, Justice Black eloquently explained that our notions of federalism subordinate neither national nor state interests:

“The concept does not mean blind deference to ‘States’ Rights’ any more than it means centralization of control over every important issue in our National Government and its courts. The Framers rejected both these courses. What the concept does represent is a system in which there is sensitivity to the legitimate interests of *797both State and National Governments, and in which the National Government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.” Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 44 (1971).

In this case, I firmly believe that a proper “sensitivity to the legitimate interests of both State and National Governments” requires invalidation of Titles I and III of PURPA insofar as they apply to state regulatory authorities. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the Court’s decision to uphold those portions of the statute.