Also known as: preempt · preempts · preempted · preempting · pre-emption · federal preemption
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The constitutional principle grounded in the Supremacy Clause by which valid federal law supersedes conflicting state law or regulation. Federal statutes may also displace specific provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code governing security interests when the federal requirements control priority over lien creditors.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Parker Phillips granted a security interest in specialized manufacturing equipment to Peak Performance Finance. A federal statute governing that equipment required a different method to obtain priority over lien creditors. Peak Performance complied with the federal method. When a judgment creditor later asserted a lien, the federal requirements controlled and Peak Performance prevailed without filing a financing statement under Article 9.
State A enacted a statute authorizing licensed sports betting operators to accept wagers from residents. The federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act prohibited states from authorizing such schemes. Operators challenged the state law. The Supreme Court held that the federal statute improperly targeted state legislative action rather than private conduct and therefore could not stand under the anti-commandeering doctrine.
After David Egelhoff's divorce, his employer-sponsored life insurance policy still listed his former spouse as beneficiary under the plan documents. Washington state law automatically revoked the designation upon divorce. The former spouse claimed the proceeds. The Supreme Court held that ERISA preempted the state revocation statute because it impermissibly altered the plan's distribution scheme.
Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates sued Allstate in federal court seeking statutory damages for delayed insurance payments. New York law barred class actions seeking those damages. Allstate argued the state limitation applied. The Supreme Court held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 governed the availability of class actions in federal court and preempted the conflicting state rule.
Jones set fire to his own single-family home that he occupied. The government prosecuted him under the federal arson statute covering property used in interstate commerce. Jones moved to dismiss. The Supreme Court held that the statute did not reach owner-occupied dwellings and therefore did not preempt state arson law in that setting.
AT&T Mobility included an arbitration clause with a class-action waiver in its consumer contracts. California courts refused to enforce the waiver under a state unconscionability doctrine. The Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act preempted the state rule because it stood as an obstacle to the federal policy favoring enforcement of arbitration agreements.
Express preemption occurs when a federal statute contains explicit language displacing state law. Implied preemption arises when federal law occupies a field or when state law conflicts with federal objectives even without explicit statutory language.
The anti-commandeering doctrine prevents Congress from issuing direct orders to state legislatures or executive officers. A federal statute that targets state authorization of private conduct rather than regulating private parties directly is invalid commandeering rather than valid preemption.
…see, e. g. , Murdock v. Memphis , 20 Wall. 590 (1875); Michigan v. Long , 463 U. S. 1032 (1983), the whole jurisprudence of pre-emption, see, e. g. , Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. , 331 U. S. 218 (1947); Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. , 505 U. S. 504 (1992), and many of the rules governing our habeas jurisprudence,…
…535 U. S. 391, 411 (2002) (O’Connor, J., concurring). Therefore, although I adhere to my views on purposes-and-objectives pre-emption, see Wyeth v. Levine , 555 U. S. 555, (2009) (opinion concurring in judgment), I reluctantly join the Court’s opinion. I The FAA generally requires courts to enforce arbitration…
…reading. It also seems appropriate, however, to emphasize the kinship between our well-established presumption against federal pre-emption
…the Washington statute governs family property law — a “fiel[d] of traditional state regulation,” where courts will not find federal preemption unless such was the “‘clear and manifest purpose of Congress,’ ” Travelers , 514 U. S., at 655 (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. , 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947)), or the state statute…
…supreme court’s pronouncement of the law’s purpose would settle the issue, since existence of the factual predicate for avoiding federal preemption
ERISA preempts state laws that relate to employee benefit plans by altering plan terms or distribution rules. State statutes that automatically change beneficiary designations upon divorce are preempted because they interfere with the plan documents.
Compliance with FDA labeling rules does not automatically preempt state tort claims. A product may satisfy federal labeling standards yet still be found defective under state law for inadequate warnings unless Congress clearly intended preemption.
The FAA preempts state rules that disproportionately invalidate arbitration agreements. A state doctrine treating class-action waivers in arbitration clauses as unconscionable conflicts with the federal policy favoring enforcement of arbitration agreements.