Digital Commons Network^™

"Mosaic Theory" And Megan's Laws, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This essay urges reexamination of the privacy implications of registration and community notification (RCN) laws, commonly known as Megan’s Laws. Applying the analytic construct recently employed by the D.C. Circuit in United States v. Maynard to conclude that extended use of a GPS tracking device constitutes a search for Fourth Amendment purposes, the essay argues that the collection and aggregation of registrant data entailed in RCN implicates a protectable Fourteenth Amendment privacy interest. In both contexts, the government collects nominally public data – in Maynard, car travel, with RCN, registrants’ home/work/school addresses, physical traits, etc. – and creates an informational …

Realizing Padilla's Promise: Ensuring Noncitizen Defendants Are Advised Of The Immigration Consequences Of A Criminal Convictions, Yolanda Vazquez

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

On March 31, 2010 the United States Supreme court decided Padilla v. Kentucky and created a Sixth Amendment duty for defense attorneys to advise defendants of the immigration consequences of a criminal conviction. While Padilla answered the broad question of whether there is a duty to advise a defendant under the Sixth Amendment, it left many questions unanswered. One critical inquiry is how defense attorneys and the courts will determine what advice concerning the immigration consequences of the criminal conviction will satisfy defense counsels’ Sixth Amendment duty under Padilla.

This Article discusses the potential detrimental impact of Padilla’s ambiguous holding …

Police Mistakes Of Law, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This Article addresses something that most Americans would consider a constitutional impossibility: police officers stopping or arresting individuals for lawful behavior and courts deeming such seizures reasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes, thereby precluding application of the exclusionary rule. Today, however, an increasing number of courts condone seizures based on what they consider “reasonable” police mistakes of law, typically concerning petty offenses, and permit evidence secured as a result to support prosecutions for unrelated, more serious offenses (usually relating to guns or drugs). The Article surveys the important rule-of-law, separation-of-powers, and legislative-accountability reasons supporting continued judicial adherence to the historic no-excuse …

Prosecuting Terrorism: The Material Support Statute And Muslim Charities, Michael G. Freedman

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The federal law prohibiting the provision of material support to terrorist organizations has been no stranger to controversy. From its politically charged origins through its repeated amendment after September 11, 2001, it has remained an important, but often critiqued, weapon in the government's legal response to terrorism. The most prominent legal challenge to the law lasted over a decade. It culminated in June 2010, when the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. The Court's opinion, however, correctly recognized that important questions remain unresolved.

One such question, which this Note addresses, …

Closing The Door On Misconduct: Rethinking The Ethical Standards That Govern Summations In Criminal Trials, Daniel S. Medwed

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Closing argument is the most pivotal moment in a criminal trial. It represents the last opportunity for prosecutors to convince jurors of the defendant's guilt and for defense lawyers to show reasonable doubt. As a result, criminal lawyers may be tempted to conclude with sweeping arguments that pull at the heartstrings of their target audience, the jury. Scholars dating back to Aristotle have warned that the most persuasive arguments often contain an appeal to emotion-and that emotionally laden rhetoric can distract people from making rational choices.

Legal ethicists have struggled with the issues surrounding closing arguments, trying to reconcile the …

Every Step You Take, They'll Be Watching You: The Legal And Practical Implications Of Lifetime Gps Monitoring Of Sex Offenders, Sarah Shekhter

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

In 2006, California voters passed Proposition 63 ("Jessica's Law") which, among other provisions, required lifetime GPS monitoring of sex offenders. So far, California has only succeeded in fixing GPS devices to registered sex offenders on parole, yet this already constitutes the largest use of GPS monitoring anywhere in the world. A proper analysis of the constitutional issues surrounding electronic surveillance of parolees, probationers, and the released is warranted before further implementation.

This note explores past constitutional challenges to surveillance technology and sex offender legislation, applying their analyses to lifetime monitoring of sex offenders. It concludes that lifetime GPS monitoring threatens …

The U.S. Supreme Court Gets It Right In Arizona V. Gant: Justifications For Rules Protect Constitutional Rights, Shenequa L. Grey

St. Thomas Law Review

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the justifications or rationales for legal principles form the basis for compliance with the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and that therefore, failure to comply with those justifications leads to unconstitutional searches and seizures. Strict compliance with the underlying justifications prevents the courts from circumventing the Constitution by establishing a rule, then expanding it beyond its intended purpose. This article demonstrates and reiterates that compliance with the underlying justifications for establishing rules is essential to protecting individual constitutional rights. In addressing these issues, Part I of this article gives …

In Order To Be Silent, You Must First Speak: The Supreme Court Extends Davis's Clarity Requirement To The Right To Remain Silent In Berghuis V. Thompkins, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. 423 (2011), Harvey Gee

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

One Day Criminal Careers: The Armed Career Criminal Act's Different Occassions Provisions, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. 963 (2011), Jenny W.L. Osborne

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Morality Through The Common Law And Exclusionary Zoning, George P. Smith Ii, Gregory P. Bailey

Scholarly Articles

The extent to which a free society seeks to regulate sexual expression is problematic. What was defined as immoral or contra bonos mores in the 20th century, has become less of an issue in today’s liberal society. Freedom of sexual intimacy and expression are, to be sure, 1st Amendment and 14th Amendment rights. But, with every assertion of a fundamental right or liberty must come a concomitant understanding that there is a co-ordinate responsibility to exercise that right reasonably. Determining the reasonableness of any conduct grounded in these two amendments must be fact sensitive and guided by community standards. Broad, …

Differentiating The Federal Circuit, Elizabeth I. Winston

Scholarly Articles

In 1982, Congress created the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Often referred to as an experiment, the Federal Circuit has flourished. Born again from the ashes of its predecessors, the aptly nicknamed Phoenix Court continues to grow in significance, stature, and strength. As it grows, however, the court remains rooted in its history and in its unique nature. This Article explores the Federal Circuit’s structure and its impact on the development of Federal Circuit jurisprudence. The Federal Circuit is distinguishable by more than its national jurisdiction – the very essence of the court sets it apart …

California Penal Code Sec. 270.1: A Constitutionally Impermissible Attempt To Combat Truancy, Alison Cordova

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

In the 2008-2009 academic school year, over a quarter of the California public school student population was truant. There is a well established correlation between truancy and dropping out of high school. And high school dropouts make up over three quarters of the prison population of the State of California.

Responding to this alarming domino effect, the California Legislature enacted Penal Code section 270.1 in September, 2010. This statute imposes criminal liability on parents of chronically truant students for not encouraging or supervising their child's school attendance. While the aim of this law is clearly to attack criminality before it …

Material Witness Detentions After Al-Kidd, Wesley Macneil Oliver

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Spreading The Wealth: Is Asset Forfeiture The Key To Enticing Local Agencies To Enforce Federal Drug Laws, David T. Gibson

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The "War on Drugs" has proven a costly program for the federal government. One of the ways that this ambitious and resource intensive effort has sustained itself is through asset forfeiture of property previously held by criminals. By seizing title to confiscated property that has been used directly in drug crimes or indirectly to further a criminal conspiracy, the government has been able to absorb substantial resources to further its efforts in waging its drug war against drug criminals.

Asset forfeiture is a powerful tool wielded by law enforcement, and can quickly and effectly shut down drug production and trafficking …

How To Hold A State Constitutional Convention In The Twenty-First Century, 44 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 603 (2011), Ann Lousin

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Although few states have held constitutional conventions in recent decades, there is renewed interest in holding state constitutional conventions in the twenty-first century. This Essay explains the author's views on holding such a convention, based on her experience in Illinois and with a view toward a California convention. The author believes that the two keys to a successful convention in the twenty-first century are extensive preparation and transparency. Only with preparation can the delegates and staff of a convention draft a document worthy of adoption. Only with great transparency of the process, especially in the Internet age, can the citizens …

Rid Of Habeas Corpus - How Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Has Endangered Access To The Writ Of Habeas Corpus And What The Supreme Court Can Do In Maples And Martinez To Restore It, 45 Creighton L. Rev. 185 (2011), Hugh Mundy

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Incendiary Speech And Social Media, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

Incidents illustrating the incendiary capacity of social media have rekindled concerns about the "mismatch" between existing doctrinal categories and new types of dangerous speech. This Essay examines two such incidents, one in which an offensive tweet and YouTube video led a hostile audience to riot and murder, and the other in which a blogger urged his nameless, faceless audience to murder federal judges. One incident resulted in liability for the speaker even though no violence occurred; the other did not lead to liability for the speaker even though at least thirty people died as a result of his words. An …

When The Evil Day Comes, Will Title Vii's Disparate Impact Provision Be Narrowly Tailored To Survive An Equal Protection Clause Challenge, Eang Ngov

Faculty Articles

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Employers must be careful about the intentional and unintentional effect of their employment practices, even when acting with good motive. Title VII’s disparate impact provision holds employers liable for employment practices that cause an adverse impact on racial groups, even when the employment practice applies equally to all groups and was not implemented to disadvantage a particular group. A prima facie case of disparate impact can arise solely based on numbers - a comparison between the rate at which one racial group passes a test or is selected for hiring or …

Imaginary Threats To Government's Expressive Interests, Helen Norton

Publications

The Supreme Court’s emerging government speech doctrine permits the government to refuse to allow other parties to join, and thus change or distort, its own message. In this way, the government speech doctrine appropriately protects government’s legitimate – and valuable – expressive interests by providing a defense to free speech clause claims by private speakers who seek to compel the government to deliver their own views. Too often, however, governmental bodies are asserting their own expressive interests to claim – and some courts are permitting them to exercise – the power to punish private parties’ speech that does not threaten …

A Standard For Salvation: Evaluating “Hybrid-Rights” Free-Exercise Claims, William J. Haun

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pro-Gun Property Regulation: How The State Of Oklahoma Controls The Property Rights Of Employers Through Firearm Legislation, J. Blake Patton

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional And Contractual Controversy Of Suspicionless Drug Testing Of Public School Teachers, Amanda H. Cooley, Marka B. Fleming, Gwendolyn Mcfadden Wade

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Roberts’ Rules: The Assertiveness Of Rules-Based Jurisprudence, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reasoning About The Irrational: The Roberts Court And The Future Of Constitutional Law, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

Commentary on the future direction of the Roberts Court generally falls along lines that correlate with the commentators' political views on the desirability of the Court's recent decisions. A more informative approach is to look for opinions suggesting changes in the presuppositions with which the Justices approach constitutional decision making. In footnote 27 in his opinion for the Court in the District of Columbia v. Heller Second Amendment decision, Justice Scalia suggested a fundamental revision of the Court's assumptions about the role of judicial doctrine, and the concept of rationality, in constitutional law. Justice Scalia would eliminate the normative aspects …

The Regrettable Clause: United States V. Comstock And The Powers Of Congress, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, Powell argues that in Comstock, the Court encountered one of the oldest and most basic constitutional issues about the scope of congressional power-whether there are justiciable limits to the range of legitimate ends Congress may pursue. The Justices, without fully recognizing the fact, were taking sides in an ancient debate, and in doing so, they inadvertently reopened an issue that ought to be deemed long settled. Part II of the Article first addresses the question before the Court in Comstock, which was limited to a pure question of Article I law: is a specific provision of a …

Advocacy, True Threats, And The First Amendment, Mark Strasser

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Brandenburg v. Ohio is thought by many to represent an extremely speech-protective doctrine. Yet, much of the protection offered by Brandenburg can easily be swallowed up by the true threat doctrine, which provides the basis for a robust exception to First Amendment protections. Both the Brandenburg protections and the true threat exception are important to maintain-the great challenge for the Court is to include both within the formulation and articulation of First Amendment jurisprudence so that sufficient protection is afforded to the implicated societal and the individual interests represented by each. Regrettably, rather than provide helpful guidelines that would establish …

State Constitutionalism: State-Court Deference Or Dissonance?, Arthur Leavens

Faculty Scholarship

This Article focuses on the debate concerning state constitutional expansion of criminal-procedure protections. It examines two such rights: (1) the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; and (2) the right to the assistance of counsel in defending a criminal case. Each of these rights is embodied in both the federal and most, if not all, state constitutions. Each right is thus doubly applicable to the states, first, through the federal version by virtue of its incorporation into the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process protection and, second, through the state constitution’s version of the cognate right. So focused, the question is, what …

The Methodology Of Comparative Law, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Beware Of Wooden Nickels: The Paradox Of Florida's Legislative Overreaction In The Wake Of Kelo, Ann Marie Cavazos

Journal Publications

This article addresses Florida's reaction to the United States Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In Kelo, the Court provided a more expansive view of "the public use" of the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause to include taking property from one private owner and transferring it to a corporation or non-private citizen when the transfer is deemed by the lawmakers to be in the public good or for a public purpose. Florida, together with several other states, concluded that such eminent domain takings, while constitutionally permissible, offend the states' sense of fair play as it relates to …

A Hypothetical Postulate For The Polemic Of Extraordinary Rendition Vis-A-Vis The Paradigm Of Asymmetric Warfare, John C. Duncan, Jr.

Journal Publications

This article presents a controversial hypothetical approach to a side of the polemic regarding extraordinary rendition. War is not always controlled by rules, fairness, or ethics. The United States would prefer the foregoing if forced to go to war, but the enemy may not follow the same approach. As a result, the United States becomes hampered by unilaterally self-imposed rules and standards. Conceivably, we could fail to achieve our military objective because of the enemy's adherence to a very different approach and beliefs regarding warfare. Were we to have the privilege of fighting under relatively similar rules with the other …