Con Law Flashcards
Standing Reqs
(i) **injury in fact; ** = a concrete and particularized injury, even in the context of a statutory violation. The injury need not be physical or economic.
(ii) the injury was fairly traceable to the challenged action (causation); and
(iii) the relief requested must prevent or redress the injury.
Dormant Commerce Clause
The Dormant Commerce Clause is a doctrine that limits the power of states to legislate in ways that impact interstate commerce.
If Congress has not enacted legislation in a particular area of interstate commerce, then the** states are free **to regulate, so long as the state or local action does not:
(i) **discriminate **against out-of-state commerce,
==> discrim = if it protects local economic interests at the expense of out-of-state competitors. Disprop shouldering of burden/ mere fact that the entire burden of a state’s regulation falls on an out-of-state business (i.e. unequal effect) ==> insufficient.
(ii) unduly burden interstate commerce, or
==> weigh benefit v burden
(iii) purposefully regulate extraterritorial (wholly out-of-state) activity.
Dormant Clause Discrimination EXCEPTIONS
Necessary to an important state interest
If a state or local regulation, on its face or in practice, is discriminatory, then the regulation may be upheld if the state or local government can establish that:
(i) an important local interest is being served and
(ii) no other nondiscriminatory means are available to achieve that purpose [no nondiscrim alts].
Market-participant exception
A state can favor local commerce or discriminate against nonresident commerce like a private business, if the state is acting as a buyer or seller (i.e., not as a market
regulator)
==> This exception does not apply to challenges pursuant to the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV
Traditional government function
state and local regulations can favor state and local government entities (but not private entities) if the entities are performing a traditional government function (e.g., waste disposal)
Congressionally permitted discrimination
must be unmistakably clear that
Congress intended to permit the otherwise impermissible state regulation
PDP
Procedural due process is assessed by weighing three factors:
(1) the private interest affected,
(2) the risk of erroneous deprivation of that interest and probable value of other procedural safeguards, and
(3) the government’s interest, including the fiscal and administrative burdens that other safeguards would entail.
Due process protections historically extended to rights—not privileges. But this distinction has been abandoned, and such protections extend to any legitimate life, liberty, or property interest.
Right to Publish
The First Amendment—applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment—protects the right to publish** lawfully obtained **and **truthful ** information about matters of public significance (ie, newsworthy events).
But this right is not unlimited and must be balanced against the right to publicity—ie, the right to control or commercially benefit from one’s own name, likeness, or other intimately associated qualities.
Double Jeopardy
The Fifth Amendment double jeopardy clause protects criminal defendants from undue government harassment by prohibiting (1) multiple punishments for the same offense and (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after a conviction or acquittal.
Two crimes constitute the same offense when:
both crimes have identical elements or
every element of one crime is also an element of the other crime
Exceptions to fed govt taxation exemption [Supremacy Cl of Art IV]
The federal government’s affiliates are subject to state and municipal taxation
unless
(1) Congress grants them immunity, (2) the tax is discriminatory, or
(3) the tax substantially interferes with their federal purpose or duties.
Appointments Clause
The appointments clause grants the President the power to appoint ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and other principal federal officers with the Senate’s advice and consent.
This clause gives the President plenary (ie, exclusive) nomination power that cannot be limited by Congress.
Therefore, the statute unconstitutionally infringes upon that power by limiting the President’s ability to select ambassadorial nominees to a list compiled by a Senate committee.
11A
A **jurisdictional bar that prohibits the citizens of one state from suing another state in federal court. **
It **immunizes states—but not local governments **(e.g., counties, cities)—from suits in federal court for money damages or equitable relief when the **state is a defendant **in an action brought **by a citizen of another state or a foreign country. **
The Supreme Court has determined that the Eleventh Amendment also reflects the principles of sovereign immunity, barring citizens from suing their own state in federal court without the state’s consent.
EXCEPTIONS
1. Consent
- Injunctive relief = When a state official, rather than the state itself, is named as the defendant in an action brought in federal court, the state official may be enjoined from enforcing a state law that violates federal law or may be compelled to act in accord with federal law despite state law to the contrary. (not inclu judges & clerks) ==> EpY
- An action for damages against a state officer is not prohibited, as long as the officer himself (rather than the state treasury) will have to pay.
- Prospective damages
- Congressional authorization
- Structural waivers (other state govts, bankrupcy)
Dormant Commerce Clause
The Supreme Court of the United States has long held that the Constitution’s grant to Congress of the power to regulate interstate commerce also** limits, by implication, the right of state or local governments to adopt laws that regulate interstate commerce. **
A state law that discriminates against interstate commerce is subject to strict review and is virtually per se unconstitutional.
A nondiscriminatory state law that imposes a burden on interstate commerce will nonetheless be unconstitutional if the benefits of the state law are grossly outweighed by the burdens on interstate commerce (i.e., places an undue burden on interstate commerce).
