Law Commons^™

The Rational Basis Test And Why It Is So Irrational: An Eighty-Year Retrospective, James M. Mcgoldrick Jr.

San Diego Law Review

The Rational Basis test is one of the most common and yet perhaps the most insignificant United States Supreme Court test in the history of the constitution, yet year in year out clients and lawyers will submit another brief hoping against hope that this time there might be a meaningful outcome. There will not be.

This article attempts to explain why the rational basis test is so irrational in its outcome, why basic interests are disregarded in the name of judicial respect for the legislative process, and how easy it would be for there to be a better outcome. The …

The Stored Communications Act: Property Law Enforcement Tool Or Instrument Of Oppression?, Raymond Boyce

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sniffing Out The Fourth Amendment: United States V. Place-Dog Sniffs-Ten Years Later, Hope Walker Hall

Maine Law Review

In the endless and seemingly futile government war against drugs, protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution may have fallen by the wayside as courts struggle to deal with drug offenders. The compelling government interest in controlling the influx of drugs all too often results in a judicial attitude that the ends justify the means. Judges can be reluctant to exclude evidence of drugs found in an unlawful search pursuant to the exclusionary rule, which provides that illegally obtained evidence may not be used at trial. The exclusion of drugs as evidence in drug cases often …

Fourth Amendment Localism, Wayne A. Logan

Indiana Law Journal

INTRODUCTION - p. 370

I. SUBNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONALISM - p. 376

A. SUBSTANTIVE LAW - p. 377

B. GEOGRAPHY - p. 379

C. RESOURCES - p. 381

II. THE LOCALISTS - p. 382

A. “NEW DEMOCRATISTS” - p. 383

B. “NEW ADMINISTRATIVISTS” - p. 386

C. SUMMARY - p. 389

III. ASSESSING LOCALISM’S LIMITS - p. 391

A. TAILORING - p. 391

B. EXPERIMENTATION - p. 399

C. TIEBOUT SORTING AND EXTERNALITIES - p. 404

IV. WHITHER FOURTH AMENDMENT LOCALISM - p. 408

A. FOURTH AMENDMENT EXCEPTIONALISM - p. 409

1. INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS - p. 409
2. STRUCTURAL DEMOCRATIC INTERESTS - p. 411 …

Whren V. United States: An Abrupt End To The Debate Over Pretextual Stops, Brian J. O'Donnell

Maine Law Review

In Whren v. United States, the United States Supreme Court held that a traffic stop is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment if a police officer has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred, even if the stop is a pretext for the investigation of a more serious offense. The Court affirmed the convictions of Michael A. Whren and James L. Brown, who had been arrested on federal drug charges after Washington, D.C., police stopped Brown for minor traffic infractions. The Court's unanimous opinion, delivered by Justice Scalia, brought an end to a long-running debate over the proper …

Standing Under State Search And Seizure Provision: Why The Minnesota Supreme Court Should Have Rejected The Federal Standards And Instead Invoked Greater Protection Under Its Own Constitution In State V. Carter, Rebecca C. Garrett

Maine Law Review

In State v. Carter, the Minnesota Supreme Court considered whether a criminal defendant had “standing” to challenge an alleged search under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, Section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution. The defendant moved to suppress evidence obtained by a police officer who had peered in the window of an apartment where the defendant was participating in a drug-packaging operation with the apartment's leaseholder. A divided court held that the defendant had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the apartment. Therefore, the defendant had standing to challenge the legality of the police officer's observations pursuant to the Fourth …

Privacy Vs. Protection: Why Tracking Mobile-Device Location Data Without A Warrant Requires A Fourth Amendment Exception, Andrew Stover

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.