Assume that there is a provision in the Colorado state consitution that is in conflict with a statute that was passed by the U.S Congress and enacted into law. Which will be true?
a) Colorado consistutional provision wil control; the federal statute is invalid.
b) Federal statute will control and make the state consistutional provision invalid.
c) In Colorado, Colorado constitutional provision will control over the statute passed by Congress, but the federal statute will apply in the other 49 states.
d) Within Colorado, whichever was passed earlier will control over the other.
e) Within Colorado, whichever was passed later will control over the other.
It is clear, b).
To determine the correct answer, we need to consider the hierarchy of laws in the United States.
The Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the federal Constitution, laws made pursuant to it, and treaties are the supreme law of the land. This means that if a federal law directly conflicts with a state constitutional provision, the federal law will prevail.
In this scenario, since the conflict arises between a provision in the Colorado state constitution and a statute passed by the U.S. Congress, the federal statute will control and make the state constitutional provision invalid. Therefore, the correct answer is b).