Constitutional Law Flashcards
Scope of Federal Courts – limited jurisdiction to what types and what source in constitution
- Article III, Section 2 (scope of Federal Judicial power)
- law-based jxns:
- cases arising under the US constitution, federal laws, + treaties
- cases of admiralty and maritime jxn - party-based jxns:
- cases affecting ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls
- controversies to which the US shall be a party
- controversies between two or more states
- cases btwn a state and citizens of another state; and
- cases btwn citizens of different states (diversity of citizenship cases)
The Eleventh Amendment provides state sovereign immunity– meaning the gov’t may not be sued without its consent
= Private individuals cannot sue states for money damages in any court (key word is money damages)
o Exceptions:
Federal suits brought by one state against another state;
Suits brought by the federal government against a state;
Subdivisions of a state (e.g., cities, towns, and counties) do not have immunity;
A private citizen may sue a state requesting an injunction;
A state may consent to suit in federal court if it clearly waives its 11th Amendment immunity. The state must do so expressly and unequivocally; or
The Enforcement powers permit Congress to create a private action for monetary damages when it involved state behavior regulated by the three post-civil war amendments (13th, 14th, or 15th Amendments)
EXAM TIP: When an 11th A. question comes up, be sure to carefully read the choices for money damages versus other types of remedies. If money damages and private individuals are involved, the lawsuit will not be permitted unless it involves the 13th, 14th or 15th Amendments
Limitations on Jurisdiction of Federal Courts
- Article III, Section 2 limits the jxn of federal courts to “cases” and “controversies”
- Use the mnemonic RAMPS (to get into federal court, one must go up the RAMPS) – these are the tests for a case or controversy
Standing (rampS)
- Injury in Fact to the person bringing the law suit: Plaintiff must show a direct and personal injury, actual or imminent, caused by the action that he is challenging.
- Causation: Injury was caused by the challenged action; and
- Redressability: Plaintiff must show that he will benefit from the remedy sought in the litigation and that the court can provide that remedy
Mootness (raMps)
= if a controversy or matter has already been resolved, it will be dismissed as moot. The injury has gone away.
*The matter will NOT be dismissed as moot if the injury is ‘capable of repetition, yet evading review,’ meaning it is a practical impossibility for there to be adjudication or appellate review before the claims of the plaintiff become moot
Ripeness (Ramps)
= bars consideration of claims before they have fully developed –> someone has to have experienced an injury or imminent harm
Abstention (rAmps)
= a federal court may abstain, or refuse to hear, a particular case when there are undecided issues of state law presented
Two scenarios:
1. if the meaning of the state law is unclear
2. where a state court proceeding is going on, the federal court will abstain from hearing the same matter
Two Exceptions re: Standing (rampS)
-traditional rule= a litigant lacks standing to assert the rights of 3rd parties not before the court
-Exceptions:
1.) Third Party Exception
Can raise the constitutional rights of a 3rd party where litigant himself has suffered injury and:
a.) a special relationship exists btwn 3rd party and litigant
b.) the 3rd party is unable or finds it difficult to bring suit on his own behalf
2.) Organization Exception
An association has standing to assert the claims of its members, if:
a.) the members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right;
b.) the interest asserted is german to the association’s purpose; and
c.) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested would require participation by the individual members in the lawsuit
Political Questions (ramPs)
Federal courts cannot hear cases involving political questions. A political question is a matter that the Constitution assigned to another branch of government (executive or legislative) or that is incapable of a judicial answer. The Supreme Court set forth factors to determine if the political question doctrine applies. Two most important factors:
• Something in the Constitution suggests that ultimate decision-making authority is given to another governmental actor; and
• The required decision is political rather than legal in character.
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
- Original jurisdiction over cases involving ambassadors, foreign diplomats, and states.
- Congress cannot enlarge or restrict the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
- Appellate jurisdiction exists where the Constitution or a federal law is at issue.
Adequate and Independent State Grounds rule (SCOTUS)
Although a state court decision may involve a federal question, if the state court judgment can be supported on an adequate and independent state ground, the Supreme Court will not take jurisdiction. To do so would be tantamount to rendering an “advisory opinion.” Applies only to the Supreme Court.
Congress’s Commerce Power
Congress can regulate:
- channels of interstate commerce (highways, railroads, etc)
- instrumentalities of interstate commerce (cars, trucks, ships, etc)
- activities that “substantially affect” interstate commerce*
- to exercise its commerce clause power under the “substantially effects” test, Congress must show:
1. that the regulated activity is ‘economic’ in nature; and
2. that the regulated activity, in the aggregate, has a substantial effect on interstate commerce
Spending power
Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and General Welfare of the United States”
[aka Congress’s power to tax and spend must be exercised for the ‘general welfare’ of the country
War and Defense Powers
Congress may:
- declare war
- raise and support armies
- provide and maintain a navy; and
- organize, arm, and call forth a militia
Investigatory Power
-no express power in constitution, but the Necessary and Proper Clause permits Congress to conduct investigations incident to its legislative power. -Congress’s investigatory power may extend to any matter within a ‘legitimate legislative sphere.’ –> very broad
Fifth Amendment Takings Clause
-The 5th amendment provides that private property shall not be taken by the government for public use without just compensation.
-This prohibition also applies to the states through the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.
o “Public use” = “public purpose” (easy standard to meet).
Four Kinds of Takings (derived from 5th am. takings clause)
Four kinds of takings:
o 1.) Direct government appropriation: Where the government actually takes someone’s property.
o 2.) Regulatory taking: Where the government doesn’t take property, but imposes a regulatory requirement that is so onerous as to effectively amount to a taking.
Categories to determine whether a regulatory requirement amounts to a taking:
• The regulation requires the property owner to suffer some permanent physical invasion;
• The regulation deprives the property owner of all economically beneficial use to the property; or
• The government will balance the economic versus physical impact of the regulation on the property owner, as well as the duration and character of the government action.
o 3.) Temporary restrictions: Does not permanently deprive the owner of all economically beneficial uses of his land.
A court will look at both the dimensions of a property interest and the term of years.
o 4.) Conditional permits: A condition on the grant of a permit for land development.
Permissible if:
• there is a logical nexus between the condition and the governmental purposes; and
• there is rough proportionality between the impact on the proposed development and the governmental objectives served by the condition.
Enforcement Powers
Congress has the power to enforce:
13th am= banning slavery
14th am= prohibiting the states from violating protections regarding due process, equal protection, and privileges and immunities
15th am= prohibiting the states from discriminating in voting rights
Congress to enforce the post-civil war amendments….
- With respect to the 14th and 15th Amendments, Congress can only regulate states, not private individuals;
- with respect to state governments, such governments must have engaged in widespread violations of the Amendment; and
- the legislative remedy must be “congruent and proportional to” the violations.
State immunity from federal law (10th am)
• The 10th amendment* provides that: “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
–> Anti-Commandeering Doctrine: the federal government can’t force states to act in their sovereign capacities (i.e., legislate or enforce laws).
• A state is immune from federal taxation if the tax is applied to unique state activities or essential governmental functions.
*The 10th Amendment is frequently a “red herring” wrong answer choice, except when the facts show the federal government “commanding” the states.
Dormant Commerce Clause
=Where Congress has not enacted legislation, the states can regulate local transactions affecting interstate commerce
• if a state law discriminates on its face btwn in-state and out-of-state economic actors, the state must show that:
1. the reg serves a compelling gov’t interest
2. the reg is narrowly tailored to serve that interest
Exceptions:
- subject to Congress affirmatively authorizing states to legislate in that area
- market participant exception (states can discriminate btwn in and out-of-state businesses when state acts as a market participant)
- state taxation of interstate commerce is permissible unless it discriminates against or unduly burdens interstate commerce
State Action requirement
Constitutional rights can be violated ONLY by government actors, not private actors.
Exceptions to state action requirement
State action can be found in the actions of private actors when:
1, entwinement– private entity is carrying on activities traditionally and exclusively performed by the gov’t
- entanglement– gov’t and private entity are so closely related that the action by the private party fairly can be treated as action by the gov’t
- the 13th am. can be used to proscribe purely private acts of forced labor without the requirement of state action
Supremacy clause
a federal law will supersede any state law with which it is in direct conflict
