Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun states'_rights

2 senses of states' rights

Sense 1
states' rights -- (a doctrine that federal powers should be curtailed and returned to the individual states)
       => doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism -- (a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school)

Sense 2
states' rights -- (the rights conceded to the states by the United States constitution)
       => right -- (an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature; "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"; "Certain rights can never be granted to the government but must be kept in the hands of the people"- Eleanor Roosevelt; "a right is not something that somebody gives you; it is something that nobody can take away")