Implied Fundamental Rights

Question 1

When there is a fundamental right what standard of review will the court apply?

Answer 1

Strict Scrutiny

Question 2

Lochner v. New York

Issue

Answer 2

What is the test for determining whether legislation which seeks to impose restrictions upon an individual’s general right to make a contract in relation to his business is not invalid under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Question 3

Lochner v. New York

Rule

Answer 3

The court must determine whether the legislation is a fair, reasonable and appropriate exercise of the police power of the State.

Question 4

Home Building & Loan v. Blaisdell

Facts

Answer 4

In the midst of the Great Depression, Minnesota passed a law declaring an emergency and saying that during the emergency period courts could extend the time periods in which mortgagers could pay back their debts to their lenders. Pursuant to the statute, Blaisdell’s period of redemption was extended, unquestionably modifying the lender’s contractual rights of foreclosure.

Question 5

Home Building & Loan v. Blaisdell

Rule

Answer 5

The protective power of the state, the police power, may be exercised in directly preventing the immediate and literal enforcement of contractual obligations by a temporary and conditional restraint where vital public interests would otherwise suffer.

Question 6

Nebbia v. New York

Facts

Answer 6

To combat the effects of the Great Depression, New York adopted a Milk Control Law in 1933 which established a board empowered to set a minimum retail price for milk. Nebbia was a store owner who violated the law.

Question 7

Nebbia v. New York

Rule

Answer 7

Price controls that are arbitrary, discriminatory, or demonstrably irrelevant to the policies of the legislature, are unconstitutional because they are unnecessary and unwarranted interferences with individual liberty.

Question 8

Does the Constitution prohibits a state from fixing the selling prices on consumer goods?

Answer 8

No, it does not. (Nebbia)

Question 9

West Coast Hotel v. Parrish

Facts/Issue

Answer 9

FACTS: The State of Washington passed a law which regulated the minimum wages paid to female and minor employees.



ISSUE: Is the fixing of minimum wages for women constitutional?

Question 10

West Coast Hotel v. Parrish

Rule/Reasoning

Answer 10

RULE OF LAW: Regulation which is reasonable in relation to its subject and is adopted in the interests of the community is due process.

REASONING: The exploitation of a class of workers who are at a disadvantaged bargaining position is in the best interest of the health of the worker and economic health of the community. What these workers lost in wages the taxpayers are called upon to pay.

Question 11

United States v. Carolene Products

Footnote 4

Answer 11

The court will now defer to the political process almost completely when dealing with ordinary social policy.

Question 12

Skinner v. Oklahoma

Issue

Answer 12

Did the Act that allowed the forced sterilization of any “habitual criminal” within the state
violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Question 13

Skinner v. Oklahoma

Rule

Answer 13

The right to have offspring is a fundamental right, requiring a compelling state interest to interfere with it.

Question 14

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

Issue

Answer 14

Did Texas’ public education finance system violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by failing to distribute funding equally among its school districts?

Question 15

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

Ruling

Answer 15

No. Wealth is not a suspect class because it is mutable and subjective.

Question 16

3 Avenues to the Right to Privacy

Answer 16

1. Textual - Focus on the zones of privacy created by the peripheral rights
2. Look outside the Constitutional to traditions. 9th Amendment says that there are unenumerated rights
3. Use the Due Process clause, think about all of the rights that are fundamental to a free government. What is the appropriate balance between liberty and order?

Question 17

Roe v. Wade

Facts

Answer 17

A Texas statute made procuring an abortion a crime except for the purpose of saving the mother. The asserted purposes for the law were to protect pregnant woman from a hazardous procedure and to protect prenatal life.

Question 18

Roe v. Wade

Rule

Answer 18

The decision of a woman to have an abortion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. As such, the State may not interfere with this right absent a compelling governmental interest and narrow tailoring of the law to the compelling governmental interest.

Question 19

Is the federal government required to fund abortion?

Answer 19

No. The abridgment or obstacle of the exercise of the fundamental right is not created by the government. (Maher v. Roe)

Question 20

Harris v. McRae

Issue

Answer 20

Did the Hyde Amendment, that severely limited the use of federal funds to reimburse the cost of abortions, violate the right to privacy, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, or the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment?

Question 21

Harris v. McRae

Ruling

Answer 21

An unequal distribution of federal funds does not rise to the level of governmental interference in the guarantee of constitutional rights.

Question 22

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Facts

Answer 22

The PA legislature amended its abortion control law. The law required informed consent and a 24 hour waiting period prior to the procedure. A minor seeking an abortion required the consent of one parent. A married woman seeking an abortion had to indicate that she notified her husband of her intention to abort the fetus.

Question 23

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Rule

Answer 23

A law is invalid, if its purpose or effect is to place a substantial obstacle (i.e., an “undue burden”) in the path of a woman seeking an abortion at a stage of her pregnancy before the fetus attains viability.

Question 24

Gonzalez v. Carhart

Issue

Answer 24

Is the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 an unconstitutional violation of personal liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment because the Act lacks an exception for partial-birth abortions necessary to protect the health of the mother?

Question 25

Gonzalez v. Carhart

Holding/Reasoning

Answer 25

No. The Act’s application was limited by provisions that restrict enforcement to cases where the physician intends to perform an intact D&E; and delivers the still-living fetus past specific “anatomical landmarks.” Because the majority found that the Act applies only to a specific method of abortion, it held that the ban was not unconstitutionally vague, overbroad, or an undue burden on the decision to obtain an abortion.

Question 26

Moore v. City of East Cleveland

Issue

Answer 26

Did the housing ordinance that limited occupancy of a dwelling unit to members of a single family violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Question 27

Moore v. City of East Cleveland

Rule

Answer 27

Yes. The right to live as a family unit is protected under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 28

Moore v. City of East Cleveland

Reasoning

Answer 28

The right infringed upon is a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause, and the statute does not sufficiently advance legitimate state interests. Therefore, the statute is unconstitutional.

Question 29

Zoblocki v. Redhail

Issue

Answer 29

Did the Wisconsin statute that prevented residents currently paying child support from marrying without first obtaining a court order violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Question 30

Zoblocki v. Redhail

Rule

Answer 30

If a statute significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right, it must be supported by sufficiently important state interests and closely tailored to effectuate only those interests. Such interests are subject to strict scrutiny.

Question 31

Lawrence v. Texas

Issue

Answer 31

Whether a statute prohibiting specific sex acts violates liberty under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 32

Lawrence v. Texas

Rule

Answer 32

While homosexual conduct is not a fundamental right, intimate sexual relationships between consenting adults are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.