A LAW, by the very meaning of the term, includes
supremacy. It is a rule which those to whom it is prescribed are bound
to observe. This results from every political association. If
individuals enter into a state of society, the laws of that society must
be the supreme regulator of their conduct. If a number of political
societies enter into a larger political society, the laws which the
latter may enact, pursuant to the powers intrusted to it by its
constitution, must necessarily be supreme over those societies, and the
individuals of whom they are composed. It would otherwise be a mere
treaty, dependent on the good faith of the parties, and not a goverment,
which is only another word for POLITICAL POWER AND SUPREMACY. But it
will not follow from this doctrine that acts of the large society which
are NOT PURSUANT to its constitutional powers, but which are invasions
of the residuary authorities of the smaller societies, will become the
supreme law of the land. These will be merely acts of usurpation, and
will deserve to be treated as such. Hence we perceive that the clause
which declares the supremacy of the laws of the Union, like the one we
have just before considered, only declares a truth, which flows
immediately and necessarily from the institution of a federal
government.
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