Constitutional Law – Fall 2011
Professor Aynes
The Constitution
Article I: Legislative Branch – establishes
· Section 1: Congress
o Only Congress is to enact laws
· Section 2: House of Representatives
o Establishes the requirements to serve in the House
o Gives each state their representatives in number (how the number is determined)
· Section 3: Senate
o Establishes the requirements to serve in Senate
· Section 4: Elections & Sessions
o Guidelines for holding elections for House and Senate members
o Rules for running sessions of Congress
· Section 5: Housekeeping
o Allows House & Senate to make their own rules
o Establishes certain requirements such as censure and recordkeeping
· Section 6: Pay and Privileges
o Establishes the compensation of Congress as well as places limitations on the compensation
· Section 7: Legislation
o Guidelines for introducing and passing legislation
o Establishes procedures for changing the Constitution
· Section 8: Enumerated Powers
o Grants Congress a specific list of powers
o General Welfare Clause
o Commerce Clause
o War Powers Clause
o Necessary and Proper Clause
· Section 9: Restrictions
o Limits certain powers of Congress
· Section 10: Restrictions on States
o Prevents states from exercising certain powers that are to be solely exercised by Congress and the federal government
o Contracts Clause
Article II: Executive Branch – establishes
· Section 1: President and Vice President
o Sets requirements for becoming and serving as president and vice president
o Election guidelines/electoral college
· Section 2: Presidential Powers
o Lists express powers of president
· Section 3: Executive Responsibility
o Lists presidential responsibilities
· Section 4: Impeachment
o Allows Congress to remove members of executive branch and federal judges
Article III: Judicial Branch – establishes
· Section 1: Federal Courts
o Establishes the Supreme Court
o Gives Congress the power to create lesser federal courts
o Establishes how justices are appointed/how long they serve
· Section 2: Jurisdiction and Judicial Review
o Gives federal courts jurisdiction over cases arising from the Constitution or federal law
o Gives original jurisdiction to certain cases to Supreme Court
o Establishes judicial review (indirectly)
· Section 3: Treason
o Establishes federal crime of treason
Article IV: Full Faith and Credit
· Section 1: Full Faith and Credit
o Requires states to honor each other’s laws, records, and court decisions
· Section 2: Privileges and Immunities
o Mandates states treat citizens of other states as they would their own citizens
· Section 3: Equal Footing Clause
o Allows new states to enter the Union with same rights as previous member states
· Section 4: Guarantee Clause
o Federal government will ensure every state a republican form of government
o Federal government to protect states from invasion
Article V: Amending the Constitution
· Establishes two methods for changing the Constitution
Article VI: Supreme Law of the Land
· The Supremacy Clause
Article VII: Ratification
· Establishes how the Constitution is to be ratified
1st Amendment: Freedom of Expression
· Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition
2nd Amendment: Right to Bear Arms
· Militia Clause
· Right to Arms Clause
3rd Amendment: Quartering Troops
· Prevents forcing citizens to take in troops
4th Amendment: Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
· Establishes guidelines for searches and seizures by law enforcement
· Exclusionary rule
· All about privacy
5th Amendment: Due Process
· Establishes guidelines regarding protecting rights in criminal cases
6th Amendment: Juries in Criminal Trials
· Establishes guidelines for fair trials in criminal cases
7th Amendment: Juries in Civil Trials
· Grants right to jury trial in federal civil cases
8th Amendment: Bail and Punishment
· Protects against excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment
9th Amendment: Unenumerated Rights
· Guarantees rights not specifically granted in the Bill of Rights
10th Amendment: States’ Rights
· Preserves states’ rights as those not specifically granted to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states
Amendments 1-10 make up the Bill of Rights
11th Amendment: Suing States
· Prohibits suits against states “in law and equity” (seeking monetary damages or court orders)
12th Amendment: Picking the President
· Alters Article II regarding electing the president
· No more submitting two votes for president; submit only one for president and one for vice president
13th Amendment: Abolishing Slavery
· Abolished slavery in all states
14th Amendment: Due Process and Equal Protection
· Applied due process and equal protection to states
15th Amendment: Voting Rights
· Prohibited voting laws based on race or color
16th Amendment: Income Taxes
· Authorized federal income taxes
17th Amendment: Election of Senators
· Removed authority to appoint Senators
· Voted on by the people
18th Amendment: Prohibition
· Outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol
19th Amendment: Voting Rights
· Established voting rights for women
20th Amendment: Lame Ducks
· Changed swearing in dates of president, vice president, and Congress
21st Amendment: Prohibition
· Repealed 18th Amendment
22nd Amendment: Term Limits
· Established presidential term limits
23rd Amendment: D.C.
· Gave Washington D.C. electors which allowed residents to vote for president and vice president
24th Amendment: No Tax Voting
· Outlaws poll tax in federal elections
25th Amendment: Presidential Succession
· Clarifies Article II establishing vice president as president if president is unable to carry out duties
26th Amendment: Voting Age
· Lowers the voting age to 18
27th Amendment: Congressional Pay
· Pay raises have to wait until the next session of Congress (after the next even year elections) to take effect
Class Outline
1) The role of the courts in constitutional interpretation
a) Judicial Review and Constitutional Interpretation
i) The Origins and Theory of Judicial Review
(1) Marbury v. Madison
(a) Presented a conflict between the Constitution and federal statutory law
(b) Power of judiciary to review determined to exist
(i) Constitution gives judiciary jurisdiction over “all cases arising under the Constitution”
1. Any act in conflict with the Constitution must be void
(ii) Supremacy Clause of Article IV also used to validate this power of review
(c) Federal courts not state courts are to decide federal questions
(d) Black Letter Rule:
(i) Where the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court conflicts with laws enacted by Congress, the Supreme Court may declare such laws unconstitutional and invalid
(2) Cooper v. Aaron
(a) State challenged application of federal legislative decisions to the states
(b) Article VI of the Constitution establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the land
(c) States being bound by federal decisions regarding the Constitution is reiterated by the 14th Amendment applying the Constitution to the states
(d) Black Letter Rule:
(i) The constitutional right of children not to be discriminated against in school admission on the basis of race, as established by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, cannot by nullified by the states (supremacy clause)
ii) The Power to Review State Court Judgments
(1) Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee
(a) State courts did not uphold U.S. treaties with Great Britain
(b) State courts are bound by U.S. treaties
(c) U.S. Supreme Court has jurisdiction of questions involving federal law even when the case originating in state court
(d) Black Letter Rule:
(i) The United States Supreme Court is the singular revising authority to control discordant state judgments and harmonize them into uniformity, otherwise the laws, treaties, and Constitution of the United States could be applied differently in the different states
iii) The Adequate and Independent State Grounds Doctrine
(1) Michigan v. Long
(a) Challenging police search of car as violating 14th amendment and the state’s constitution
(b) Supreme Court will avoid deciding issues where there is adequate and independent state grounds to decide the issue as to respect independent state courts and to avoid rendering advisory opinions
(c) States must make clear in opinion whether they are deciding the issue on independent state grounds or on a federal basis
(d) The federal government is not supposed to be deciding state issues
(e) Black Letter Rule:
(i) It is fundamental that state courts be left free and unfettered by the Supreme Court in interpretin
estion
(c) Names 6 factors that if none are present the case should not be dismissed on basis that it is a political question
(i) Constitutionally assigned duty or power to a branch of the government
(ii) Lack of judicially manageable standards for resolving the question
(iii) Impossibility of a court’s deciding the issue without initial policy determination of a kind clearly for non-judicial discretion
(iv) Impossibility of a court’s undertaking independent resolution without expressing a lack of respect to other branches of government
(v) An unusual need for adherence to a political decision already made
(vi) The potential for embarrassment from various pronouncements on a single issue by different departments of government
(d) Supreme Court refuses to use Guaranty Clause as a source of a constitutional standard for invalidating state action
(e) Black Letter Rule:
(i) The Guaranty Clause may not be used as a source of a constitutional standard for invalidating state action, but an equal protection claim may be so used where it does not implicate a political question
(5) Nixon v. US
(a) Challenging the ability of a Senate Committee to hear evidence against an individual for impeachment and then present to the Senate as a whole
(b) When interpreting the constitution and the powers it bestows upon branches and levels of government need to analyze the wording used in context with when the Constitution was written and what the Framers were trying to accomplish
(c) Black Letter Rule:
(i) The Senate has the constitutional authority to review evidence to determine impeachment of an individual. The word try does not limit how the Senate decides to carry out the power it has been given
(6) Bush v. Gore
(a) Challenge to Florida Supreme Court order to manually recount presidential votes
(b) Equal Protection Clause requires each citizen’s vote be valued/treated equally
(c) Court ordered manual recount requires the voters’ intent to be determined with no standard on how to do that; nothing applied statewide each county counted differently
(d) Count can’t happen by the date established by federal statute it makes the court order unconstitutional
(e) Black Letter Rule:
(i) Once a state vests voting rights in its citizens, it must afford each person’s vote equal treatment under the Equal Protection Clause
(7) Younger v. Harris
(a) Challenging the federal district court enjoining the prosecution from continuing prosecuting the individual in state court
(b) Doctrine of equity jurisprudence is used as one reason to prevent federal courts from preventing prosecution of an individual when there is adequate remedy at law and the moving party will not suffer irreparable injury if denied equitable relief
(c) Also use the ongoing idea that the nation is built of many independent state governments and the national government works best when the states are left free to perform their separate functions in their separate ways
(d) Black Letter Rule:
(i) Federal courts are to protect federal interests and rights without interfering with a state’s ability to determine how it governs its citizens
(8) Railroad Comm. v. Pullman
(a) Challenging a federal injunction against the enforcement of a state commission’s order
(b) Resources of equity are equal to an adjustment that will avoid the waste of a tentative decision
(c) A federal issue cannot be pursued on the premise that it will arise based on a state law that has yet to be validated
(d) Black Letter Rule:
(i) The federal court will only step in for issues involving federal constitution and law.
(ii) If the state official did not have the right to act the point is must as the law is invalid, any federal issue that would have arisen out of the law is no longer an active issue
