In 1787 representatives of the people of the United States drafted and ratified a Constitution. Article 6 of the United States Constitution states this principle: “The Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof … shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” All laws, passed either by Congress or by state legislatures, must conform to the supreme law—the Constitution. As Alexander Hamilton explained in the Federalist Papers No. 78: “No legislative act contrary to the Constitution, therefore, can be valid.” Actually, a legislative or executive action that violates the Constitution can be declared unconstitutional, or unlawful, by the Supreme Court.