Explain why U. S Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis once called states "laboratories of democracy."

Question

what did he mean by Laboratories of democracy

Answer 1

Because each state is allowed to enact laws within it that deal only with that state. Thus, they are able to try out things on the local scale to see if they work, before attempting to implement those programs or policies on a national scale.

Hence, the concept of a controlled experiment and the lab analogy.

Answer 2

I'm not positive, but I HOPE that he meant that under the U.S. Constitution, states generally have much more latitude than the federal government to enact laws.

And I believe the way he put it was this: "... a single, solitary state may, if it wishes, serve as a laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments."