Opinion ID: 71530
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: an overview of preemption doctrine

Text: 25 Any state law that conflicts with federal law is preempted by the federal law and is without effect under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 516, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 2617, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992). State regulation established under the historic police powers of the states is not superseded by federal law unless preemption is the clear and manifest purpose of Congress. Id. Accordingly, the intent of Congress is the touchstone of preemption analysis. See id. 26 Congressional intent to preempt state law may be revealed in several ways: (1) express preemption, in which Congress defines explicitly the extent to which its enactments preempt state law; (2) field preemption, in which state law is preempted because Congress has regulated a field so pervasively, or federal law touches on a field implicating such a dominant federal interest, that an intent for federal law to occupy the field exclusively may be inferred; and (3) conflict preemption, in which state law is preempted by implication because state and federal law actually conflict, so that it is impossible to comply with both, or state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress. Teper v. Miller, 82 F.3d 989, 993 (11th Cir.1996) (citations omitted). 27 By including an express preemption clause in the FBSA, Congress has demonstrated its intent that the Act preempt at least some state law. See 46 U.S.C. § 4306. Therefore, the issue in this case is not whether Congress intended for the FBSA to have any preemptive effect, but the intended scope of preemption--the extent to which the FBSA preempts state law. See Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 2250, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996). In areas traditionally regulated by the states through their police powers, we apply a presumption in favor of a narrow interpretation of an express preemption clause. Id. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 2250.