Constitutional Law

Question 1

Takings Clause

% out of exams tested: 17.5%

Answer 1

Total Taking:

• Issue: Whether [X]’s [action] constituted a total taking.
• Rule: ​The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution applies to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
  
  • [The Fifth Amendment provides that government shall not take private property for public use without just compensation.]
  • [The Fifth Amendment is not a grant of power, but a limitation of power.]
  • [Governments traditionally have had the power to take private property through eminent domain, the power to take private property for public use has been reserved to the states through the Tenth Amendment.]
  • [The Fifth Amendment limits the power by prohibiting a taking unless it is for a public purpose.]
  • [The clearest cases of taking arise when the government physically appropriates a person’s property.]

Question 2

Takings Clause:

Regulatory Taking

Answer 2

A taking can be found when a regulation affects the value or use of a person’s property. In such a case, a property owner may bring an inverse condemnation action. In an inverse condemnation proceeding, if a regulation has deprived an owner of all economic value of the property, it is considered to be equivalent to a physical appropriation and the government will be required to pay just compensation.

Question 3

Takings Clause:

Partial Taking

Answer 3

Regulations that merely decrease the value of property (e.g., prohibit its most beneficial use) do not constitute a taking if they leave an economically viable use for the property. The Supreme Court considers the economic impact of regulations whether the regulations substantially interfere with distinct, investment-backed expectations of claimants.

Question 4

Freedom of Religion:

Free Exercise Clause

% out of exams tested: 12.5%

Answer 4

The Free Exercise Clause provides that government shall not interfere with the free exercise of religion.

• Whether Beliefs Sincere: A belief does not have to be traditional to be protected by the Free Exercise Clause. A belief will be treated as religious if it occupies a place in the believer’s life parallel to that occupied by orthodox religious beliefs.
  
  • The Free Exercise Clause prohibits the courts from determining the validity of a religious belief.

Question 5

Freedom of Religion:

Establishment Clause

% out of exams tested: 12.5%

Answer 5

The establishment clause prohibits the government from respecting an establishment of religion.

• The main test used to determine whether the Establishment Clause is violated by government action is the Lemon test.
• Under the Lemon test, government action will be found to violate the First Amendment unless (i) the action has a secular purpose, (ii) the primary effect of the action neither advances nor inhibits religion and (iii) the action does not produce excessive government entanglement between government and religion.

Question 6

Equal Protection Analysis

% out of exams tested: 17.5%