Bauhaus USA, Inc. v. Copeland

Federal preemption is the keystone that gives ERISA’s arch the ability to span the nation with a single, uniform, pension and welfare-benefit law. When Congress manifested its intent to create such an exclusive federal presence in that field of law, it expressly decreed perhaps the most comprehensive and pervasive preemption of the present era. In the absence of federal jurisdiction, however, federal statutory preemption fails. Therefore, unless the federal courts cautiously, deliberately, and charily examine every asserted challenge to, or claim of limitation on, subject-matter jurisdiction…