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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Future Of Confession Law: Toward Rules For The Voluntariness Test, Eve Brensike Primus
The Future Of Confession Law: Toward Rules For The Voluntariness Test, Eve Brensike Primus
Michigan Law Review
Confession law is in a state of collapse. Fifty years ago, three different doctrines imposed constitutional limits on the admissibility of confessions in criminal cases: Miranda doctrine under the Fifth Amendment, Massiah doctrine under the Sixth Amendment, and voluntariness doctrine under the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. But in recent years, the Supreme Court has gutted Miranda and Massiah, effectively leaving suspects with only voluntariness doctrine to protect them during police interrogations. The voluntariness test is a notoriously vague case-by-case standard. In this Article, I argue that if voluntariness is going to be the framework for …
Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr.
Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr.
Michigan Law Review
What motivated big changes in constitutional law doctrine during the twentieth century? Rarely did important constitutional doctrine or theory change because of formal amendments to the document's text, and rarer still because scholars or judges "discovered" new information about the Constitution's original meaning. Precedent and common law reasoning were the mechanisms by which changes occurred rather than their driving force. My thesis is that most twentieth century changes in the constitutional protection of individual rights were driven by or in response to the great identity-based social movements ("IBSMs") of the twentieth century. Race, sex, and sexual orientation were markers of …
Miranda'S Failure To Restrain Pernicious Interrogation Practices, Welsh S. White
Miranda'S Failure To Restrain Pernicious Interrogation Practices, Welsh S. White
Michigan Law Review
As Yale Kamisar's writings on police interrogation demonstrate, our simultaneous commitments to promoting law enforcement's interest in obtaining confessions and to protecting individuals from overreaching interrogation practices have created a nearly irreconcilable tension. If the police must be granted authority to engage in effective questioning of suspects, it will obviously be difficult to insure that "the terrible engine of the criminal law . . . not . . . be used to overreach individuals who stand helpless against it." If we are committed to accommodating these conflicting interests, however, some means must be found to impose appropriate restraints on the …
The Paths Not Taken: The Supreme Court's Failures In Dickerson, Paul G. Cassell
The Paths Not Taken: The Supreme Court's Failures In Dickerson, Paul G. Cassell
Michigan Law Review
Where's the rest of the opinion? That was my immediate reaction to reading the Supreme Court's terse decision in Dickerson, delivered to me via email from the clerk's office a few minutes after its release. Surely, I thought, some glitch in the transmission had eliminated the pages of discussion on the critical issues in the case. Yet, as it became clear that I had received all of the Court's opinion, my incredulity grew.
Miranda'S Mistake, William J. Stuntz
Miranda'S Mistake, William J. Stuntz
Michigan Law Review
The oddest thing about Miranda is its politics - a point reinforced by the decision in, and the reaction to, Dickerson v. United States. In Dickerson, the Supreme Court faced the question whether Miranda ought to be overturned, either directly or by permitting legislative overrides. The lawyers, the literature, and the Court split along right-left - or, in the Court's case, right-center - lines, with the right seeking to do away with Miranda's restrictions on police questioning, and the left (or center) seeking to maintain them. The split is familiar. Reactions to Miranda have always divided along ideological lines, with …
Miranda, Dickerson, And The Puzzling Persistence Of Fifth Amendment Exceptionalism, Stephen J. Schulhofer
Miranda, Dickerson, And The Puzzling Persistence Of Fifth Amendment Exceptionalism, Stephen J. Schulhofer
Michigan Law Review
Dickerson v. United States preserves the status quo regime for judicial oversight of police interrogation. That result could be seen, in the present climate, as a victory for due process values, but there remain many reasons for concern that existing safeguards are flawed - that they are either too restrictive or not restrictive enough. Such concerns are partly empirical, of course. They depend on factual assessments of how much the Miranda rules do restrict the police. But such concerns also reflect a crucial, though often unstated, normative premise; they presuppose a certain view of how much the police should be …
Miranda, The Constitution, And Congress, David A. Strauss
Miranda, The Constitution, And Congress, David A. Strauss
Michigan Law Review
Are Miranda warnings required by the Constitution, or not? If they are, why has the Supreme Court repeatedly said that the rights created by Miranda are "not themselves rights protected by the Constitution"? If not, why can't an Act of Congress, such as 18 U.S.C. 3501, declare them to be unnecessary? These were the central questions posed by United States v. Dickerson. It is not clear that the majority opinion ever really answered them. The majority said that "Miranda is constitutionally based," that Miranda has "constitutional underpinnings," that Miranda is "a constitutional decision," and that Miranda "announced a constitutional rule." …
Separated At Birth But Siblings Nonetheless: Miranda And The Due Process Notice Cases, George C. Thomas Iii
Separated At Birth But Siblings Nonetheless: Miranda And The Due Process Notice Cases, George C. Thomas Iii
Michigan Law Review
Paraphrasing Justice Holmes, law is less about logic than experience. Courts and scholars have now had thirty-four years of experience with Miranda v. Arizona, including the Court's recent endorsement in Dickerson v. United States last Term. Looking back over this experience, it is plain that the Court has created a Miranda doctrine quite different from what it has said it was creating. I think the analytic structure in Dickerson supports this rethinking of Miranda. To connect the dots, I offer a new explanation for Miranda that permits us to reconcile Dickerson and the rest of the post-Miranda doctrine with the …
In The Stationhouse After Dickerson, Charles D. Weisselberg
In The Stationhouse After Dickerson, Charles D. Weisselberg
Michigan Law Review
Miranda v. Arizona established the high water mark of the protections afforded an accused during a custodial interrogation. During the decades that followed, the United States Supreme Court allowed Miranda's foundation to erode, inviting a direct challenge to the landmark ruling. In Dickerson v. United States, the Court turned back such a challenge and placed Miranda upon a more secure, constitutional footing. This Article explores the impact of Dickerson in the place where Miranda was meant to matter most: the stationhouse. As I have described elsewhere, Supreme Court decisions have influenced a number of California law enforcement agencies to instruct …
Determining Ripeness Of Substantive Due Process Claims Brought By Landowners Against Local Governments, David S. Mendel
Determining Ripeness Of Substantive Due Process Claims Brought By Landowners Against Local Governments, David S. Mendel
Michigan Law Review
Landowners who sustain economic harm from arbitrary and capricious applications of land use regulations may sue the local government entities responsible for applying those regulations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the local government entities deprived them of substantive due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. A landowner who brings this claim - an "as-applied arbitrary and capricious substantive due process" claim - may in appropriate cases seek declaratory and injunctive relief, damages, and attorney's fees. Despite controversy among courts and commentators over both the definition of property interests protected by the Due Process Clause and the standard …
Conditioning Of Relief From Unenforceable Judgment Upon Showing Of Meritorious Defense To Claim Upon Which It Was Entered Can Deny Due Process Of Law--Armstrong V. Manzo, Michigan Law Review
Conditioning Of Relief From Unenforceable Judgment Upon Showing Of Meritorious Defense To Claim Upon Which It Was Entered Can Deny Due Process Of Law--Armstrong V. Manzo, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
When petitioner and his wife were divorced in 1959 she received custody of their minor daughter, and he was ordered to contribute fifty dollars per month toward the child's support. The wife remarried and, two years after the divorce, joined in proceedings initiated by her new husband in a Texas court to adopt the child. The adoption petition alleged that, during the two-year period, petitioner had failed to support the child in a manner commensurate with his ability. Under Texas law, proof of such a charge against a natural father makes his consent to the adoption of his child unnecessary. …
Public Control Of Private Sectarian Institutions Receiving Public Funds, Richard B. Rogers
Public Control Of Private Sectarian Institutions Receiving Public Funds, Richard B. Rogers
Michigan Law Review
This comment will examine the recent judicial and legislative developments which could result in federal controls limiting religious practices in private sectarian educational and welfare institutions.
State Action, State Law, And The Private Hospital, Mary Mandana Long
State Action, State Law, And The Private Hospital, Mary Mandana Long
Michigan Law Review
On March 2, 1964, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition to review by certiorari the decision in Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hosp. By declining to review the case the Supreme Court left unaffected the holding of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that two private hospitals which had participated in the Hill-Burton program of federal hospital assistance were sufficiently involved with governmental action, both state and federal, to bring their conduct within the fifth and fourteenth amendment prohibitions against racial discrimination. This decision will probably affect all of the 3,346 private, non-profit hospitals in …
Constitutional Law-Eminent Domain-Master Flight Plan As A Taking Of Land Under Approach Area To Municipal Airport, Ralph L. Wright S. Ed
Constitutional Law-Eminent Domain-Master Flight Plan As A Taking Of Land Under Approach Area To Municipal Airport, Ralph L. Wright S. Ed
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff owned land adjacent to the Greater Pittsburgh Airport which lay under an approach area for one of the runways. Allegheny County, in compliance with rules and regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, drafted a "Master Plan," approved by the CAA, which showed the approach area over part of plaintiff's property. Plaintiff sued to recover damages from the county, owner and operator of the airport, alleging an appropriation of his land because of the substantial interference with its use and enjoyment caused by flights at low altitudes above his land during landings and take-offs. Upon an award of damages by …
Habeas Corpus - Procedural Prerequisites - Motion Denied For Failure To Appeal Convicion Despite Failure Being Excusable, Harvey O. Mierke Jr.
Habeas Corpus - Procedural Prerequisites - Motion Denied For Failure To Appeal Convicion Despite Failure Being Excusable, Harvey O. Mierke Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff was convicted of robbery in a federal district court and, although represented by counsel, failed to appeal within the statutory ten-day period. Three months later he filed a motion in the same court under section 2255 of the judicial code to vacate the sentence on the ground that the conviction, because it was based on a coerced confession, was unconstitutionally obtained without due process of law. The motion was denied and the denial affirmed, in the absence of any attempt to excuse the failure to appeal. On reargument, plaintiff attempted to excuse his failure to appeal by alleging that …
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Summary Dismissal Of A State Employee Who Invokes Fifth Amendment Before A Congressional Committee, John L. Peschel
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Summary Dismissal Of A State Employee Who Invokes Fifth Amendment Before A Congressional Committee, John L. Peschel
Michigan Law Review
While employed as a social worker by the County of Los Angeles, Globe was subpoenaed to appear before a subcommittee of the House Un-American Activities Committee. California law imposed a duty on public employees to appear before certain tribunals and answer questions within specified categories, including an inquiry by a committee of the United States Congress as to past or present membership in the Communist Party. Failure to comply with the statute constituted insubordination, which would result in dismissal "in the manner provided by law." Because Globe had not yet acquired tenure, he was not entitled under civil service rules …
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Dismissal Of State Employees For Refusal To Answer Questions Concerning Membership In Communist Organizations, Roger W. Findley
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Dismissal Of State Employees For Refusal To Answer Questions Concerning Membership In Communist Organizations, Roger W. Findley
Michigan Law Review
In companion cases state employees of Pennsylvania and New York were dismissed on grounds of "incompetency" and "doubtful trust and reliability" for refusing to answer questions by superiors concerning membership in communist organizations. Petitioner Beilan also invoked the Fifth Amendment at a hearing by a congressional investigating committee between the time he refused to answer his superior and the time he was dismissed. Appellant Lerner had invoked the Fifth Amendment when he refused to answer the questions asked by city officials. The highest courts of the states upheld the dismissals, making it clear that they were based on refusal to …
The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly
The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly
Michigan Law Review
Some sixty years ago in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court of the United States adopted the now celebrated "separate but equal" doctrine as a constitutional guidepost for state segregation statutes. Justice Brown's opinion declared that state statutes imposing racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, provided only that the statute in question guaranteed equal facilities for the two races. Brown's argument rested on a historical theory of the intent, although he offered no evidence to support it. "The object of the amendment," he said, "was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, …
Problems In The Removal Of Federal Civil Servants, Ivor L. M. Richardson
Problems In The Removal Of Federal Civil Servants, Ivor L. M. Richardson
Michigan Law Review
The publicity given in the past few years to the loyalty and security program has brought the civil servant of the federal government increasingly before the public eye. At the same time little attention has been paid to the plight of a civil servant who is dismissed from his post for reasons other than those relating to loyalty and security. It is the purpose of this paper to consider different aspects of the removal of civil servants. We shall discuss (1) the government's power to remove civil servants both at common law and under statutes which deal with the exercise …
Constitutional Law - Public Use Requirement And The Power Of Eminent Domain, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.
Constitutional Law - Public Use Requirement And The Power Of Eminent Domain, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Under the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, an agency was created to redevelop blighted and slum areas. Pursuant to the mode of operation prescribed in the statute, the agency intended to purchase or take by eminent domain all the property in the vicinity of appellant's property. After getting title to all the property the agency was to lease or sell it to private enterprisers to redevelop the area according to the agency's comprehensive plan, which specified definite boundaries for various uses. Appellant brought this action to enjoin the condemnation of his business property, claiming that the statute was unconstitutional because …
Legislation - Requirement Of Definiteness In Statutory Standards, Robert B. Krueger S.Ed.
Legislation - Requirement Of Definiteness In Statutory Standards, Robert B. Krueger S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
While it is universally recognized that definiteness in statutory standards is a condition prerequisite to the application of a statute, there is no agreement among either the courts or the writers as to the theory behind this requirement. However, common elements in each of the two prevalent theories indicate certain factors which may well be decisive on the question of definiteness in any given case. The purpose of this comment is to explore the practical implications of the interplay of these various factors and theories.
Constitutional Law--Due Process And The Bill Of Rights--Self-Incrimination, F. William Hutchinson
Constitutional Law--Due Process And The Bill Of Rights--Self-Incrimination, F. William Hutchinson
Michigan Law Review
In the course of evolving workable doctrines which give substance and meaning to the skeletal phrase "due process of law" as used in the Fourteenth Amendment to limit state action, the Supreme Court has frequently been called on to determine the scope of the several prohibitions and guarantees of the Bill of Rights of the federal Constitution. This general problem, and more particularly the application of the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination clause to state criminal proceedings, was again presented in a recent case and resulted in a sharp division of opinion within the Court.
Criminal Law And Procedure - Appeal By State - Constitutionality Of Statutes-Due Process Of Law, Edward D. Ransom
Criminal Law And Procedure - Appeal By State - Constitutionality Of Statutes-Due Process Of Law, Edward D. Ransom
Michigan Law Review
Developing as a result of a period when an accused person was placed at a tremendous disadvantage at the hands of tyrannical judges exercising an unconscionable abuse of power, the concept that no person shall "be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb" was put into the Fifth Amendment of the Federal Constitution and into many of the state constitutions. As a part of this double jeopardy concept, the American courts, from the first, established the rule that the state should not be allowed to appeal in a criminal prosecution. The accused, …
Eminent Domain - Public Housing And Slum Clearance As A "Public Use", Wayne E. Babler
Eminent Domain - Public Housing And Slum Clearance As A "Public Use", Wayne E. Babler
Michigan Law Review
The recent legislation providing for housing and slum clearance raises the interesting and practical problem of whether a taking of land for such housing and slum clearance purposes by means of an eminent domain proceeding is condemnation for a "public use," within the meaning of that term in eminent domain proceedings. Such a taking was held to be for a public use in the recent case of Spahn v. Stewart.
Administrative Tribunals -Workmen's Compensation - Scope Of Federal Judicial Review Under Longshoremen's And Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
Michigan Law Review
The recent decision of Crowell v. Benson by the United States Supreme Court throws interesting light on the constitutionality of delegating final fact-finding powers to administrative tribunals. The case arose under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act which gives deputy commissioners full authority to hear and determine all questions in respect to claims for compensation for disability or death resulting from injuries occurring on the navigable waters of the United States/ The act further provides that if the compensation order is "not in accordance with law" it "may be suspended or set aside in whole or in part, through …