Hencely v. Fluor Corp. · ¶60

McCulloch and Osborn were early cases identifying fields that are “exclusively federal, because made so by constitutional or valid congressional command,” or because they “so vitally affec[t] interests, powers and relations of the Federal Government as to require uniform national disposition.” United States v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 332 U. S. 301, 307 (1947). In such areas, this Court does not apply a presumption against preemption. That presumption is grounded in respect for state sovereignty, so it applies to fields the “ `States have traditionally occupied.' ” Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U. S. 555, 565 (2009) (quoting Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U. S. 470, 485 (1996)). But when state law intrudes in an exclusively federal domain, the rationale for the presumption does not apply. In those fields, the “confict with federal policy need not be as sharp as that which must exist for ordinary…

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