Question of Preemption

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Obama appears to have made a surprising move to the benefit of Federalism. The question I have is "why?"

Does Obama have a healthy respect for state sovereignty? Or as the law blog suggests, is Obama simply bending to the will of trial attorneys? I'm not one to route for trial attorneys and their agenda, but I must also respect the fact that Obama has put some power back into the hands of the states, where a lot of it belongs.