Short Questions Flashcards
What powers Congress use to enact divorce laws in DC?
General federal police power for DC (as well as military bases and federal lands)
State the power: Congress pays for highways
Spending Power; and
Commerce Clause
What power is used?: Federal Income Tax
16th A: Taxing Power
What source of power: Congress conditions aid to states for medical programs on state funding of AIDS research
Spending Power
What power: Congress adopts a tax to regulate banknotes rather than to raise revenue
Power to coin money
What power: Congress prohibits hunting on federal land
Property power
What power: Congress bars racial discrimination at places of public accommodation
Commerce Clause
What power: Congress requires all employers, including state governments, to comply with federal minimum wage and overtime provisions
Commerce Clause
Under the Due Process clause: Do you need a lawyer for ALL procedures where do you face deprivation of a protected benefit?
No, there is no across-the-board right to counsel under the Constitution in any event.
In determining the procedures required under the Due Process Clause, the courts consider: (i) The importance of the individual’s interest that is involved, (ii) The value of specific procedural safeguards of the individual’s interest, and (iii) The government’s interest in fiscal and administrative efficiency.
Can you tax exports?
No,
The federal taxing power does NOT allow Congress to tax exports. Neither Congress nor the state can tax exports to foreign countries
Remember these examples of violation of the establishment clause by schools:
- A school policy whereby students themselves decide whether to hold a student invocation ceremony prior to athletic events.
- Posting of the Ten Commandments in a public school pursuant to legislature’s declaration that the posting is for a secular purpose.
- A voluntary moment of silent prayer or meditation at the beginning of the schoolday.
- A program whereby, once weekly, the schoolday ends one hour early so that interested students may participate in voluntary religious classes in the classroom (NOT AN ACTUAL VIOLATION)
May a State require federal employees who drive as part of their jobs to have a valid driver’s license, even when performing job duties?
No
The states may not regulate the federal government without the federal government’s consent. Thus, instrumentalities and agents of the federal government are immune from state regulations relating to performance of their federal functions.
Statute forbids the killing of cows in a ritualistic manner. Unconstitutional?
Yes, it only targets ritualistic slaughter
The Supreme Court has stated that the amendment prohibits the government from outlawing religious beliefs and it has struck down a statute similar to the one here that outlaws conduct merely because it is religious (i.e., ritual slaughter of cows is prohibited but not other instances of cow slaughter), at least when the law is not necessary to achieve a compelling interest.
What conditions a restriction of speech on public forums (a park) needs to fulfill to be valid?
Strict scrutiny
To be valid, government regulations on speech and assembly in public forums must be content-neutral and narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest, and must leave open alternative channels of communication.
City ordinance requires permits for public gathering, the mayor has discretion to issue or deny such permits based on his judgment of whether the speech would be in the public interests
Constitutional?
No, because the ordinance is void on its face.
Although a municipality can place reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on certain aspects of speech, it may not adopt a regulation that gives officials broad discretion over speech issues. If a statute gives licensing officials unbridled discretion, it is void on its face, and speakers need not even apply for a permit.
State health inspector denies permit to federal installation that doesn’t follow the more strict state health code.
Is the state law valid?
No, The state law violates the principles of intergovernmental immunity as applied to the manager.
The states have no power to regulate the activities of the federal government unless Congress consents to the regulation. Thus, instrumentalities and agents of the federal government are immune from state regulations that interfere with their federal functions. Here, the regulation clearly interferes with the manager’s duties to run the refinery. While it might be argued that the manager agreed to comply with the state regulations, because he allowed the state inspection, nothing indicates that Congress consented, and so the state regulation cannot be applied to the manager.
Can a foreign government sue a state?
Can a Native American tribe?
No, because the Eleventh Amendment bars actions brought by a foreign government against a state government.
and
No, because the Supreme Court has held that, for Eleventh Amendment purposes, a Native American tribe is treated as a private party, and so it is barred from bringing an action against a state government in federal court.
Can a Senator sue in order to challenge the constitutionality of a statute that violates the constitution? Does he have standing?
No, The Senator will not succeed because she lacks standing to challenge the statute.
The Supreme Court has held that members of Congress lack standing to challenge a law authorizing the President to exercise a line item veto (such as the statute here), reasoning that the injury is not concrete and personal, but rather is institutional in that it is shared by all members of Congress. [Raines v. Byrd (1997)]