366
Opinion of the Court
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.
The issue is whether the Burma law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, restricting the authority of its agencies to purchase goods or services from companies doing business with Burma,1 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the National Constitution owing to its threat of frustrating federal statutory objectives. We hold that it is.
I
In June 1996, Massachusetts adopted "An Act Regulating State Contracts with Companies Doing Business with or in
Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, John Cornyn of Texas, Jan Graham of Utah, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, and Christine O. Gregoire of Washington; for the Council of State Governments et al. by Richard Ruda and James I. Crowley; for Senator Barbara Boxer et al. by John Echeverria, Robert Stumberg, and Matthew C. Porterfield; for the New York City Comptroller et al. by Sara C. Kay and Jane R. Levine; and for Alliance for Democracy et al. by Deborah Anker.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for Representative Douglas Bereuter et al. by John Vanderstar, Charles Clark, Eric D. Brown, and W. Thomas McCraney III; for Associated Industries of Massachusetts et al. by Michael F. Malamut; for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States et al. by Daniel M. Price, Robin S. Conrad, Jan Amundson, and Quentin Riegel; for the European Communities et al. by Richard L. A. Weiner and David G. Leitch; for the Industry Coalition on Technology Transfer by Eric L. Hirschhorn and Terence Murphy; for the Washington Legal Foundation by Daniel J. Popeo and R. Shawn Gunnar-son; and for Gerald R. Ford et al. by Andrew N. Vollmer, Carol J. Banta, Martin S. Kaufman, and Edwin L. Lewis III.
Kenneth B. Clark filed a brief for the Coalition for Local Sovereignty as amicus curiae.
1 The Court of Appeals noted that the ruling military government of "Burma changed [the country's] name to Myanmar in 1989," but the court then said it would use the name Burma since both parties and amici curiae, the state law, and the federal law all do so. National Foreign Trade Council v. Natsios, 181 F. 3d 38, 45, n. 1 (CA1 1999). We follow suit, noting that our use of this term, like the First Circuit's, is not intended to express any political view. See ibid.
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