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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 …