My understanding is this: Liberals can do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and break whatever laws they want, with total impunity.
A conservative can do or say only what is in the confines of a politically correct straightjacket the liberals have set up for them. Violation of PC rules means your own personal destruction, regardless of how senseless it is.
That’s what I thought, that the liberal view of an issue determines the criteria for judging how it works.
So with marijuana, we will say that states are allowed to set their own laws, in spite of federal laws being contradictory to that.
On abortion, we say that federal courts and federal jurisdiction override any state laws on the subject.
On the subject of homosexual marriage, we say that federal courts are allowed to override all state laws on the subject of marriage.
So as to where federal laws or policies are paramount, and where states are allowed to make their own laws, you really have to know what the liberal view of the issue is, to determine whether federal jurisdiction or state jurisdiction is where the laws in that area will be made.