[Repeal The 17th]

A serious question for you.
I don't understand what this phrase means:
"...any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding..."
Can you paraphrase that into today's english for me?

[Political Junkie Too]

I think that "...any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding..." simply means that a state cannot pass a law declaring that the Constitution doesn't apply in some situations. Similarly, one cannot amend the constitution to remove the supremacy of the Constitution. You can amend the rights that the Constitution lays out, but you cannot remove the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

-PJ

[El Gato]

"...any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding..."

It means that No state can pass a law, or have a State Constitutional provision, which conflicts with the Federal Constitution. If they have such "laws", the are null and void, just like any Federal law which violates the Constitution or a State law that violates a provision of that state's constitution.

[dcwusmc]

"...any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding..."

Simply put, no law of any state or any provision of a State Constitution can override the Constitution for the United States in its limitations on governmental authority and power. (No foreign treaty can, either, though our political masters don't want us to realize THAT inconvenient truth.) The Constitution for the United States is the SUPREME law of the land, period.