Definition of: State rights

1. The rights and powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States: reserved by the Constitution to the respective States, or to the people of the States, under the Tenth Amendment.
2. That construction of the Constitution which makes these rights and powers as large as possible.
3. The doctrine that the States, being sovereign, have the right to judge and nullify an act of the Federal government. See NULLIFICATION. Also States' rights.