Con, Civ Pro, Evid Flashcards
AIS
The Supreme Court can review a state court judgment only if it turned on federal grounds. The court has no jurisdiction if the judgment below rested on adequate and independent state grounds.
“Third-party standing”
A person cannot generally raise the rights of someone else.
Exception: Parties to an exchange or transaction can raise the rights of other parties to that exchange or transaction.
Examples of Non-Justiciable Political Questions
- Guarantee Clause (protecting the republican form of government)
- Foreign Affairs
- Impeachment Procedures
- Political gerrymandering
Commerce Clause
Congress can regulate:
- The channels of interstate commerce
- The instrumentalities of interstate commerce
- Intrastate and interstate activity (economic or commercial) that has a substantial effect on interstate commerce
Taxing Power
Must be rationally related to raising revenue
Congress and the Thirteenth
Congress has broad power to legislate against racial discrimination, whether public or private
- includes purely private racial discrimination
Congress and the Fourteenth
Power to remedy violations of individual rights by the government, but only as those rights have been defined by the courts
- legislation must have “congruence” and “proportionality.” That is, there must be a reasonable fit between the remedial law enacted by Congress and the constitutional right as declared by the Supreme Court
Congress and the Fifteenth
Power to ensure no racial discrimination in voting
Presidential Veto Power
10 days to veto
any reason or no reason
Overriding a veto requires a 2/3 majority of each house
Treaties
Negotiated by President
Require approval by 2/3 of the Senate. Once ratified, same authority as statute.
Delegation of Powers
Congress can delegate its power to administrative agencies, so long as there are intelligible standards governing the exercise of that delegated power.
Comity Clause
Privileges and Immunities of State Citizenship under Article IV
There can be no requirement of residency for private employment.
Dormant Commerce Clause
In the absence of federal regulation, state regulation of commerce is valid so long as:
1) No discrimination against out-of-state interests;
2) Regulation does not unduly burden interstate commerce; and
3) Regulation does not apply to wholly extraterritorial activity
Exceptions to No Discrimination Against Out-of-State Interests
- State as Market Participant
- Subsidies
- Federal Approval
State Taxation of Interstate Commerce
Discriminatory: Struck down unless Congress consents
Non-Discriminatory: Upheld unless unduly burdensome
1) Substantial nexus between the taxing state and the property or activity to be taxed
2) Fair apportionment of tax liability among the states
Interstate Compacts
Agreements among states
States can make interstate compacts, but if the compact affects federal rights, Congress must approve
Full Faith and Credit Clause
States don’t have to follow other states’ laws, but they do have to give full faith and credit to judgments rendered by other states’ courts, so long as the rendering court had jurisdiction to render a final judgment on the merits
PDP: State Action
Government action.
Cannot:
- Facilitate private discrimination
- Profit from private discrimination
- Enforce a private agreement to discriminate
Not required to prevent private discrimination
PDP: Deciding what kind of process is due
Balance:
1) Individual interest at stake (life, liberty, or property);
2) The value of the procedure in protecting that interest; and
3) The government interest in efficiency and cost.
Federal Alienange
- Congress has plenary power over citizenship and naturalization
- Federal classifications based on US citizenship do not require strict scrutiny
Federal classification valid unless ARBITRARY and UNREASONABLE
State and Local Alienage
States and localities cannot require US citizenship for access to private employment or for government benefits
- can bar non-US citizens from jobs that have a particular relevance to the role of government
- can require US citizenship for participation in government functions (voting, serving on jury, working in any kind of government)
Vote Dilution
Racial gerrymandering
Unconstitutional if done with a discriminatory purpose
Bill of Attainder
Legislative punishment imposed without judicial trial
Unconstitutional
Ex Post Facto
Unconstitutional to expand criminal liability retroactively, either by creating a new crime that applies retroactively or by increasing the penalty for past conduct