The FACTS about the federal supremacy clause – the FACTS matter, opinions don't.


This is the operative section of the Constitution pertaining to the supremacy clause – Article VI Section II

"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; [1] and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, [2] shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, [3] anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. [4]"

(Explanation of critical text in order)

[1] The U.S. Constitution is indeed the supreme law of this land. Laws of the United States also enjoy supremacy over state and local statutes, so long as they are made under the specific authority of the powers granted the United States via Constitutional text. Laws created outside of the enumerated powers of the United States are by definition "unconstitutional" and therefore, bear no weight or authority whatsoever.

[2] This means ONLY laws passed by congress, the branch given law-making authority in the Constitution, not laws created by the Judicial or Executive branch; and laws passed by legitimate legislative processes, within the confines of congressional Constitutional authority - have supremacy. Unconstitutional laws carry no weight or power at all.

[3] Judges are not granted the authority to enforce "social justice" or invent laws via broad interpretations of unwritten text. They are obligated to enforce existing laws as they are written and passed by congress and signed into law by a legitimate chief executive. Judges are obligated to administer equal justice to all, without regard to race, creed or color. Equal justice requires equal application of the same standard, the same laws, as written, not as imagined one case to the next, by one judge to the next. As stated in this section, judges in every state are bound by this duty, and are in violation of their oath if they fail to adhere to this obligation.

[4] It is on this strict basis that federal constitutional laws have supremacy. If a federal law does not meet all of these requirements, it does not enjoy supremacy. The states agree to this via the compact (or contract) known as the U.S. Constitution.

Remember that the state constitutions existed first, and that the U.S. Constitution was drafted to limit federal authority to that which did not violate any of the state’s rights under the state constitutions. In this way, the states have supremacy, with the limited exception of specific enumerated powers granted the federal government by the many states.

The IX Amendment

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

The rights of a free people are endless. The rights of their government are therefore limited and specifically enumerated by compact. The people have supremacy over their government, with the exception of specific powers the people have granted to their government.

The X Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Simply stated, the federal government has no authority in affairs of each state, beyond the powers specifically granted it by the states and enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. If the federal power does not appear in the constitutional text, it does not exist and each state has the right under the Tenth Amendment to reject any federal mandate which the government lacks the authority to issue. Further, every judge is bound by this truth.