On Feb. 19, 1985, the United States Supreme Court ruled that federal minimum wage laws apply to employees of state and local governments. The case, Garcia vs. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, was one in a long series of controversies over the issue of states' rights. The Constitution, in Article 6, states: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof . . . shall be the supreme Law of the Land." The Tenth …showed first 75 words of 952 total…

…showed last 75 words of 952 total…interstate commerce, has effectively nullified assertions of states' rights on many issues. The government's subsidy program extended its influence into public housing, road construction, school systems, airport construction, vocational education, fish and game conservation, use of public lands, the criminal justice system, and other areas that were traditionally considered the prerogative of the states. Canada and Australia had similar experiences, with their central governments moving into fields of provincial or state action through subsidy programs.