Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/13pdf/12-158_6579.pdf
Page Number: 24.0

Cite as:  572 U. S. ____ (2014) 

21 

Opinion of the Court 

cal  irritant  as  the  deployment  of  a  chemical  weapon.
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Congress—in  imple-
menting  the  Convention  on  Chemical  Weapons—thought 
otherwise. 

* 

* 

* 

The  Convention  provides  for  implementation  by  each 
ratifying  nation  “in  accordance  with  its  constitutional 
processes.”  Art. VII(1),  1974  U.  N.  T.  S.  331.   As  James 
Madison  explained,  the  constitutional  process  in  our
“compound  republic”  keeps  power  “divided  between  two 
distinct  governments.”  The  Federalist  No.  51,  p.  323  (C.
Rossiter ed. 1961).  If section 229 reached Bond’s conduct, 
it  would  mark  a  dramatic  departure  from  that  constitu-
tional structure and a serious reallocation of criminal law 
enforcement  authority  between  the  Federal  Government
and the States.  Absent a clear statement of that purpose,
we  will  not  presume  Congress  to  have  authorized  such  a 
stark intrusion into traditional state authority.

The  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  is  reversed,  and
the  case  is  remanded  for  further  proceedings  consistent
with this opinion. 

It is so ordered.