8
Sherwood Auburn does not address the constitutionality of its preferred interpretation of
the notice provision, which would have Congress imposing limitations on the authority of state
courts. See U.S. CONST. amend. X (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the
people.”). We are nevertheless mindful of our duty “to construe a statute so as to uphold its
constitutionality.” Associated Gen. Contractors of Wash. v. State, ___ Wn.2d ___, 518 P.3d 639,
643 (2022).
11
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No. 84119-0-I/12
precludes imposition of a 30-day notice requirement. However, the Supremacy
Clause of our federal constitution 9 “creates a rule of decision: Courts ‘shall’
regard the ‘Constitution,’ and all laws ‘made in Pursuance thereof,’ as ‘the
supreme Law of the Land.’” Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Ctr., Inc., 575 U.S.
320, 324, 135 S. Ct. 1378, 191 L. Ed. 2d 471 (2015) (quoting U.S. CONST. art. VI,
cl. 2). Thus, courts “must not give effect to state laws that conflict with federal
laws.” Armstrong, 575 U.S. at 324. Indeed, state courts are charged with a
“coordinate responsibility” to enforce federal law, as “the Constitution and laws
passed pursuant to it are as much laws in the States as laws passed by the state
legislature.” Howlett By & Through Howlett v. Rose, 496 U.S. 356, 367, 110 S.
Ct. 2430, 110 L. Ed. 2d 332 (1990). Accordingly, pursuant to the Supremacy
Clause, state law is preempted by federal law “‘if the state law conflicts with
federal law due to impossibility of compliance with state and federal law or when