143. When called into the actual service of the United States, the State militia are under the control of the President,—a limitation of the power of the State executives.[388] The Supreme Court of the United States has original jurisdiction in all cases in which a State is a party,[389] except in cases commenced or prosecuted against a State by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State, in which cases the judicial power of the United States has no jurisdiction whatever.[390] Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist in a State.[391] No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; or deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.[392] Denial of the right to vote by a State to electors qualified as electors by the Constitution of the United States shall work a proportional loss in the basis of representation in Congress from that State. No State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave.[393] A little reflection will lead one to the conclusion that these limitations on the States, provided in the Constitution of the United States, are essential to the existence of the Union.
144. On the other hand, the States are recognized as checks and balances, as limitations on the United States, by the Constitution:
(1) Representatives are apportioned among the several States, but each State shall have at least one Representative,[394] and no State can be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate without its own consent.[395]
(2) The State executive alone has authority to issue writs of election to fill vacancies in the representation of a State.[396]
(3) Each State appoints presidential electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which it is entitled in Congress.[397]
(4) In case of a disputed election of President or Vice-President, the Vice-President is chosen by the Senate,—the President, by the House of Representatives, the vote in the House being by States, each State having one vote, a quorum for this purpose consisting of a member or members, from two thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States being necessary to a choice.[398]
(5) The States, as represented in the Senate, have power to confirm or to reject (two thirds of the senators present concurring) treaties and nominations to office submitted to it by the President.[399]
(6) No State can be divided, nor can a new State be erected within a State without its own consent.[400]
(7) Each State is guaranteed a republican form of government by the United States, and protection against invasion, and (on application of its Legislature, or of its Executive) against domestic violence.[401]
(8) The Legislatures of two thirds of the States may call a convention for amending the Constitution; but no amendment becomes part of the Constitution until ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the States, or by Conventions in three fourths of them, as the one or the other mode may be proposed by Congress.[402] In this procedure of amending the Constitution, the several States are equal. A proposed amendment may be ratified and become part of the Constitution by the approval of three fourths of the States irrespective of their respective area, population, wealth, or any other mark or quality.[403] Finally, both as conferring benefits, and as prescribing the fundamental limitations on the States and on the United States, the Constitution and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof comprise “the supreme law of the land,” and all officials “both of the United States and of the several States shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support it, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”[404]