Child Labor Amendment
If ever ratified by the required number of U.S. state legislatures, the Child Labor Amendment would give the Congress of the United States jurisdiction concurrent with that of the states to legislate on the subject of child labor. In this case, child labor laws would no longer only fall under the jurisdiction of the states under the 10th Amendment. The states would have to yield to federal law where the two conflict—which is normal procedure anyway. After several state legislatures initially objected to the proposal during the 1920s, a number of them re-examined their position during the 1930s and decided to ratify. Those delayed actions resulted in much controversy. They also resulted in the 1939 decision of the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case of Coleman v. Miller. In this case it was determined that the Child Labor Amendment remains pending business before the state legislatures because the 68th Congress did not specify a deadline within which the state legislatures must act upon the Child Labor Amendment. The Coleman v. Miller ruling formed the basis of the unusual and belated ratification of the 27th Amendment which was proposed by Congress in 1789 and ratified more than two centuries later in 1992 by the legislatures of at least three-fourths of the 50 states.