Perhaps I am mistaken but I was taught in my civics class that the United States Constitution was the supreme law of this nation.
Other members of this forum seem to think the Constitution is not the law, but just a set of guidelines and rights we all have as American citizens.
What do you think?
In the manner in which you are attempting to imply you mean with regards to "supreme law of the land", no. Colloquially its referred to as the "supreme law of the land". It's called such because, as the foundation of our governmental structure, all our legal system is built upon it. Laws that are not built upon that foundation are subject to collapse, as they lack the necessary structure to remain standing. In a sense you could state its the "laws" of the law, but doing so would be rather abstract and very much akin to saying guidelines.
However, the constitution itself doesn't really represent "law". Note we state when someone violates the Constitution they are acting "unconstitutionally" not "illegally". It is not illegal for the government to violate an individuals free speech; it is unconstitutional to do so. The "laws" are things passed by congress and signed by the President. Those laws can be judged based on their "Constitutionality" when it comes to the Constitution
You said "the law" not "a law". At best, the Constitution is "laws" in the generic sense...IE a set of principles or rules with authority under the state with regards to how people (in this case specifically the government) act. However, it wouldn't be "the law" in the sense of breaking "the law" or violating "the law" in a societal or individual sense. The law, in its common use, are the LAWS actually passed by government and enforced by their agents. Said law may be UNCONSTITUTIONAL, but they remain the "Law" until such time that said law is deemed unconstitutional by an appropriate source (and some jackass on the street or interacting with a cop or posting on a message board or writing a newspaper column is not that source).
So at best in a generic sense its a "law", but its not "the law", and its probably more accurate to describe it as a set of rights of individuals and guidelines/rules for the government.
If you want to get very "technical" and go on semantics though...
It is the Supreme Law of the land, but it would be incorrect to say that "The law is the constitution of the united states, not whatever a police offer says." BOTH of those statements is incorrect. The law is FAR more than what the US constitution states, and it is also not just whatever a police officer states. Additionally, on any given action, the Police Officers interpretation of the law is more valid than most given individuals. If a Police Officer says you violated the law with regards to something regarding speech, you can make the ARGUMENT all you want that the law he states is not the law because the Constitution says otherwise. HIS stance
IS the law, yours is just an argument up until such point that you have Judge deem it as a valid argument as they...not any random individual...have the power to determine the constitutionality of a law in an official capacity.