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263 cards
1What is the Bill of Rights?
2What is the state-action doctrine?
3Which constitutional amendment protects against actions by private entities?
4What is the public-function exception to the state-action doctrine?
5If a state commands private action, does that serve as state action for constitutional purposes?
6What is the nexus test for evaluating when private conduct is state action for constitutional purposes?
7What is the symbiotic relationship exception to the state action doctrine?
8A private restaurant leased a property within a larger building that was owned by a state government. The building featured the state seal. The sta...
9Under what circumstances does private conduct become so entwined with the government that its action is attributable to the state for constitutiona...
10A private group organized concerts and supported music education programs in K-12 public schools. The group’s members were individual schools. 80 p...
11Is a private entity controlled by the government a state actor for constitutional purposes?
12To implement a federal transportation policy favoring mass transit, Congress enacted a statute creating a ferry corporation to operate passenger fe...
13Under what circumstances may a litigant challenge the actions of a private entity on constitutional grounds, even if that entity is not performing ...
14Can the actions of a private actor be considered state actions for the purpose of applying laws that only apply to state actions?
15Under the state-action doctrine, if a state or local government encourages or facilitates a private actor to engage in a particular unconstitutiona...
16Under the state-action doctrine, is extensive and pervasive government regulation enough to make an otherwise private entity’s actions into state a...
17What is the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
18What are the two main components of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
19What is the incorporation doctrine?
20What is total incorporation?
21What is selective incorporation?
22In addition to the freedom of speech, what other rights does the First Amendment protect?
23Are citizens protected from infringements of their First Amendment rights made by the states?
24What rights does the Second Amendment protect?
25Are citizens protected from infringements of their Second Amendment rights made by the states?
26Which constitutional amendment forbids the quartering of soldiers in homes?
27Are citizens protected from infringements of their Third Amendment rights made by the states?
28What rights does the Fourth Amendment protect?
29Are citizens protected from infringements of their Fourth Amendment rights made by the states?
30In addition to requiring a grand jury in trials involving the death penalty, what other rights does the Fifth Amendment protect?
31Are citizens protected from infringements of their Fifth Amendment rights made by the states?
32Which amendment contains protections for criminal defendants during trial?
33Are citizens protected from infringements of their Sixth Amendment rights made by the states?
34Does the Constitution require jury trials in civil cases?
35Are states required to provide juries for all civil cases under the Seventh Amendment?
36Which amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment?
37Does the Eighth Amendment apply to the states?
38Which amendments has the Supreme Court fully incorporated as applicable to the states?
39Which amendments has the Supreme Court selectively incorporated as applicable to the states?
40What amendments has the Supreme Court not incorporated, rendering them inapplicable to the states?
41Does the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extend or incorporate the entire Bill of Rights to actions by states?
42What is substantive due process?
43What is a fundamental right, for purposes of substantive due process?
44Are all fundamental rights expressly enumerated in the Constitution?
45For purposes of substantive due process, what is a fundamental right?
46What is the test for determining if an interest is a constitutionally protected fundamental right or liberty interest?
47Is the right to use contraceptives protected by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments?
48A state passed a law placing restrictions on the sale of birth control to minors. A pharmaceutical company sued to invalidate the law, claiming it ...
49When evaluating a substantive due process claim, what standard of review does a court apply to a state or federal law abridging a fundamental right?
50Generally, what standard of review applies to a law that potentially burdens a fundamental right or liberty interest?
51A state passed a law that allowed the termination of an unmarried biological father’s parental rights without notice or an opportunity for a hearin...
52Does a person have a constitutional right to obtain an abortion?
53What standard of review applies to a law restricting abortion?
54Does any person, regardless of that person’s competency, have a fundamental right to refuse life-saving treatment?
55A state legislature enacted a law that prohibited a person from refusing reasonable and cost-effective medical efforts to protect that person’s lif...
56What are non-fundamental rights?
57When evaluating a substantive due process claim, what standard of review does a court apply to a law abridging a non-fundamental right?
58What is the standard of review for potential substantive-due-process violations of non-fundamental rights?
59To encourage citizens to visit a dentist, the state legislature enacted a law banning the sale of teeth-whitening products by any business other th...
60Does an incompetent person have a fundamental right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment?
61Does a person have a fundamental right to end his own life through assisted suicide?
62If a plaintiff claims that a non-legislative government action violates general substantive-due-process rights, without reference to any more speci...
63A light fixture mounted on the ceiling of a city office fell and hit a city employee on the head. The employee sued the city, alleging that the cit...
64What is procedural due process?
65Which are the three types of interests that are protected by procedural due process?
66What life interests implicate procedural due process?
67What liberty interests implicate procedural due process?
68Are the liberty interests that implicate procedural due process limited to instances in which the government is impeding a person’s freedom of move...
69Does procedural due process protect interests in intangible property?
70Does procedural due process protect a property interest in obtaining government aid?
71If a state government creates a property interest, can the state government also adopt any procedures to terminate that property interest?
72The municipal police department adopted a strict policy of routinely enforcing domestic-violence restraining orders. A woman obtained a domestic-vi...
73Which three factors do courts need to balance to determine if there has been a violation of procedural due process?
74What three-part balancing test do courts use in determining whether a person deprived of a protected life, liberty, or property interest was provid...
75The government filed an action to take a residential property occupied by the owner and her two grandchildren. The government alleged that the owne...
76Does procedural due process require the guilt-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard of proof in criminal trials?
77To comply with constitutional procedural-due-process requirements, must the government provide a person with notice and an opportunity to be heard ...
78What two questions do courts evaluate when a litigant asserts that his procedural due process rights were violated?
79Does the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit a state from denying equal protection of the law to any person in its jurisdi...
80What does it mean to challenge a law facially under the Equal Protection Clauses?
81What does it mean to challenge a law as applied under the Equal Protection Clauses?
82Do courts use the same standard of review, regardless of whether a litigant is asserting a facial or as-applied challenge?
83What rights has the U.S. Supreme Court deemed fundamental under the Equal Protection Clause?
84Are the same rights deemed fundamental under both the Substantive Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause?
85What standard of review do courts use under equal-protection analysis when a challenged law denies a fundamental right to a certain class of indivi...
86A state decided to make anyone voting in a state election pay a fee. The state claimed the purpose of the law was to cover the significant costs of...
87A state law required potential voters to present a government-issued photo identification card (ID) to vote. The state claimed the law’s purpose wa...
88A state limited the right to seek a divorce to persons who had resided in the state for at least one full year. A married woman moved to the state....
89A county government created an entity to build and operate electrical-service lines across the county. This new governmental entity had a five-memb...
90Concerned about unpaid child support, the state government enacted a law prohibiting the issuance of a marriage license to anyone who owed more tha...
91What is a suspect classification for purposes of the Equal Protection Clauses?
92Which are the types of suspect classifications that will trigger strict scrutiny of a law that allegedly violates the Equal Protection Clause of th...
93If a law restricts fundamental rights or targets suspect classifications of individuals, what standard of review applies to a claim that the law vi...
94Are separate primary and secondary schools for children of different races inherently unequal?
95What is de jure segregation?
96What is de facto segregation?
97Under what circumstances does de facto segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
98Is race a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause?
99Are laws that are neutral on their face but have a discriminatory impact on a certain race automatically unconstitutional under the Equal Protectio...
100What is affirmative action?
101Are race-based affirmative action policies implemented by state actors subject to strict scrutiny review?
102What standard of review applies to laws using racial classifications?
103May a public institution of higher education use racial admissions quotas as part of an affirmative action policy?
104A state university adopted a comprehensive program to try to increase the diversity of the students admitted to the university. The program include...
105Is the federal government’s authority to adopt race-based affirmative-action programs broader than the state and local governments’ authority to ad...
106What is the political function exception to the general rule that classifications on the basis of alienage are subject to strict scrutiny?
107A state government enacted a law requiring that all public-school teachers be either (1) United States citizens or (2) lawful resident aliens in th...
108What are semi-suspect or quasi-suspect classifications for purposes of the Equal Protection Clauses?
109What standard of review do courts use under equal-protection analysis when a challenged law draws a semi-suspect or quasi-suspect classification?
110What are the differences between the strict scrutiny standard of review used for laws discriminating based on a suspect class and intermediate or m...
111What is the standard of judicial review applicable to gender-based classifications by the federal or a state government?
112What standard of review would a court use to evaluate a state affirmative action plan meant to increase the representation of women in a given area?
113Are legal classifications related to pregnancy necessarily semi-suspect under the Equal Protection Clause?
114Are facially gender-neutral laws that have a disproportionate impact on one gender necessarily unconstitutional?
115If a law does not implicate a fundamental right or a suspect classification, what standard of review applies to a claim that the law violates equal...
116What are the differences between rational-basis review used for laws that do not target a semi-suspect class and intermediate or mid-level scrutiny...
117Under rational-basis review, can dislike for a particular group of citizens be a legitimate governmental interest?
118Can a government’s arbitrary treatment of a single individual, by itself, give rise to a valid equal-protection claim?
119Is age a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause?
120Is sexual orientation a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause?
121A city government enacted regulations to preserve the look of the city’s historic district. As part of this effort, the city banned push-cart vendo...
122A state enacted a law prohibiting local school districts from enrolling any students who could not prove that they were United States citizens or l...
123Is mental disability a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause?
124As part of a comprehensive local-zoning plan, a city required that group homes applied for and received a special-use permit before opening. A grou...
125What is eminent domain?
126To promote access to broadband internet service, a city adopted a regulation that required apartment-building owners to allow internet-service prov...
127Can a government taking of private property only result from physical possession of the property?
128Is taking actual possession of a property interest the only way that the government can take private property under the Takings Clause of the Fifth...
129If a land-use regulation does not destroy all economically viable use of a property, what legal standard determines whether the regulation is a tak...
130A city enacted a comprehensive zoning plan. Some of the new zoning regulations denied one property owner all economically beneficial uses of her pr...
131Can a government taking of private property be solely for a private purpose?
132A corporation was expanding its campus and had acquired a large parcel for the building. The expansion would increase the city’s tax base and creat...
133If a governmental regulation eliminates some economically beneficial uses for a property interest, can it sometimes be a taking that requires the p...
134What is just compensation for private property that the government takes for a public purpose?
135What is the measure of just compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
136What does the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibit?
137What does the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV provide?
138What is a fundamental right under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV?
139Under what circumstances may a state deprive out-of-state residents a fundamental right under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV?
140What does the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit?
141In an attempt to discourage people who need welfare benefits from moving to the state, a state adopted a law that limited the social-welfare benefi...
142A state prohibited out-of-state residents from being admitted to the state’s bar unless they sat for the state’s full bar exam, even if the out-of-...
143What does Article I’s Contracts Clause prohibit?
144What is a public contract under the Contracts Clause?
145What standard of review do courts use in evaluating state government interference with a public contract?
146What is a private contract under the Contracts Clause?
147What standard of review do courts use in evaluating state government interference with a private contract?
148For private contracts, what must a plaintiff show to establish that a state law violates the Contracts Clause found in Article I, § 10 of the U.S. ...
149What is a substantial impairment of an existing private contract, for purposes of Contracts Clause analysis?
150What is the unconstitutional conditions doctrine?
151What is a bill of attainder?
152What is an ex post facto law?
153Does the Ex Post Facto Clause in Article I, § 9 of the U.S. Constitution prohibit the government from passing any law that has a retroactive effect?
154On a hot day, the state police discovered a commercial truck in a parking lot that had 20 women in the back in serious heat distress. Five of the w...
155What freedoms does the First Amendment guarantee?
156What two guarantees does the First Amendment provide regarding religion?
157Which two clauses in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically protect religious rights?
158Is religion, for First Amendment purposes, limited to faiths believing in a god or a supreme power?
159What religious beliefs receive protection under the First Amendment?
160What does the Free Exercise Clause prohibit federal and state governments from doing?
161Can a court interpret religious doctrine or rule on theological matters?
162A minister sought donations for the construction of a Bible-themed amusement park. However, instead of using the funds for the construction of the ...
163What standard of review do courts apply to neutral, generally applicable laws that unintentionally or incidentally burden or impede religiously-mot...
164What standard of review do courts use for neutral state laws of general applicability that unintentionally burden the free exercise of religion?
165What standard of review do courts use for neutral federal laws of general applicability that substantially burden the free exercise of religion?
166Does the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 protect the free exercise of religion by corporations from burdens imposed by the federal govern...
167What standard of review do courts use for targeted laws that intentionally and substantially burden the free exercise of religion?
168Members of a religious group that practiced ritual animal sacrifice moved to a city. Other citizens complained to city officials. The city had a pr...
169What is the ministerial exception to employment discrimination laws?
170Is prohibiting the establishment of religion, or otherwise preserving the separation of church and state, a compelling government interest?
171What does the Establishment Clause prohibit federal and state governments from doing?
172What does it mean, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence, for challenged government action to have a secular legislativ...
173What does it mean, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence, for the primary effect of the government action to advance or...
174What does it mean, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Establishment Clause, for a challenged government action to result in exces...
175Can a government entity delegate governmental authority to a religious entity or church?
176What three criteria do courts use in evaluating government action under the Establishment Clause?
177What is the endorsement test used by the U.S. Supreme Court in analyzing challenges under the Establishment Clause?
178What criteria do courts consider in evaluating whether a government can erect a religious display?
179A city wanted to display works by a local artist in one of the city’s buildings. However, one of the paintings that would have been part of the dis...
180May public schools provide opportunities for prayer during the school day or at school-organized events?
181A public school wanted to adopt a policy of beginning each school day with a mandatory moment of silence.Does this proposed policy violate the Esta...
182A public high school had elected a student to a school-chaplain position, and the person holding that position delivered a prayer at the beginning ...
183The state legislature hired and paid an official chaplain who delivered a non-denominational prayer at the opening of each daily session of the leg...
184The state school board issued a binding directive to local public schools that all high-school biology classes must teach creation science. The dir...
185What guarantees does the First Amendment provide regarding free expression?
186What is a content-based regulation of speech?
187What standard of review is applied to determine whether a content-based restriction of protected speech violates the Free Speech Clause of the Firs...
188Congress enacted a statute that required all cable channels featuring NC-17 rated content (i.e., indecent but not legally obscene content) to be au...
189A state government wanted to pass a hostile-work-environment law. This proposed law would include provisions that made it illegal for a private cit...
190Seeking to protect minors from exposure to sexually explicit materials, a state government made bookstores strictly liable if the store offered to ...
191Finding that all contributions to terrorist organizations helped terrorism, Congress enacted a law that made it illegal to give material assistance...
192Does the First Amendment generally protect intentionally false statements of fact?
193What standard of judicial review applies to challenges that content-based regulations of the government’s speech violate the First Amendment to the...
194What is a content-neutral regulation of speech?
195Congress was concerned about the monopoly status of most cable-system operators. Specifically, Congress was concerned that this monopoly would cons...
196If a law’s purpose is to regulate conduct but it incidentally suppresses free speech, is it a content-based regulation of free speech?
197Can the government regulate the way that a traditional public forum is used to engage in a protected speech activity?
198To improve how the city looked and to increase municipal pride, a city passed a law that prohibited posting any signs on public property.Does this ...
199To secure privacy and the peaceful enjoyment of private homes, a city considered adopting an ordinance that prohibited all fixed protests or picket...
200A city government adopted regulations regarding the use of sound amplification for events in the main municipal park. These regulations stated that...
201What is a designated public forum?
202Can a state limit or prohibit access to a designated public forum?
203Is all government-owned property a public forum of some kind under the First Amendment?
204What categories of speech are unprotected by the First Amendment?
205What standard of review applies to determine if a content-based regulation of unprotected speech is constitutional?
206Under what circumstances is speech advocating illegal conduct unprotected?
207What is a threat, for First Amendment purposes?
208A federal statute made it a crime to make threats against the life of the president of the United States. A disgruntled person called the official ...
209What is the fighting words doctrine?
210Does the First Amendment protect speech constituting defamation?
211Does the First Amendment limit a person’s ability to pursue an otherwise valid libel claim?
212What test do courts use to define legally-obscene speech that can be outlawed by the government?
213Is child pornography protected by the First Amendment?
214While executing a valid search warrant, police officers found large quantities of child pornography in the defendant’s home. These materials featur...
215What level of judicial scrutiny do courts apply to laws that discriminate amongst various categories of unprotected speech based upon their content?
216For purposes of applying the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, what speech is considered commercial speech?
217A grocery-store chain took out newspaper advertisements to congratulate the state university’s championship-winning head coach on his induction int...
218For purposes of applying the First Amendment, is a statement by a corporation alone considered commercial speech?
219A state government banned for-profit corporations from advertising or otherwise engaging in political advocacy relating to any state ballot initiat...
220What is the general test for determining if a governmental restriction on commercial speech violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
221A state legislature sought to prohibit the advertising of casino gambling. Commercial gambling operations were otherwise legal in the state. One st...
222To reduce visual clutter, a city passed a law that banned the placement of commercial signs on lawns. However, the law still allowed signs bearing ...
223To avoid violating the First Amendment, what does a public school need to show to justify a regulation of student speech that occurs on public-scho...
224What legal standard applies to regulation of a student’s speech while at an official public-school activity or event?
225A public high-school student gave a presentation at a high-school assembly. The presentation contained profanity and crude sexual innuendos. The sc...
226Can the government make employment-related decisions regarding a low-level public employee based on the employee’s political-party affiliation?
227What two things must be true about a public employee’s speech for the First Amendment to potentially prevent a government employer from disciplinin...
228A nurse at a county-owned hospital wrote a critical letter to the editor regarding a bond issue to fund a new dialysis center at the hospital. Afte...
229May the government establish licensing or permitting requirements for certain types of expression that require the maintenance of public order?
230If a broadcast radio or television station requires a government license to operate, can the government regulate that station’s programming content...
231May the government deny benefits to an individual or organization based upon its beliefs?
232A private university wanted to ban military recruiters because the university advocated the peaceful resolution of disputes over the forceful resol...
233The federal government imposed a fee on the sale of cattle for slaughter. The Department of Agriculture created and placed print and broadcast adve...
234Under what circumstances may the government restrict the speech of incarcerated persons?
235What is expressive conduct?
236Does conduct need to express a clear and particularized message to be protected under the First Amendment as expressive conduct?
237What is the standard of review that is used to evaluate whether government regulations directed at controlling the content of expressive conduct vi...
238What test applies to determine if a content-neutral law that indirectly burdens or prohibits expressive conduct violates the First Amendment?
239Angered by U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba, a woman engaged in a tax protest and refused to pay her federal personal-income tax until the United St...
240To protest the plight of the homeless, a group camped in a municipal park. A local regulation provided that the public parks were open from 6:00 a....
241May a state regulate bias-motivated criminal conduct consistent with the First Amendment?
242A defendant was convicted of intentionally selecting and assaulting a person because of the victim’s race. The state had a sentencing law that allo...
243Is a law that prohibits speech before any expression takes place presumptively unconstitutional?
244To prevent litter, a city imposed a ban on both leafletting and distributing pamphlets in public areas.Does the city’s ban violate the First Amendm...
245A city council enacted a law regulating the use of the city’s parks for public protests. Under the law, to stage a protest within a city-owned park...
246A whistleblower inside the U.S. Department of State unlawfully copied classified embassy communications and sent the copies to a major national new...
247A state university noted that the more controversial an on-campus speaker was, the greater the cost of providing security for that speaker. To help...
248If a statute is void for vagueness, what does the statute fail to do?
249Under what circumstances is a law unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it is overbroad?
250Can a defendant challenge a law under the First Amendment doctrine of substantial overbreadth even if the law’s alleged overbreadth does not impact...
251A state enacted a law prohibiting the “sale of dirty books.” A store owner was charged under the law for selling graphic magazines and books that m...
252What protections does the First Amendment afford the press?
253A state passed a law governing daily and weekly newspapers. The law said that if the newspaper editorialized against a political candidate’s electi...
254Can a trial court close a judicial proceeding to the public, including the press?
255Does the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press prevent a state from imposing generally applicable taxes on the press?
256Does the Press Clause in the First Amendment give news reporters the right to refuse to testify before a grand jury about confidential information ...
257What are the three things that the First Amendment requires a public official or public figure plaintiff to show to recover damages for libel again...
258What is the freedom of association?
259Does the text of the U.S. Constitution provide express protection for the freedom of association?
260Under the First Amendment’s protection for the freedom of association, what does a private club need to show to exempt the club’s membership decisi...
261A city adopted an ordinance prohibiting all public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of gender. A public accommodation was defined as...
262What does a group need to show to establish that being forced to publicly disclose its members’ identities would violate the constitutional freedom...
263A state adopted a new campaign-finance-reform law. Under this law, if an organization engaged in supporting or opposing federal, state, or local ca...
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