Law Commons^™

Privacy: Pre- And Post-Dobbs, Rona Kaufman

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to include a fundamental right to familial privacy. The exact contours of that right were developed by the Court from 1923 until 2015 and included: (1) the right to parent-that is the right to care, custody, and control of one's children;¹ (2) a qualified right to be safe from forced sterilization;² (3) the right of married couples and single persons to determine whether to bear or beget a child, including the right to access contraception and abortion;³ (4) the right to marry …

Constitutional Law - Fifth And Fourteenth Amendments - Privilege Against Self-Incrimination - Procedure In State Criminal Trials - Jury Instructions, Terry J. Trexler

Duquesne Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a state criminal trial judge has a constitutional obligation, on a defendant's request, to instruct a jury that no inference of guilt may be drawn from a defendant's failure to testify.

Carter v. Kentucky, 101 S. Ct. 1112 (1981).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Right To Privacy - Contraceptives - Minors, Wendy T. Weil

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that a state-funded family planning center's distribution of contraceptives to minors without parental notice does not violate the parents' constitutional rights.

Doe v. Irwin, 615 F.2d 1162 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 829 (1980).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Due Process Clause - Civil Rights - Section 1983 - Corporal Punishment, Richard A. Stevens

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has held that a public school student severely injured by the use of disciplinary corporal punishment can press substantive due process claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of the fourteenth amendment right to bodily security.

Hall v. Tawney, 621 F.2d 607 (4th Cir. 1980).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Due Process Clause - Civil Rights Actions - Identification Procedures, Richard T. Mcgonigle

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has held that the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment does not require a sheriff's department to establish identification procedures to ascertain the validity of a prisoner's protests of mistaken identity so long as the prisoner's arrest was made pursuant to a validly issued warrant.

Baker v. McCollan, 99 S. Ct. 2689 (1979).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Equal Protection - Aliens' Rights - Governmental Function Doctrine, Gwendolyn M. Robosson

Duquesne Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a state may exclude aliens who have not declared an intent to become citizens from teaching in public schools.

Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68 (1979).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Due Process - Civil Commitment - Mentally Ill And Retarded Juveniles, Ramona M. Arena

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's voluntary admission and commitment procedures for mentally ill or retarded juveniles, which provide for determination by a neutral fact finder of the necessity for confinement and periodic review of the necessity for continued confinement by a similar procedure.

Secretary of Public Welfare v. Institutionalized Juveniles, 442 U.S. 640 (1979).

Constitutional Law - Fourteenth Amendment - Equal Protection Clause - Adoption - Rights Of Putative Fathers, Ronald J. Rademacher

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has held that a New York statute providing that a natural mother could withhold her consent to the adoption of her child, but denying the same right to an unwed father, violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment.

Caban v. Mohammed, 99 S. Ct. 1760 (1979).