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8  CAMERON v. EMW WOMEN’S SURGICAL CENTER, P. S. C. 

Opinion of the Court 

not  abolish  the  sovereign  powers  of  the  States,  which  re-
tained ‘a residuary and inviolable sovereignty.’ ”  Murphy v. 
National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 584 U. S. ___, ___ (2018) 
(slip op., at 14) (quoting The Federalist No. 39, p. 245 (C. 
Rossiter ed. 1961)).  Paramount among the States’ retained 
sovereign powers is the power to enact and enforce any laws 
that do not conflict with federal law.  See U. S. Const., Art. 
VI, §2.  Therefore, a State “clearly has a legitimate interest 
in the continued enforceability of its own statutes,” Maine 
v.  Taylor,  477  U. S.  131,  137  (1986),  and  a  federal  court 
must “respect . . . the place of the States in our federal sys-
tem,”  Arizonans  for  Official  English  v.  Arizona,  520  U. S. 
43, 75 (1997).  This means that a State’s opportunity to de-
fend its laws in federal court should not be lightly cut off. 
  Respect for state sovereignty must also take into account 
the authority of a State to structure its executive branch in 
a way that empowers multiple officials to defend its sover-
eign interests in federal court.  See Virginia House of Dele-
gates v. Bethune-Hill, 587 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 
5).  In this case, although the secretary for Health and Fam-
ily  Services  apparently  enjoyed  the  authority  under  state 
law to defend the constitutionality of HB 454, the secretary 
shared that authority with the attorney general.  See Ky. 
Rev.  Stat.  Ann.  §15.020;  see  also  Commonwealth  ex  rel. 
Hancock v. Paxton, 516 S. W. 2d 865, 868 (Ky. 1974) (“There 
is no question as to the right of the Attorney General to ap-
pear  and  be  heard  in  a  suit  brought  by  someone  else  in 
which  the  constitutionality  of  a  statute  is  involved”).    In-
deed, it is the attorney general who is deemed Kentucky’s 
“chief law officer” with the authority to represent the Com-
monwealth “in all cases.”  Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§15.020(1), 
(3). 
  The importance of ensuring that States have a fair oppor-
tunity to defend their laws in federal court has been recog-
nized  by  Congress.    Under  28  U. S. C.  §2403(b),  when  a 
state law “affecting the public interest is drawn in question”