Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf
Page Number: 49

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

5 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

time.  The Amendment has been explicitly invoked on only
two occasions, each time for a period of about two hours.3 
This  mechanism  reflects  an  appreciation  that  the  Nation 
cannot  be  safely  left  without  a  functioning  President  for 
even a brief time. 

B 
The second structural feature is the relationship between
the Federal Government and the States.  Just as our Con-
stitution  balances  power  against  power  among  the 
branches of the Federal Government, it also divides power 
between the Federal Government and the States.  The Con-
stitution permitted the States to retain many of the sover-
eign powers that they previously possessed, see, e.g., Mur-
phy  v.  National  Collegiate  Athletic  Assn.,  584  U. S.  ___ 
(2018),  but  it  gave  the  Federal  Government  powers  that 
were deemed essential for the Nation’s well-being and, in-
deed, its survival.  And it provided for the Federal Govern-
ment to be independent of and, within its allotted sphere,
supreme over the States.  Art. VI, cl. 2.  Accordingly, a State 
may not block or interfere with the lawful work of the Na-
tional Government. 

This was an enduring lesson of Chief Justice Marshall’s 
landmark opinion for the Court in McCulloch v. Maryland, 
4 Wheat. 316 (1819).  As is well known, the case concerned 
the attempt by the State of Maryland to regulate and tax
the federally chartered Second Bank of the United States. 
After holding that Congress had the authority to establish
the bank, id., at 425, Marshall’s opinion went on to conclude 
—————— 

3 See  Letter  from  G.  Bush  to  Congressional  Leaders  on  Temporary 
Transfer  of  the  Powers  and  Duties  of  President  of  the  United  States 
(June 29, 2002), www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/213575; Letter from G. 
Bush to Congressional Leaders on the Temporary Transfer of the Powers 
and  Duties  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  (July  21,  2007), 
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/276172;  see  also  Stolberg,  For  a  Short
While Today, It Will Be President Cheney, N. Y. Times, July 21, 2007, p.
A11, col. 1.