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A sovereign state is a state that has the supreme sovereignty or ultimate authority over a territory. [1] It is commonly understood that a sovereign state is independent . [ 2 ] When referring to a specific polity , the term " country " may also refer to a constituent country, or a dependent territory .
With "sovereignty" meaning holding supreme, independent authority over a region or state, "internal sovereignty" refers to the internal affairs of the state and the location of supreme power within it. [47] A state that has internal sovereignty is one with a government that has been elected by the people and has the popular legitimacy.
This form of limited sovereignty (commonly called "dual sovereignty" or "separate sovereigns" in the language of constitutional law) is derived from the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States ...
In 2009–2010 thirty-eight states introduced resolutions to reaffirm the principles of sovereignty under the Constitution and the 10th Amendment; 14 states have passed the resolutions. These non-binding resolutions, often called "state sovereignty resolutions" do not carry the force of law. Instead, they are intended to be a statement to ...
Today, the modern nation state is the predominant form of state to which people are subject. [5] Sovereign states have sovereignty; any ingroup's claim to have a state faces some practical limits via the degree to which other states recognize them as such.
The Guarantee Clause of Article 4 of the Constitution states that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government." These two provisions indicate states did not surrender their wide latitude to adopt a constitution, the fundamental documents of state law , when the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
The Supreme Court holds discretionary jurisdiction, meaning that it does not have to hear every case that is brought to it. [123] To enforce judicial decisions, the Constitution grants federal courts both criminal contempt and civil contempt powers. Other implied powers include injunctive relief and the habeas corpus remedy.
Sometimes, the Supreme Court has even analogized the States to being foreign countries to each other to explain the American system of State sovereignty. [41] However, each state's sovereignty is limited by the U.S. Constitution, which is the supreme law of both the United States as a nation and each state; [42] in the event of a conflict, a ...