Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council

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Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363 (2000)^[1], was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States used the preemption doctrine to strike down a Massachusetts law that effectively prohibited Massachusetts' governmental agencies from buying goods and services from companies conducting business with Myanmar (Burma) -- essentially, a secondary boycott. The Massachusetts Burma Law was modelled after similar legislation that had targeted the apartheid regime of South Africa.

The Court reasoned that the U.S. Congress had passed a law imposing sanctions on Myanmar, and that the Massachusetts law "undermine[d] the intended purpose and 'natural effect' of at least three provisions of the federal Act, that is, its delegation of effective discretion to the President to control economic sanctions against Burma, its limitation of sanctions solely to United States persons and new investment, and its directive to the President to proceed diplomatically in developing a comprehensive, multilateral strategy towards Burma."