- Jul 27, 2002
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SCOTUS just announced -> http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-182b5e1.pdf
Held:
1. The Federal Governments broad, undoubted power over immigration and alien status rests, in part, on its constitutional power toestablish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, Art. I, §8, cl. 4, and on its inherent sovereign power to control and conduct foreign relations.
2.The Supremacy Clause gives Congress the power to preempt state law. A statute may contain an express preemption provision, but state law must also give way to federal law in at least two other circumstances.
First, States are precluded from regulating conduct in a field that Congress has determinedmust be regulated by its exclusive governance.
Second, state laws are preempted when they conflict with federal law, including when theystand as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.