Enclave Law

In the department of “things I did not know before,” I learned about the “federal enclave” doctring from Vinales v. AETC II Privatized Housing, LLC. This “enclave” arose when Texas ceded land to the federal governement for an air base, which had these consequences:

Generally, when an area in a State becomes a federal enclave, ‘only the [state] law in effect at the time of the transfer of jurisdiction continues in force’ as surrogate federal law.” “Existing state law typically does not continue in force, however, to the extent it conflicts with ‘federal policy.’” “And going forward, state law presumptively does not apply to the enclave.”

No. 24-50113 (June 27, 2025) (citations omitted).