Twelve state legislatures are considering, or have passed, bills to express support of horse slaughter and/or to encourage operation of horse processing plants within their boundaries. But in Washington, D.C., the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is considering HR 503, a measure that would ban horse slaughter everywhere in the United States by preventing the transport or export of horses for human consumption.
If states decide to permit slaughter, but Congress decides to outlaw it, which laws prevail?
The answer is straight out of a grade-school civics lesson. Article Six of the U.S. Constitution says laws and treaties made in accordance with the Constitution are the "supreme law of the land." It also provides that state courts are bound by that "supreme law"; in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be upheld. Even state constitutions are subordinate to federal law.
"If they [U.S. Congress] pass a law, it will trump all state laws. It doesn't matter what we do at the state level," said Wyoming Representative Sue Wallis, a Republican state legislator. Wallis is one of the chief authors of the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) Horse Industry Policy, passed unanimously by the NCSL in December 2008. The NCSL is a bipartisan group that lobbies for states' interests before Congress and federal agencies. The Horse Industry Policy urges Congress to take a hands-off position
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