Constitutional Law Flashcards
Master constitutional law for the California Bar
Case and controversies requirement
Core of Art III is no advisory opinions! Standing Ripeness Mootness (Political question doctrine)
Case and controversies requirement - standing
Injury
- Personal; no generalized grievances
- For injunction, likelihood of future harm
Causation
- D caused injury
Redressability
- Favorable court decision likely to remedy injury
Case and controversies requirement - standing - Congress’ power to create
Congress cannot grant standing to someone w/o injury, but statute can create new interests, violation of which may be injury. P must be in “zone of interests.”
Case and controversies requirement - standing - third-party
P cannot assert claims of others to gain standing, but if P meets standing requirements, can also assert rights of others if:
- Close relationship between P injured 3P; OR
- Injured 3P unlikely to be able to assert own rights
Case and controversies requirement - standing - organizational
Organization may sue for its members, if:
- Members would have standing to sue;
- Interests are germane to organization’s purpose;
- Neither claim nor relief requires participation of individual members
Case and controversies requirement - standing - taxpayer
No citizenship standing. But taxpayers have standing to challenge under Establishment Clause government expenditures pursuant to federal statutes
- Standing only exists for expenditures pursuant to a federal statute (or state/local statute)
- No standing for distributions of property, spending from general executive funds, or tax credits.
Case and controversies requirement - ripeness
Generally, no pre-enforcement review of a statute or regulation unless threat of immediate harm.
Two-part inquiry:
- Hardship that will be suffered without pre-enforcement review
- Fitness of issues and record for judicial review
Case and controversies requirement - mootness and exceptions
If events after the filing of a lawsuit end the plaintiff’s injury, the case must be dismissed as moot.
Exceptions:
- Wrong capable of repetition yet evading review
- Voluntary cessation by D
- Class action suits in which rep’s claim is moot but class members’ claims are not
Case and controversies requirement - political question doctrine
Federal courts will not adjudicate:
- The “republican form of government” clause
- Challenges to President’s conduct of foreign policy
- Challenges to impeachment and removal process
- Challenges to partisan gerrymandering.
Supreme Court - original jurisdiction
Cases affecting ambassadors, public ministers, consuls, those in which state is party.
Congress has given concurrent jurisdiction to all except those btwn states.
Supreme Court - appellate and certiorari jurisdiction
Appellate: decisions by three-judge panels that grant/deny injunctive relief
Cert: all other cases; need four votes to grant
Supreme Court - certiorari jurisdiction - adequate and independent grounds
If a state court decision rests on two grounds, one state law and one federal law, and if the Supreme Court’s reversal of the federal law ground will not change the result in the case, Court cannot hear it.
Limits on suits against states - Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity
Eleventh Amendment bars suits against states in federal court
Sovereign immunity bars suits against states in state courts or federal agencies
Limits on suits against states - Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity - exceptions
- Waiver/consent
- Pursuant to federal law adopted under Sec. 5 of 14th Amend, as long as intent to remove immunity clear
- Federal government and states may sue state governments
- Bankruptcy proceedings
Limits on suits against states - Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity - suits against state officials
State officers may be sued:
- For injunctive relief;
- For money damages to be paid out of their own pockets (suit not allowed if state treasury will be paying retroactive damages)
Abstention
Federal court will abstain from hearing:
- Case involving unsettled question of state law
- Case challenging pending state court proceedings
Congressional power - police power
No general, federal police power. Federal government has police power only concerning: military bases, Indian reservations, federal lands and territories, and D.C. (MILD).
Congressional power - Necessary and Proper Clause
Necessary and Proper Clause alone does not support action, but Congress may act to support any power granted to any branch of federal government.
Congressional power - Taxing and Spending Clauses
Congress may create any tax to raise revenue and any spending program to expend it that Congress believes will serve general welfare.
Neither Congress nor states may tax foreign exports.
Congressional power - Commerce Clause
Congress may regulate:
- Channels of interstate commerce
- Highways, waterways, Internet, etc. - Instrumentalities of interstate commerce and persons or things in interstate commerce
- Trucks, planes, telephones, Internet.
- Also: electricity, radio waves, cattle, people, etc. that cross state lines. - Activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
- In the area of non-economic activity, a substantial effect cannot be based on cumulative impact.
Congressional Power - 10th Amendment Limit
Powers not granted to the United States, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states or the people.
Congress cannot compel state regulatory or legislative action
Congress may prohibit harmful commercial activity by state governments
Congressional Power - Sec. 5 of 14th Amendment
Congress may not create new rights or expand the scope of rights.
Congress may act only to prevent or remedy violations of rights recognized by the courts and such laws must be “proportionate” and “congruent” to remedying constitutional violations.
Executive power - order of precedence of constitution, federal statutes, treaties, executive agreements, and state statutes
Order of precedence:
- Constitution
- Last in time of federal statute or treaty
- Executive agreement
- State statute
Executive power - pardon power
President may pardon for all federal offenses but not impeachment, civil contempt, or state offenses.
