The Trump administration has tried repeatedly to turn executive policy positions into courtroom preemption arguments, seeking to invalidate state and local laws or regulations. But courts have largely rejected DOJ preemption claims based on executive order-driven interpretations of federal statutes too far removed from the statutory text.
Preemption Basics
Article VI, Section 2 of the US Constitution states that federal law shall be the “supreme law of the land.” Thus, a federal law can preempt, or displace, a state law. The Tenth Amendment, sitting as a counterweight to the Supremacy Clause, reserves powers to the states that are not ...