Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York

Supreme Court decisions are controlling across the nation and typically address laws which also have nationwide effect. State laws which which violate SCOTUS decisions are invalid; however, that applies when the laws are addressing the exact same set of facts. If the state law is supposed to apply to circumstances which are not identical to what the Supreme Court has found, those same state laws may not actually be in conflict. That's why these arguments happen: it's not always so clear when the state law covers different facts. Hope that helps.

Good luck.