Law Commons^™

State Courts Reject "Leon" On State Constitutional Grounds: A Defense Of Reactive Rulings, Leigh A. Morrissey

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1984, the United States Supreme Court announced a broad exception to the federal exclusionary rule' in United States v. Leon. The Court held the exclusionary rule inapplicable when police officers obtain evidence in reasonable, good faith reliance on a warrant later found to be defective. Commentators had advised against the creation of the so-called good faith exception before Leon. After Leon, they promulgated a torrent of commentary criticizing both the Leon Court's reasoning and its result. Today, because Leon does not control state constitutional decisions, the battle over the good faith exception is fought on the state level. Currently, …

Property And Liberty Reconsidered, Herman Belz

Vanderbilt Law Review

This perceptive, lucid, and sympathetic account of property rights in American constitutional law by Professor James W. Ely, Jr., is further evidence of the conservative challenge to liberal orthodoxy that has emerged in recent years in American historiography. That the book appears under the cosponsorship of the Organization of American Historians, one of the more militantly liberal scholarly associations in the United States, is a small but significant sign of the changing intellectual climate.

As conceived of in contemporary liberal historiography, protection of individual property rights is but one element of economic liberty. Equally if not more important, according to …

Quasi-Constitutional Law: Clear Statement Rules As Constitu, William N. Eskridge, Jr., Philip P. Frickey

Vanderbilt Law Review

In one of the most celebrated law review articles of all time, Karl Llewellyn argued that the traditional canons of statutory construction are not reliable guides to predicting judicial interpretations, because for every canon supporting one interpretation there is a counter-canon cutting against that interpretation. He accomplished his tour de force in large part by focusing upon the "referential" canons-rules referring the Court to an outside or preexisting source to determine statutory meaning'-and upon the "linguistic" canons-general conventions of language, grammar, and syntax. Llewellyn did not explore in any detail the "substantive" canons, the clear statement rules or presumptions of …

People's Court, Nicholas S. Zeppos

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court's opinion in Bowers v. Hardwick' contains the usual cant about the legitimacy of the judicial function. In holding that the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment does not recognize a fundamental right to practice homosexual sodomy, the Court cautioned that "[t]he Court is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution. What exactly did the Court mean? That the public would refuse to obey judicial judgments if the Court were to recognize rights not "found in" …

The Ripple Effects Of Slaughter-House: A Critique Of A Negative Rights View Of The Constitution, Michael J. Gerhardt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Upon seeing Niagara Falls for the first time, Oscar Wilde reportedly remarked that it "would be more impressive if it flowed the other way." I have a similar reaction to a series of narrow Supreme Court interpretations of the fourteenth amendment, beginning with the Slaughter-House Cases, decided in 1872, and extending to the 1989 decisions in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services. In Slaughter-House the Court interpreted the privileges or immunities clause of the fourteenth amendment as merely protecting interests other federal laws already protected, while recently the Court interpreted the due …

Another View: Our Magnificent Constitution, William B. Reynolds

Vanderbilt Law Review

Let me start with the observation that I regard myself to be most privileged to be a public servant at a time when we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Constitution a magnificent document that has, in my view, no equal in history and every reason to be feted. It is by now no revelation that the Framers would be aghast at the size and reach of government today; but they would also be enormously proud of how much of their legacy has endured. The vitality of the original Constitution, and its various amendments, is reflected by its ability to …

The Coercion Test And Conditional Federal Grants To The States, Donald J. Mizerk

Vanderbilt Law Review

In July of 1984 Congress amended the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982' to require the states either to raise their minimum drinking age to twenty-one or forfeit a percentage of their federal highway grant. This congressional action forced the states to make an extremely difficult decision. The states either could enact a law that their residents might not support or forego the federal highway funds that the states desperately needed to complete important highway improvements. Many states were displeased with both options and challenged the constitutionality of Congress' conditional spending program.

The states' legal challenge has initiated renewed discussion …

Social Order And The Limits Of Law: A Theoretical Essay, Arthur S. Miller

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Jenkins maintains that Americans demand that "the law solve all of [their] problems and secure all of [their] purposes." The result is that we "so overload the legal apparatus that it short circuits, creating a spectacular display of fireworks but affecting nothing save its own wreckage."' That assertion, even if only partially accurate, merits close and continuing attention. Jenkins' analysis of that hypothesis--that proposition-is at once thought-provoking and illuminating. We are all in his debt for having written such a challenging book, even though I have some fundamental disagreements with how he develops that theme. Jenkins' work is a …

Democracy And Distrust: A Theory Of Judicial Review, Michael Conant

Vanderbilt Law Review

This review is a critique of the major themes in Democracy and Distrust: A Theory of Judicial Review,' by Professor John Hart Ely of Harvard Law School. Ely primarily addresses the amount of discretion exercised by Supreme Court justices in deciding constitutional cases, a fundamental issue since few scholars today would contest the actual existence of the judicial review power of the Court. Ely's thorough scholarship presents a fine discussion of the Court's legitimacy when it extends its discretion beyond the base of the actual constitutional language. Professor Ely misses the mark, however, in his argument that certain open-ended constitutional …

The Civil Investigative Demand: A Constitutional Analysis And Model Proposal, Anthony J. Mcfarland

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note first traces the initial judicial reaction to administrative demands for information and administrative investigations and delineates the constitutional requirement set forth therein. The Note next examines the development of CIDs and analyzes decisions upholding their constitutionality. This Note contends that most courts either have incorrectly applied current administrative standards to the CID or have failed to apply such standards altogether. The analysis is broken down into six parts,each dealing with a separate constitutional basis for a CID challenge. Because most suits that contest CIDs are based on fourth amendment search and seizure issues, the bulk of this Note …

Police Use Of Trickery As An Interrogation Technique, James G. Thomas

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note maintains that trickery can be effectively curtailed despite the failure of Miranda to do so. This Note argues that trickery in the interrogation room is a violation of fourteenth amendment substantive due process. The Supreme Court has recently stated, in very unambiguous terms, that due process requirements exist independently of the fifth amendment Miranda requirements in the interrogation context." This Note therefore proposes an objective due process standard that would prohibit trickery. The violation of this due process standard would require the exclusion at trial of confessions induced by trickery. Because the exclusionary rule is not a sufficient …

Recent Cases, Daniel P. Smith, R. Michael Moore

Vanderbilt Law Review

Courts Split on the Necessity of Separate Authorization for a Covert Entry Under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

Daniel Paul Smith

Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,' which regulates the use of electronic surveillance, was designed to protect "the privacy of wire and oral communications,"and to delineate "on a uniform basis the circumstances and conditions under which the interception of wire and oral communications may be authorized."' In general, communications may be intercepted only by law enforcement officers, who are engaged in the investigation of …

Theodore A. Smedley And The Race Relations Law Reporter, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

Beginning in 1959, Ted Smedley served with personal distinction and national recognition as Director of the Race Relations Law Reporter and as Director and Editor of the successor publications,the Race Relations Law Survey and the Race Relations Law Index. Professor Smedley, who joined the Board of Editors of the Race Relations Law Reporter in the fall of 1957 as one of three Associate Directors, engaged in editorial activities in this dynamic and sensitive area over a seventeen-year period, an era marked by tremendous ferment and revolutionary change. The quality of his work is evident in the words published within the …

Recent Cases, James S. Hutchinson, James R. Newson, Iii, Andrew W. Byrd, Judith Mi. Janssen, John E. Tavss

Vanderbilt Law Review

Civil Procedure--Attorney-Client Privilege-- Privilege Protects Communications Made by Corporate Employee To Secure Legal Advice and a Matter Committed to a Professional Legal Advisor Is Prima Facie Committed To Secure Legal Advice

James S. Hutchinson

attorney-client privilege, the "predominance" test, legal activities

In summary, courts have not yet resolved how to determine who may qualify as the corporate client for purposes of the attorney-client privilege...

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Constitutional Law-- Confrontation Clause-Admission at Trial of Slain Informant's

Prior Grand Jury Testimony Against Defendants Does …

Parker And Usery: Portended Constitutional Limits On The Federal Interdiction Of Anticompetitive State Action, Mark L. Davidson, Robert D. Butters

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article examines in detail the policies underlying these recent Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Sherman Act and shows that they have equal applicability to FTC enforcement of the Clayton and FTC Acts. The Article identifies the factual criteria used by the courts for distinguishing state and private conduct that is subject to the antitrust laws, and to congressional commerce dictates, from sovereign state regulatory conduct that is immune from antitrust sanction. The Article then focuses on the impact of Usery, which provides constitutional support for the so-called state action doctrine that was originated in Parker v. Brown. Finally, we …

Recent Cases, Robert E. Banta, Oby T. Brewer, Iii, Cornelia A. Clark, I. Terry Currie, Douglas W. Ey, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law-First Amendment-School Authorities May Prohibit High School Student's Distribution of Sex Questionnaire to Prevent Possible Psychological Harm to Other Students Robert Edward Banta

Plaintiff, editor of a high school publication,' brought suit in federal court seeking an order compelling defendant school officials to allow the student publication to distribute a sex questionnaire,to students in the high school and to publish the results. Plaintiff claimed that defendants had not shown that the planned distribution would disrupt school activities and that, therefore, defendants'prohibition of the questionnaire violated 42 U.S.C. § 19831 and the first and fourteenth amendments. Pointing to potential psychological …

The Influence Of James B. Thayer Upon The Work Of Holmes, Brandeis, And Frankfurter, Wallace Mendelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

James Bradley Thayer was one of the major figures in American constitutional law if only because of his influence upon Holmes, Brandeis, and Frankfurter (to say nothing of Learned and Augustus Hand). Now almost forgotten, Thayer, along with Christopher Columbus Langdell, John Chipman Gray, and James Barr Ames, was one of the giants at the Harvard Law School during its "golden age"at the close of the nineteenth century.' His legal career began only after serious flirtation with divinity and the Greek and Latin classics. That his interest in such matters was never suppressed entirely is evident in his "A Western …

Recent Cases, John P. Kelly, G. David Dodd

Vanderbilt Law Review

The principle that the government must not only refrain from providing special preference to a particular religion, but, that it also must stand apart from religion in general is abridged once the government seeks to provide sustenance to religious interests. Government neutrality is preserved, however, when the government merely provides fertile ground on which religious interests can thrive independently. Because state-imposed employment accommodation of religious precepts creates proselytizing opportunities" upon which religious interests flourish and because there is no overriding government interest in requiring such accommodation, Title VII's Randolph Amendment transgresses establishment clause prohibitions.

John P. Kelly

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The court …

Recent Cases, James H. Lokey, Jr., Stephen D. Goodwin, Charles L. Jarik

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Criminal Procedure-Circuits Split over Application of Stone v. Powell's "Opportunity for Full and Fair Litigation"

James H. Lokey, Jr.

In Stone v. Powell,' the third 1976 decision, the Supreme Court made a limited but distinct break with precedent. Stone held that a state prisoner may not be granted federal habeas relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure was introduced at his trial as long as the state has provided an "opportunity for full and fair litigation" of his fourth amendment claim." The Court, as noted previously, did not define what kind of "opportunity" …

Recent Cases, Samuel E. Stumpf, Jr., M. Carolyn Barefield, Robert S. Reder, Stephen C. Morton, Randolph C. Coley

Vanderbilt Law Review

Noerr-Pennington Immunity for Joint Efforts to Influence Governmental Action - Intent to Cause Competitive Injury, Evidenced by Repeated, Baseless Opposition Before an Adjudicatory Body, Does Not Result in Loss of Noerr-Pennington Immunity Absent Specific Allegations of Conduct External to or Abusive of the Adjutory Processes

Samuel E. Stumpf, Jr.

Constitutional Law - First Amendment - Student's Right to Receive Information Precludes Board's Removal of Allegedly Offensive Books from High School Library

M. Carolyn Barefield

Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure - Federal Courts Are Bound by Federal Wiretapping Statutes and Will Not Exclude Evidence Seized by State Agents in Violation of More …

Recent Cases, Laurence M. Hamric, William G. Scott, Mitchell M. Purvis, George M. Kryder, Iii, Richard M. Pitt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Laurence M. Hamric

The instant decision demonstrates the inability of the Court, on its own or with the meager guidance provided by Congress, to discern a clear standard by which to measure the propriety of union organizational activity in light of current federal labor and antitrust law. Faced with a fact pattern that did not embody an apparent anticompetitive intent, a classic conspiracy between labor and non-labor entities, or activity clearly unrelated to the legitimate union interest in achieving better wages and working conditions, the Court was forced to abandon the "clear showing" test of Pennington," the"intimately related" test of …

Recent Cases, Richard T. Hurt, Jay D. Christiansen, William J. Rees, William D. Gutermuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Action Under Color of State Law--Legislative Authorization of Private Action Resembling Public Function Constitutes Action Under Color of State Law

The instant case creates a two to two split in the circuits on the question whether the seizure of a tenant's possessions under a land-lord lien statute is action under color of state law. The decisions in Davis and Anastasia provide the potential for abuse that Fuentes was designed to prevent-the indiscriminate entry into the debtor's home and seizure of his belongings without prior notice and hearing.Hall and the instant opinion, however, provide a more equitable result. While the …

Recent Cases, Walter S. Weems, Mary M. Schaffner, Ronald G. Harris

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law-State and Local Tax-- Nondiscriminatory Ad Valorem Property Tax on Imports Stored in Warehouse Pending Sale Is Not Prohibited by Import-Export Clause

The framers of the Constitution enacted the import-export clause with the apparent intent that it remedy shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation and achieve specified national goals. Since the Articles of Confederation allowed individual states to regulate commerce as they saw fit, the seaboard stales, through whose ports goods in foreign commerce had to pass, were able to impose duties on imports destined for inland states. One reason for the import-export clause was to preserve harmony among …

The Constitutionality Of The Multistate Tax Compact, Robert M. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is now firmly established that states have the constitutional power to tax multistate businesses on net income reasonably attributable to activity within the taxing state. Within this legal frame-work, limited only by Public Law 86-272, the states have fashioned separate and diverse rules for the taxation of multistate corporations.'The recently formed Multistate Tax Compact provides an efficient alternative to both the present disarray of state statutes and possible federal regulation of interstate taxation. The principal purposes of the Compact are to establish uniform rules for determining state tax liabilities of multistate taxpayers, to eliminate ineffective tax administration and the …

Special Project, Kenneth Harmon, Barbara Moss, W. Patrick Mulloy, Ii, Robert H. Brownlee, Walter T. Eccard, Michael D. Kelly, Timothy C. Maguire, Richard M. Pitt, Stephen K. Rush, Robert D. Tuke, Richard C. Stark Special Project Editor

Vanderbilt Law Review

The One Hundred and First Justice: An Analysis of the Opinions of Justice John Paul Stevens, Sitting as Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

This article will examine the opinions written by Mr. Justice Stevens while he served on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The areas examined are constitutional, antitrust, labor, securities, federal tax, administrative, and federal jurisdictional law. This article also will seek to reach some conclusions on Stevens' position in the several areas while he served on the Seventh Circuit and to suggest the factors he may consider important in deciding cases in …

Recent Cases, Susan E. Dominick, Robert D. Butters, Walter T. Eccard

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion, although couched in absolute terms, has never been considered an absolute right. The first significant free exercise case, Reynolds v.United States,' upheld the conviction of a Mormon polygamist who claimed a religious exemption from the bigamy laws on the basis of the first amendment. The Court held that while Congress was left powerless to legislate in matters of mere opinion, it was nonetheless" left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order."'

Susan E. Dominick

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The instant decision appears to be the …

The Less Restrictive Alternative In Constitutional Adjudication: An Analysis, A Justification, And Some Criteria, Robert M. Bastress, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The past two decades have witnessed enormous changes in both substantive constitutional law and the courts' approach to constitutional questions. The frequent application of the doctrine of less restrictive alternatives has been a factor of increasingly significant proportions in effecting these changes. Although the doctrine has long been part of our jurisprudence,' it did not begin to have a serious impact until the Warren Court years, and, despite its widely diversified use today, the concept is almost always applied without discussion. Succinctly and broadly stated, the doctrine requires that a state not employ a specific means to accomplish an admittedly …

The Court, The Constitution, And Chief Justice Burger, William F. Swindler

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although the constitutional crisis of 1973 has not yet demanded a definitive response from the Supreme Court, it obviously has established a landmark in the ultimate history of Warren Burger's Chief Justiceship. While the unprecedented confrontation between executive and judiciary was not carried beyond the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Burger's old court,' and although the prospective confrontation between executive and Congress did not--at least in its first round-- reach a stage of review on the merits, the questions presented went to the cornerstones of Anglo-American constitutional theory itself. The case of Vice President Agnew raised issues …

Constitutional Limitations On Income Taxes In Tennessee, Walter P. Armstrong, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Until either article 2, section 28 or the judicial construction of that section is modified, Tennessee will be unable to levy a general personal income tax. The revenue needs of the state will rise dramatically during the next twenty years, placing increasing strain on the antiquated and regressive privilege-property tax structure no win effect.' As noted earlier, a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing a personal income tax does not appear to be a likely prospect for the foreseeable future. The only feasible solution seems to be the passage of a nongraduated income tax, such as that proposed by the Tax Modernization …

Recent Cases, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust Law--Robinson-Patman Act--To Satisfy the "In Commerce" Requirement of Section 2(a) at Least One of the Allegedly Discriminatory Sales in a Secondary-Line Case Must Cross a State Line

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Exclusion of Pregnancy-Related Disabilities from State Salary Compensation Insurance Program Denies Equal Protection to Pregnant Employees

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Criminal Procedure--Grand Juries--Exclusionary Rule in Search and Seizure Cases Does Not Apply to Grand Jury Proceedings

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Securities Regulation-Rule 10b-5--Plaintiffs Who Are Neither Purchasers nor Sellers of Securities May Recover Under Rule 10b-5 if Injured in Their Capacity as Investors as a Direct Consequence of Fraud in Connection with a Securities Transaction …