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In the USA, could a clause (article, proposition) of a State Constitution be held unconstitutional, with respect to the USA Constitution, by the Supreme Court? If it could, has it ever happened?

Also, could a decision by a State Supreme Court be reversed by the USA Supreme Court?

mario
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1 Answers1

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In the USA, could a clause (article, proposition) of a State Constitution be held unconstitutional, with respect to the USA Constitution, by the Supreme Court?

Yes. The supremacy clause in the US Constitution means that State law is supervened by Federal law. This includes State constitutions.

If it could, has it ever happened?

Yes. Here is a list of all SCOTUS cases that have overturned state law. For state constitutional provisions see nos 37, 49, 50, 51, 54, 74, 75, 139, 140, 151, 182, 188, 202, 207, 224, etc. (there’s nearly 1,000 in the list, you can go through them yourself).

Also, could a decision by a State Supreme Court be reversed by the USA Supreme Court?

Most of those cases will have gone through the State Supreme Court first. Except where SCOTUS has original jurisdiction (those involving disputes between the states or disputes arising among ambassadors and other high-ranking ministers) the state courts must have ruled to enliven its appellate jurisdiction.

Psychonaut
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Dale M
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    One nuance. The U.S. Supreme Court can only reverse a ruling of a state supreme court on grounds of federal law. If a state supreme court makes a ruling of state law that is not contrary to federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court may not reverse it on that ground. For example, a state supreme court could decide that a state constitution is more protective of an individual right than a similarly worded federal constitutional protection, and the U.S. Supreme Court could not override that ruling. – ohwilleke Sep 20 '22 at 23:00
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    "this includes state constitutions": explicitly so, since the clause ends with"any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." – phoog Sep 22 '22 at 12:54