Law Commons^™

Transforming Constitutional Doctrine Through Mandatory Appeals From Three-Judge District Courts: The Warren And Burger Courts And Their Contemporary Lessons, Michael E. Solimine

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Judicial interpretations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment underwent significant change, both expanding and retrenching in various ways, in Supreme Court doctrine during the Warren and Burger Courts. An underappreciated influence on the change is the method by which those cases reached the Court’s docket. A significant number of the cases reached the Court’s docket not by discretionary grants of writs of certiorari, as occurred in most other cases, but by mandatory appeals directly from three-judge district courts. This article makes several contributions regarding the important changes in these doctrines during the Warren Court …

Pandemics Of Limitation Of Rights, Rinat Kitai-Sangero

Touro Law Review

This Article discusses the limitation of rights due to pandemics. It analyzes from a constitutional standpoint the holding of the German Federal Constitutional Court (Das BUNDESVERFASSUNGSGERICHT) from April 2022 as a symptom of moral panic disguised through an analytical process. Though it focuses on this case, it sheds light on the moral panic that characterized many countries’ approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 27, 2022, the German Federal Constitutional Court held that a provision to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19, recovery from COVID-19, or a medical exemption to COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment in the health …

Aequitas: Seeking Equilibrium In Title Ix, Raymond Trent Cromartie

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Over the past two decades, the scope of Title IX has expanded drastically and now includes the investigation and adjudication of sexual misconduct cases through campus tribunals. Beginning in 2011, the Obama Administration, through a “Dear Colleague Letter” and subsequent guidance, initiated this process by establishing guidelines that required schools to develop and implement policies and procedures for the handling of sexual misconduct cases. Following the publication of the Obama-era guidance, schools scrambled to ensure compliance with the federal guidance, which led to a myriad of applications by universities. Unfortunately, the fallout from the 2011 guidance was widespread litigation initiated …

Brief Of The Petitioners-Taxpayers Edward A. And Doris Zelinsky, Edward A. Zelinsky

Amicus Briefs

As a matter of state law, New York’s own regulations and case law do not permit taxation of Professor Zelinsky’s income earned at home in Connecticut for the COVID-19 period starting on March 15, 2020. Even if New York law permitted the taxation of Professor Zelinsky’s Cardozo salary during this COVID-19 period, as a matter of federal constitutional law, the Due Process and dormant Commerce Clauses do not permit New York’s taxation of this salary earned in Connecticut. In addition, Zelinsky v. Tax Appeals Tribunal, 1 N.Y. 3d 85 (2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1009 (2004), does not apply to …

Advancing America’S Emblematic Right: Doctrinal Bases For The Fundamental Constitutional Right To Vote Per Se, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Miami Law Review

This Article identifies and examines the Supreme Court’s longstanding unintelligibility with respect to recognition of a fundamental right to vote per se under the Constitution. In a host of equal protection cases, the Court’s refusal to “say what the law is” in this regard has produced a chaotic jurisprudence on the status of the right. Because ours is a constitutional schema consisting of multiple types of rights to vote, the refusal manifests as judicial reliance on and acclamation of some unspecified right to vote. It is refusal by lack of clarity. The unsorted right has led some scholars to conclude …

Freeing Females From Toplessness Bans: A Strict Scrutiny Analysis, Colleen Marron

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Males may exhibit their bare chests on outdoor public property their entire lives. In many locations, this fundamental right to bodily autonomy afforded to men is denied to women. This Comment examines the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in conjunction with the fundamental right to bodily autonomy and focuses on the regulations forbidding female breast exposure. The assumption that female breasts require coverage due to their provocative nature normalizes and entrenches problematic issues, particularly the objectification of women, into law. The fundamental right to bodily autonomy requires protection over arbitrary and capricious social norms. This Comment stresses courts …

Playing God In The 21st Century: How The Push For Human Embryonic Germline Gene Editing Sidelines Individual And Generational Autonomy, Anna E. Melo

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Every four and a half minutes a child with a genetic birth defect is born in the United States. For some, these conditions are treatable and manageable, but sadly for others, they are a death sentence. Congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause of infant mortality. CRISPR-Cas9 presents hope for the future, a liberation from the heritable genetic shackles that a child would otherwise be trapped in. With such optimism for future applications of germline gene editing, there are also great concerns with what national and global limitations and auditing must be in place to permit “genetic hedging.” …

Airdropping Justice: The Constitutionality Of Service Of Process Via Non-Fungible Token, Jenifer Jackson

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Charging Time, Pamela R. Metzger, Janet C. Hoeffel

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

On the verge of his 1,000th day in an El Paso, Texas jail, Robert Antonio Castillo was still waiting for a prosecutor to formally charge him with a crime. Mr. Castillo is one of thousands of people across the country who are arrested and jailed for weeks, months, and even years without charges. In one year in New Orleans, 275 people each spent an average of 115 days in jail only to have the prosecution decline all charges against them. Together, these men and women spent 31,625 days in one of the nation’s most dangerous jails, with no compensation for …

Deportations For Drug Convictions In The United States And The European Union: Creating A More Compassionate Approach Toward Drug Convictions In The Immigration Law, Megan Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment begins by examining and comparing the legal framework for deportation and other immigration consequences for convictions of drug offenses in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. This Comment then looks at the harsh effects of current immigration policy on individuals and marginalized communities. Finally, this Comment argues that immigration law should be reformed to adopt a more humanitarian approach toward non-citizens convicted of drug offenses. Deportation and other harsh immigration consequences for drug offenses levy disproportionately severe punishments toward vulnerable minority immigrant communities, exposing them to consequences much harsher than non-immigrants would face for …

Respeaking The Bill Of Rights: A New Doctrine Of Incorporation, Kurt Lash

Indiana Law Journal

The incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment raises a host of textual, historical, and doctrinal difficulties. This is true even if (especially if) we accept the Fourteenth Amendment as having made the original Bill of Rights binding against the states. Does this mean we have two Bills of Rights, one applicable against the federal government with a “1791” meaning and a second applicable against the state governments with an “1868” meaning? Do 1791 understandings carry forward into the 1868 amendment? Or do 1868 understandings of the Bill of Rights carry backward …

Maritime Magic: How Cruise Lines Can Avoid State Law Compliance Through Passenger Contracts, Cameron Chuback

University of Miami Law Review

Florida Statutes section 381.00316 prohibits businesses in Florida from requiring consumers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination to access businesses’ goods and services. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (“NCLH”) has recently challenged section 381.00316’s applicability to its cruise operations because NCLH believes that requiring its passengers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination is the one constant that allows NCLH’s cruise ships to smoothly access foreign ports, which have differing COVID-19 protocols and rules. In Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. v. Rivkees, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled in favor of NCLH on this …

The Meaning And Malleableness Of Liberty From 1897-1945, Quentin E. Smith

The Purdue Historian

This paper covers how the substance and meaning of liberty changed during the ending years of the Gilded Age (1870-1900) through the beginning ages of the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). Economic liberty took shape in the cases Allegeyer v. Louisiana (1897) and Lochner v. New York (1905). Civil liberties would take several more years to come into the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction. The case Gitlow v. New York (1925) began the establishment of incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the states, otherwise known as our fundamental liberties (note: The Supreme Court used selective incorporation, however). In the case U.S. v. …

Will Due Process Be Returned To Academic Suspension?: An Analysis Of Academia's Rejection Of The Title Ix Final Rule, Andrew F. Emerson

Catholic University Law Review

In 2011, the Department of Education ("DOE") under the Obama administration issued its Dear College Letter ("DCL") ordering publicly funded educational institutions to undertake aggressive actions to deter what was deemed an epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses. DOE subsequently aggressively enforced the directives of the DCL with scores of costly investigations of college disciplinary systems and threatened withdrawal of federal funding for institutions that failed to respond to sexual harassment claims aggressively. Hundreds of lawsuits followed in the wake of the DCL's issuance. Specifically, the flood of litigation was initiated by males contending they were briskly expelled, suspended, …

The Hidden Foster Care System: A Parallel System In Legal Limbo During A Deadly Pandemic, Megan Schmidt

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

In 2020, Josh Gupta-Kagan’s article on the American Hidden Foster System challenged the welfare system to face its coercive practices that effectuate in a child being removed from the home without formal state intervention and court oversight.1 Families find themselves struggling to stay together as child protection workers utilize threats and safety plans to force the removal of a child from the home and into the custody of a family member.2 The children’s, the parents’, and the kinship caregivers’ lives are forever impacted by the welfare state, yet they receive insufficient benefits or protections afforded to families, caregivers, and children …

Due Process, Delegation, And Private Veto Power, B. Jessie Hill

Faculty Publications

Nondelegation doctrine is enjoying a scholarly revival. Some commentators have read the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Gundy v. United States to portend new limitations on Congress’s ability to give away its authority to the executive branch. A recent decision involving Amtrak’s entitlement to exercise regulatory authority raised similar questions about delegation to private entities. Together, these cases may suggest imminent new constraints on the administrative state, generating urgent reconsideration of the purpose and application of the nondelegation doctrine.

This Article is focused on one particular line of nondelegation cases that has received less attention in the nondelegation debate: …

Must American Artists Starve?

Florida A & M University Law Review

This legal essay proposes a solution to the problem of artist and publisher compensation as deprived by MMA and discusses the realities and limitations of pursuing a Takings Clause violation under the Fifth Amendment. It further proposes a modern perspective on copyrighted works as property to lay the intellectual foundation for copyright reform and offers that the “best efforts” standard should replace the “commercially reasonable efforts” standard since modernizing copyright law is essential to the music industry. Lastly, the author suggests a practical approach to pursuing a Due Process claim under the Fifth Amendment.

You Have The Right To Remain Silent, And It Can And Will Be Used Against You: Addressing Post-Arrest Pre-Miranda Silence, Maria P. Hirakis

Touro Law Review

The right to remain silent has long been recognized by the Supreme Court as requiring a high degree of protection. Since Miranda v. Arizona was decided in 1966, procedural safeguards have been put in place to inform individuals of this right upon arrest. Yet, a gray area exists when it comes to the use of an individual's silence post-arrest. It may surprise some that a point in time exists when an individual has not yet been read their Miranda rights post-arrest. Several circuit courts have taken the position that any silence that follows arrest but precedes the reading of Miranda …

Criminal Justice Secrets, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The American criminal justice system is cloaked in secrecy. The government employs covert surveillance operations. Grand-jury proceedings are hidden from public view. Prosecutors engage in closed-door plea-bargaining and bury exculpatory evidence. Juries convict defendants on secret evidence. Jury deliberations are a black box. And jails and prisons implement clandestine punishment practices. Although there are some justifications for this secrecy, the ubiquitous nature of it is contrary to this nation’s Founders’ steadfast belief in the transparency of criminal justice proceedings. Further, the pervasiveness of secrecy within today’s criminal justice system raises serious constitutional concerns. The accumulation of secrecy and the aggregation …

Forming A More Perfect Honor System: Why The Trend Of Over-Legalizing Academic Honor Codes Must Be Reversed, Christopher M. Hartley

Catholic University Law Review

Legal processes dominate many honor systems at schools and universities. The negative impacts of this legal saturation include time-consuming, overly burdensome, and seldom understood honor systems as well as a shift of student focus from compliance with honor codes to a fixation on exoneration, given the increased opportunity for fighting and defeating honor allegations using legal recourses. This article is a clarion call for higher education immediate action: schools must scrutinize their honor systems to ensure they are legally efficient, not legally saturated. Authors of books and law journal articles have meticulously reviewed the academic honor system history and legal …

Separate But Free, Joshua E. Weishart

Law Faculty Scholarship

“Separate but equal” legally sanctioned segregation in public schools until Brown. Ever since, separate but free has been the prevailing dogma excusing segregation. From “freedom of choice” plans that facilitated massive resistance to desegregation to current school choice plans exacerbating racial, socioeconomic, and disability segregation, proponents have venerated parental freedom as the overriding principle.

This Article contends that, in the field of public education, the dogma of separate but free has no place; separate is inherently unfree. As this Article uniquely clarifies, segregation deprives schoolchildren of freedom to become equal citizens and freedom to learn in democratic, integrated, …

Police Using Photoshop To Alter A Suspect's Photo In Lineup And Courts Allowing It: Does It Violate Due Process?, Molly Eyerman

Catholic University Law Review

Eyewitness identification remains one of the most popular pieces of evidence in criminal trials despite the decades of research supporting this evidence unreliability. In August 2019, the federal case United State v. Allen became nationwide news when it was revealed that police used Photoshop to remove Allen’s facial tattoo before using the altered-photo in a photo array. None of the eyewitnesses described the culprit as having a facial tattoo, though they identified Allen from the array. Allen is not the only case to have police use Photoshop to edit photos used in arrays. This has been a common practice used …

Due Process And Administrative Hearings In The Time Of Covid-19: Help, I Need Somebody!, Leslie Birnbaum

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the reinvention of the administrative hearing process in a virtual or hybrid setting. Since March 2020, administrative forums have experienced continuances, backlogs, and the digital divide. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of COVID-19 on procedural due process and administrative hearings, and to address some of the problems and unanswered questions about the new normal. Part I presents background information about the virus and a brief history of pandemics. Part II examines past and present case law, and the NAALJ and National Conference of Administrative Law Judges' national survey. Part III …

Caperton V. A.T. Massey Coal Co.: A Ten-Year Retrospective On Its Impact On Law And The Judiciary, Amam Mcleod

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Avoiding The Question: The Court's Decision To Leave The Insanity Defense In State Hands In Kahler V. Kansas, Elissa Crowder

Pepperdine Law Review

This Note will further investigate how the Court reached the correct holding that Kansas's statute does not violate the Due Process Clause. Part II gives historical background of the evolution of the insanity defense and its varied application. Part III recounts Kahler's story and the procedural history leading up to this opinion. Part IV analyzes how the majority reached its conclusion and the counterarguments presented by the dissent. Part V concludes by acknowledging this case will add to state freedom in formulating insanity defenses, but that its actual impact is uncertain because the Court avoided answering whether states can eliminate …

Asymmetrical Governance: Auditing Algorithms To Preserve Due Process Rights, Paul J. Baillargeon

Major Papers

We are now living in age where algorithms, and the data that feed them, govern a wide variety of decisions in our lives: not just search engines and personalized Netflix suggestions, but educational evaluations, stock market trades and political campaigns, the urban planning, and even how social services like welfare and public safety are managed. Heterogeneous lists like this have become the norm in any critical examination of algorithms, giving the impression of a ubiquitous relevance of algorithms. But algorithms can make mistakes that directly affect individuals and often contain both implicit and explicit biases. The technical complexity of algorithms, …

Religious Rites And Property Rights; Intersectionality In United States Case Law, Rachel Miner

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Religious liberty and property remain two cherished human rights protected under Constitutional law in the United States. While the precedent for both rights include robust protection frameworks, religious liberty is increasingly threatened through a weakening in case law precedent. Property law offers valuable nuances and insights for how the religious liberty legal framework might be strengthened in theory and in practice. Human rights are inherently bundled, therefore, there is significant benefit to analyzing the intersectionality of religious liberty and property law both historically and currently in United States case law.

First Amendment Freedoms Diluted: The Impact Of Disclosure Requirements On Nonprofit Charities, Bailie Mittman

Indiana Law Journal

Since the birth of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the freedoms protected by the First Amendment have been cherished by all members of this nation. The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.” Over time, courts have acknowledged that the freedom to speak freely means very little if the guarantee is not protected by an additional right: the freedom to associate. Thus, the freedom of expressive association stands as an essential component of an individual’s free speech rights and state infringement on associative rights has the power of potentially …

The “Critical Stage” Of Plea-Bargaining And Disclosure Of Exculpatory Evidence, Gabriella Castellano

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Charles Reich: Due Process In The Eye Of The Receiver, Harold Hongju Koh

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.