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Full-Text Articles in Law
The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry
The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry
Seattle University Law Review
If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …
Court’S Choice Of Law Ruling Undermines Washington Community Property Law: A Critique Of Shanghai Commercial Bank V. Chang, Brian D. Hulse
Court’S Choice Of Law Ruling Undermines Washington Community Property Law: A Critique Of Shanghai Commercial Bank V. Chang, Brian D. Hulse
Seattle University Law Review
This Article deals with the issues that arise when Washington courts face the following scenario. One spouse enters into a contract without the joinder (and perhaps without the knowledge) of the other spouse. Both spouses are domiciled in Washington. The contract has contacts with one or more jurisdictions other than Washington and is generally governed as to validity and interpretation by the law of another jurisdiction. The contracting spouse defaults and the other party to the contract obtains a judgment on the contract. The court confronts a question about the property to which the plaintiff will have recourse to collect …
Policing For Profit: A Constitutional Analysis Of Washington State’S Civil Forfeiture Laws, Julia Doherty
Policing For Profit: A Constitutional Analysis Of Washington State’S Civil Forfeiture Laws, Julia Doherty
Seattle University Law Review
The summer of 2020 reignited a conversation about the relationship between race and policing in the United States. While many have taken the opportunity to scrutinize the racially discriminate components of our criminal justice system, comparable aspects of civil law must be equally scrutinized. A particular area of concern pertains to racially biased policing and the concept of “policing for profits” with Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities (BIPOC), which is accomplished mainly through civil asset forfeiture at a state and federal level.
Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law: 2019 Update, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Debra L. Stephens
Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law: 2019 Update, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Debra L. Stephens
Seattle University Law Review
This survey is intended to serve as a resource to which Washington lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, and others can turn as an authoritative starting point for researching Washington search and seizure law. In order to be useful as a research tool, this Survey requires periodic updates to address new cases interpreting the Washington constitution and the U.S. Constitution and to reflect the current state of the law. Many of these cases involve the Washington State Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Washington constitution. Also, as the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to examine Fourth Amendment search and seizure jurisprudence, its …
A Constitutional Critique On The Criminalization Of Panhandling In Washington State, Drew Sena
A Constitutional Critique On The Criminalization Of Panhandling In Washington State, Drew Sena
Seattle University Law Review
Individuals who have lost everything—their homes, jobs, and dignity—are often forced to live on the street. Those with no reasonable alternative can find themselves relying on the generosity of others just to survive. In response, citizens petition, legislatures enact, and officers enforce laws that criminalize signs of visible poverty. Municipalities have made considerable attempts to remove visible poverty from their cities by drafting legislation that disproportionately punishes people experiencing homelessness. This Note focuses on a particular subset of such legislation, laws that criminalize panhandling. Section I of this Note provides an overview of the First Amendment and the protection of …
"Home Rule" Vs. "Dillon's Rule" For Washington Cities, Hugh Spitzer
"Home Rule" Vs. "Dillon's Rule" For Washington Cities, Hugh Spitzer
Seattle University Law Review
This Article focuses on the tension between the late-nineteenth century “Dillon’s Rule” limiting city powers, and the “home rule” approach that gained traction in the early and mid-twentieth century. Washington’s constitution allows cities to exercise all the police powers possessed by the state government, so long as local regulations do not conflict with general laws. The constitution also vests charter cities with control over their form of government. But all city powers are subject to “general laws” adopted by the legislature. Further, judicial rulings on city powers to provide public services have fluctuated, ranging from decisions citing the “Dillon’s Rule” …
License To Discriminate: How A Washington Florist Is Making The Case For Applying Intermediary Scrutiny To Sexual Orientation, Kendra Lacour
License To Discriminate: How A Washington Florist Is Making The Case For Applying Intermediary Scrutiny To Sexual Orientation, Kendra Lacour
Seattle University Law Review
Over the past few decades, the debate over sexual orientation has risen to the forefront of civil rights issues. Though the focus has generally been on the right to marriage, peripheral issues associated with the right to marriage—and with sexual orientation generally—have become more common in recent years. As the number of states permitting same-sex marriage—along with states prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation—increases, so too does the conflict between providers of public accommodations and those seeking their services. Never is this situation more problematic than when religious beliefs are cited as the basis for denying services to …
Taxing Judicial Restraint: How Washington's Supreme Court Misinterpreted Its Role And The Washington State Constitution, Nicholas Carlson
Taxing Judicial Restraint: How Washington's Supreme Court Misinterpreted Its Role And The Washington State Constitution, Nicholas Carlson
Seattle University Law Review
In the realm of constitutional interpretation, the judicial department reigns supreme. League of Education Voters v. State exemplifies the judiciary’s potential abuse of its interpretative role: The Washington Supreme Court misinterpreted its judicial function because it ignored the text of Washington State’s constitution and held a statute unconstitutional. The court, therefore, voided a statute because of judicial volition, not because Washington’s constitution demanded that outcome. This Note challenges the reasoning in League and makes a novel suggestion for Washington State constitutional analysis, an approach that may apply to other states. This Note details a new analytical framework for constitutional analysis …
O.P.P.: How "Occupy's" Race-Based Privilege May Improve Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence For All, Lenese C. Herbert
O.P.P.: How "Occupy's" Race-Based Privilege May Improve Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence For All, Lenese C. Herbert
Seattle University Law Review
This Article submits that Occupy’s race problem could, ironically, prove to be a solution if protesters grow more serious about exposing the injury of political subordination and systems of privilege that adhere to the criminal justice system. Privilege is a “systemic conferral of benefit and advantage [as a result of] affiliation, conscious or not and chosen or not, to the dominant side of a power system.” Accordingly, now that police mistreatment affects them personally, Occupy may finally help kill a fictitious Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that ignores oppression through improper policing based on racial stigma. Occupy may also help usher in …
Compassion Inaction: Why President Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives Violate The Establishment Clause, Martha A. Boden
Compassion Inaction: Why President Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives Violate The Establishment Clause, Martha A. Boden
Seattle University Law Review
The Administration's Faith-Based Initiatives would fail a constitutional challenge under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Applying the three-pronged test developed in Lemon v. Kurtzman and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, this Comment concludes that the Initiatives, (1) though purportedly secular, have been enacted for a sectarian purpose and are not neutral toward religion; (2) are coercive and fail to fulfill the condition of private choice because the rural poor, such as those in Franklin County, Washington, whom the Initiatives target, realistically cannot choose between non-religious and sectarian service providers; and (3) to the extent that Initiative funded programs can …
Sexual Violence, Sanity, And Safety: Constitutional Parameters For Involuntary Civil Commitment Of Sex Offenders, Beth Keiko Fujimoto
Sexual Violence, Sanity, And Safety: Constitutional Parameters For Involuntary Civil Commitment Of Sex Offenders, Beth Keiko Fujimoto
Seattle University Law Review
This Comment will address two questions: (1) whether the Washington law is substantially similar to or fundamentally different from the Illinois statute; and (2) whether the Washington statute should be upheld as a constitutional exercise of the state's civil commitment authority under Allen v. Illinois. This Comment argues that the Washington scheme is fundamentally different from the Illinois statute under Allen because it is essentially a lifetime preventive detention scheme and therefore fails to meet the constitutional requirements set forth in Allen. To that end, Part II of this Comment generally explores the involuntary commitment of sex offenders, …
Washington's Closed-Circuit Testimony Statute: An Exception To The Confrontation Clause To Protect Victims In Child Abuse Prosecutions, Karen R. Hornbeck
Washington's Closed-Circuit Testimony Statute: An Exception To The Confrontation Clause To Protect Victims In Child Abuse Prosecutions, Karen R. Hornbeck
Seattle University Law Review
This Comment argues that E.S.H.B. 2809 should be recognized as an exception to the Confrontation Clause by the Supreme Courts of the United States and Washington. This argument rests upon the premise that E.S.H.B. 2809 falls within the boundaries set by previously recognized exceptions to the hearsay rule and by federal and Washington case law. Indeed, the reliability and trustworthiness of the victim's testimony should not turn on the child's ability to withstand the additional psychological trauma often induced by in-court testimony.' Rather, the special problems that these children bring to the courtroom demand compliance with a statute such as …
Framers Intent: The Illegitimate Uses Of History, Pierre Schlag
Framers Intent: The Illegitimate Uses Of History, Pierre Schlag
Seattle University Law Review
In this Article, I will present a series of attacks on intentionalism. My efforts are aimed at eroding the high ground that the intentionalist position appears to enjoy in the interpretation of state and federal constitutions. Currently, one almost has to justify departure from the framers intent in advancing a nonconforming constitutional interpretation. This Article is an attempt to reverse this assumed burden of persuasion.
Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law, Justice Robert F. Utter
Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law, Justice Robert F. Utter
Seattle University Law Review
This Survey is designed to assist lawyers and judges who must argue and resolve search and seizure issues in Washington State. The Survey summarizes the controlling state and federal cases on search and seizure law and uses as an additional reference W. LAFAVE, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment (1978). Washington courts are likely to analyze future search and seizure issues under both the fourth amendment and Washington Constitution article I, section 7. The difference in wording between the two provisions is substantial, suggesting different degrees or types of privacy protection. This Survey summarizes the predominant treatment …
An Analytical View Of Recent "Lending Of Credit" Decisions In Washington State, Hugh Spitzer
An Analytical View Of Recent "Lending Of Credit" Decisions In Washington State, Hugh Spitzer
Seattle University Law Review
This Article first presents an analytic framework for assessing government actions that present possible violations of article VIII, sections 5 and 7, and then analyzes five recent cases interpreting those provisions.
The Right To Speak, Write, And Publish Freely: State Constitutional Protection Against Private Abridgment, Justice Robert F. Utter
The Right To Speak, Write, And Publish Freely: State Constitutional Protection Against Private Abridgment, Justice Robert F. Utter
Seattle University Law Review
This Article presents an independent analysis of a fundamental aspect of the free speech provision of the Washington Declaration of Rights, which closely resembles the free speech provisions of many other state constitutions. The focus is on whether the Washington free speech provision protects Washingtonians against abridgment of their speech and press rights by private individuals and organizations. To answer this question, this Article examines the nature of state constitutions and government, the case law of other jurisdictions interpreting similar provisions, the text of the Washington provision, the origins of the provision, the historical background of the Washington Constitutional Convention, …
The Washington Constitutional "State Action" Doctrine: A Fundamental Right To State Action, David M. Skover
The Washington Constitutional "State Action" Doctrine: A Fundamental Right To State Action, David M. Skover
Seattle University Law Review
The time is ripe to establish the nature of the Washington "state action" doctrine and its theoretical purposes, and to evaluate its capacity to serve the functions justifying its existence. This Article will perform this exegesis. This Article proposes the dismantlement of the Washington "state action" doctrine and the recognition that cases involving competing private claims of state constitutional liberties present justiciable controversies that must be decided by conscious and comprehensive judicial investigation of the merits.
Seizing Opportunity, Searching For Theory: Article I, Section 7, George R. Nock
Seizing Opportunity, Searching For Theory: Article I, Section 7, George R. Nock
Seattle University Law Review
Washington case law dealing with searches and seizures has now reached a developmental stage from which it can proceed either haphazardly or along any of several well-defined lines. The purpose of this Article is not to provide a compendium of Washington search-and-seizure cases. Rather, the Article analyzes the more recent (and some of the earlier) cases in which the Washington Supreme Court has interpreted article I, section 7, and suggests several alternative theoretical bases for the further development of Washington constitutional search-and-seizure jurisprudence.
A Constitutional Right To An Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks Of Erroneous Conviction, James E. Lobsenz
A Constitutional Right To An Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks Of Erroneous Conviction, James E. Lobsenz
Seattle University Law Review
The many consequences of "constitutionalizing" the right to appeal become evident only when one answers certain underlying questions about the nature of an appeal. What are the essential elements of an appeal? Why should we view the criminal defendant's right to appeal as an element of due process of law? Part II of this Article seeks to develop a theoretical due process framework for use in deciding when the right to appeal under article I, section 22 of the Washington Constitution has been unconstitutionally abridged or denied. Part III contains an analysis of oral argument as an essential element of …
The Establishment Clause And The Free Exercise Clause Of The Washington Constitution—A Proposal To The Supreme Court, Frank J. Conklin, James M. Vaché
The Establishment Clause And The Free Exercise Clause Of The Washington Constitution—A Proposal To The Supreme Court, Frank J. Conklin, James M. Vaché
Seattle University Law Review
This Article traces the independent development in the case law interpreting the Washington Constitution and in the drafting of the document itself. It is the position of the authors that the strict approach and consequent rigorous, independent analysis by the Washington court is not a necessary or appropriate method of deciding church-state issues, at least in many contexts. When examining establishment clause issues under the state constitution, the Washington State Supreme Court should therefore modify its previous position and adopt a more common-sense approach in lieu of the doctrinaire rigidity that has characterized prior opinions.
Washington's Equal Rights Amendment: It Says What It Means And It Means What It Says, Patricia L. Proebsting
Washington's Equal Rights Amendment: It Says What It Means And It Means What It Says, Patricia L. Proebsting
Seattle University Law Review
This Comment begins with a discussion of the ERA's legislative history and the legislature's attempt to bring state statutes into compliance with the ERA upon its passage. Next, judicial interpretations of the new constitutional guarantee are compared to the interpretation of the Washington Constitution's privileges and immunities clause. Finally, the Comment compares Washington's standard of review with a similar standard used by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and argues that the Washington Supreme Court should adopt the absolute standard applied by the Pennsylvania courts.
Search, Seizure, And Section 7: Standing From Salvucci To Simpson, Mark H. Adams, George R. Nock
Search, Seizure, And Section 7: Standing From Salvucci To Simpson, Mark H. Adams, George R. Nock
Seattle University Law Review
This article traces the evolution of automatic standing from Jones v. United States to United States v. Salvucci and discusses the approach that has replaced the Jones rule in the Supreme Court. It then discusses the Washington Supreme Court’s continued adherence to the automatic standing rule, despite the Salvucci decision, under the Washington Constitution rather than the fourth amendment. After focusing on the failure of the United States Supreme Court to fashion a standing rule consistent with the Court’s stated purpose for the exclusionary rule, this article urges the Washington court to interpret the state’s constitution in a more consistent, …