Constitutional Law Commons^™

Substantive Due Process And Felony Treatment Of Pot Smokers: The Current Conflict, F.H. Von U.

Georgia Law Review

The Supreme Court, in recent years, has consistently reaffirmed a trend toward a fuller recognition of individual liberties. When these cherished incidents of American citizenship have conflicted with the real or imagined needs of society, the Court has applied a vital and expanding concept of due process to determine the proper balance of interests. It is now recognized that the State must demonstrate a truly rational basis for punishing individual conduct, aid where proscriptive rather than regulatory measures are enacted, legislation must carefully avoid jeopardizing harmless conduct, however offensive to public taste. Restrictive legislation must be grounded in fact, and …

Constitutional Law-Church And State-Shared Time: Indirect Aid To Parochial Schools, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

For over forty years, public schools have been participating in shared time programs pursuant to which non-public school children attend public schools for instruction in one or more subjects during the regular school day. Since ninety per cent of the pupils in nonpublic elementary and secondary schools are in Roman Catholic schools, shared time-or, as it is also known, dual enrollment raises questions of an establishment of religion in contravention of the provisions of the first amendment to the Constitution. To date, no court has faced this constitutional issue and only three state courts have ruled upon the validity of …

Brief Amicus Curiae, Urging Reversal, On Behalf Of - John J. Russell, Bishop Of Richmond; Lawrence Cardinal Shehan, Archbishop Of Baltimore; Paul A. Hallinan, Archbishop Of Atlanta; Philip M. Hannan, Archbishop Of New Orleans; Robert E. Lucey, Archbishop Of San Antonio; Joseph B. Brunini, Apostolic Administrator Of Natchez-Jackson; Lawrence M. Defalco, Bishop Of Amarillo; Joseph A. Dirick, Apostolic Administrator Of Nashville; Thomas K. Gorman, Bishop Of Dallas-Ft. Worth; Joseph H. Hodges, Bishop Of Wheeling; John L. Morkovsky, Apostolic Administrator Of Galveston-Houston; Victor J. Reed, Bishop Of Oklahoma City And Tulsa; L. J. Reicher, Bishop Of Austin; Thomas Tschoepe, Bishop Of San Angelo; Ernest L. Unterkoefler, Bishop Of Charleston; Vincent S. Waters, Bishop Of Raleigh; The National Catholic Conference For Interracial Justice; And The National Catholic Social Action Conference, William M. Lewers C.S.C, William B. Ball

Court Briefs

No. 395
Richard Perry Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia

On Appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia

From the Summary Statement of the Case

Appellants, Richard Perry Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving, were convicted on January 6, 1959, in the Circuit Court of Caroline County, Virginia, under an indictment charging that "the said Richard Perry Loving being a White person and the said Mildred Delores Jeter [Loving] being a Colored person, did unlawfully and feloniously go out of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of being married and with the intention of returning to the State of …

Contempt-Injunctions-Federal Civil Contempt Decree Orders Deputy Sheriff To Resign From Office-Lance V. Plummer, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

During the summer of 1964, a federal district judge issued an injunction prohibiting various St. Augustine, Florida organizations and other persons with notice of the injunction from harassing or intimidating Negroes who were seeking motel or restaurant accommodations. Appellant Lance, an unpaid volunteer deputy sheriff, was not a member of any of the enjoined organizations, but he had actual notice of the order. Nonetheless, six days after the injunction was issued, he engaged in activities designed to intimidate a Negro citizen. In a subsequent civil contempt action arising from these activities, the federal district judge, asserting jurisdiction over him because …

Criminal Law-Confessions-Admission Of Illegally Obtained Confession In State Criminal Prosecution Is Harmless Error Not Requiring Reversal Of Conviction--People V. Jacobson, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant voluntarily admitted that he had murdered his daughter to a social worker, two ambulance attendants, and three police officers sent to investigate the incident. He continued to declare his guilt to these officers after his arrest, on the way to the police station, and at the police station where he was interrogated without the benefit of counsel although he had not waived his right to counsel. All of the confessions-approximately ten-were admitted in evidence at the defendant's trial over his objection that the two confessions obtained during the interrogation should have been excluded since he had been denied his …

Constitutional Law-Exclusion Of Negroes From Dental Society That Controls Selection Of State Dental Officials Violates The Equal Protection Clause-Hawkins V. North Carolina Dental Society, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a licensed Negro dentist, was refused admission to the North Carolina Dental Society, a voluntary professional organization that plays a significant role both in the selecting of state dental officials and in the promotion of state dental programs. At the time the plaintiff sought admission to the Society, state statutes empowered the Society to elect the six members of the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners and to designate the dental representatives to the Medical Care Commission and the Mental Health Council. After the plaintiff brought suit to compel his admission to the Society, the Society persuaded the state …

One Civil Libertarian Among Many: The Case Of Mr. Justice Goldberg, Ira H. Carmen

Michigan Law Review

It is common knowledge that in recent times the constitutional issues of greatest magnitude and of greatest public interest lie in the area of civil liberties. These cases almost always call for the delicate balancing of the rights of the individual, allegedly protected by a specific clause in the Constitution, and the duties that state or federal authority can exact from citizens in order that society may maintain a minimum standard of peace and security. It follows, therefore, that it is these often dramatic decisions which will largely color the images we have of participating Justices. Assume a free speech …

Habeas Corpus--Custody And Release From Custody Requirements Of Habeas Corpus--Viability Of Mcnally V. Hill In The Moden Context, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Section 2241 of Title 28 of the United States Code requires that a petitioner for a writ of habeas corpus be "in custody." As a corollary of the "custody" requirement, the common law tradition required that the effect of the writ must be the petitioner's "release from custody.'' Because the United States Constitution and the federal habeas corpus statutes guarantee the availability of the writ in general terms, it is to the common law that the courts have consistently turned for the definition of these terms and for the restrictive effect of these requirements on the availability of the writ …

Linkletter, Shott, And The Retroactivity Problem In Escobedo, J. Alan Galbraith

Michigan Law Review

Prior to the 1964 Supreme Court Term, decisions promulgating new constitutional rules were applied retroactively as a matter of course to final convictions. While dissents occasionally criticized the Court's failure to discuss the retroactive impact of a new constitutional rule, the potential effect upon final convictions of any single rule was not sufficiently acute to justify a departure from the normal grant of retroactivity. But the Court's decision in Mapp v. Ohio; which abruptly overturned Wolf v. Colorado and brought into doubt final state convictions resting upon illegally seized evidence admitted in reliance upon Wolf, caused courts and …

The Equal Protection Clause And Imprisonment Of The Indigent For Nonpayment Of Fines, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The practice of imprisonment for failure to pay a fine levied for a criminal violation originated in twelfth-century England; its subsequent unanimous acceptance in the United States is manifested in the provisions in the statutes of every state and of the federal government authorizing imprisonment for nonpayment of fines. A few states not only commit the defendant to jail for nonpayment of the fine, but impose hard labor as well. Some states, however, have mitigated to a degree the harshness of the practice. For example, Arizona restricts the total period of confinement for the crime and the default of the …

Discrimination In The Hiring And Assignment Of Teachers In Public School Systems, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In the Brown v. Board of Education decisions of 1954 and 1955, the United States Supreme Court made it clear that separate public school facilities for pupils of different races are inherently unequal and constitute a denial of the equal protection of the laws. While it was not altogether clear from the language of the opinions whether segregated faculties in public schools are also unconstitutional, subsequent lower court decisions have held that racial discrimination in the selection and assignment of teachers is forbidden.

Foster Parents Versus Agencies: A Case Study In The Judicial Application Of "The Best Interests Of The Child" Doctrine, Sanford N. Katz

Michigan Law Review

A recurring problem which courts face is the need to resolve the conflict which arises when foster parents challenge the decision of agencies that have disqualified these persons from continuing their relationship with or adopting their foster child. This article will explore the role of courts in resolving these disputes and will suggest some criteria by which the courts may be guided in deciding such questions.

An Ex Parte Order May Not Serve The Function Of A Search Warrant Under The Fourth Amendment To Authorize A Physical Intrusion In Connection With A "Search" For Conversations--People V. Grossman, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

There was probable cause to believe that defendant Scandifia was implicated in a larceny of jewelry by false pretenses. Pursuant to section 813-a of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure, the Supreme Court in New York County issued an ex parte order authorizing the installation of an eavesdropping device in a service station owned by Scandifia. Shortly thereafter, police broke into the station's private office and installed a microphone. Conversations were overheard which indicated that defendant Grossman had in his possession two pistols received from Scandifia. An affidavit setting forth these conversations supplied the sole probable cause for a …

Authorization Of Involuntary Blood Transfusion For Adult Jehovah's Witness Held Unconstitutional--In Re Brooks' Estate, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Despite serious illness, plaintiff requested, in accordance with her religious beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, that blood transfusions not be administered to her. Upon the request of her physician and several assistant state's attorneys, a court-appointed guardian was authorized to consent to a blood transfusion for the plaintiff, and a transfusion was administered. On appeal of the court's action to the Supreme Court of Illinois, held, order reversed. The authorization of a blood transfusion for an adult Jehovah's Witness who has only adult children is an unconstitutional interference with the patient's right to the free exercise of her religion.

Eleventh Amendment, Judicial Code, And Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure Restrict Ability Of United States To Implead A State In Connection With Suit Commenced By A Private Citizen--Parks V. United States, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Suit was brought by an individual against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act to recover compensation for property damage alleged to have been caused by the Government's negligence in constructing and maintaining the physical components\ of a flood-control project in New York. Relying upon New York's promise to hold the United States harmless on any liability arising from damage of this nature, the Government impleaded the state. On a motion before the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York to dismiss the state as a third-party defendant, held, motion granted. The Federal …

A Dissent From The Miranda Dissents: Some Comments On The 'New' Fifth Amendment And The Old 'Voluntariness' Test, Yale Kamisar

Articles

F the several conferences and workshops (and many lunch conversations) on police interrogation and confessions in which I have participated this past summer3 are any indication, Miranda v. Arizona' has evoked much anger and spread much sorrow among judges, lawyers and professors. In the months and years ahead, such reaction is likely to be translated into microscopic analyses and relentless, probing criticism of the majority opinion. During this period of agonizing appraisal and reappraisal, I think it important that various assumptions and assertions in the dissenting opinions do not escape attention.

Privacy In Connecticut, Arthur E. Sutherland

Michigan Law Review

Occasionally a judgment of our Supreme Court, delivered in a superficially petty case, suddenly before our startled eyes displays fundamentals of our constitutional theory. Thus, in Griswold v. Connecticut, holding unconstitutional an 1879 Connecticut statute forbidding all persons to use contraceptive devices, the Court found it necessary to discover a "right of privacy" latent in the Bill of Rights and incorporated into the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. The outcome of the case is satisfying; all nine Justices joined in saying, in one way or another, that Connecticut's statute was nonsense. I am happy to see this …

Nine Justices In Search Of A Doctrine, Thomas I. Emerson

Michigan Law Review

To the ordinary layman, Griswold v. Connecticut seemed easy. But to the lawyer it was somewhat more difficult. The lawyer's problem with the case was that the issues did not readily fit into any existing legal pigeonhole. Actually, there were five possibilities. The case could have been dealt with under the equal protection clause, the first amendment, substantive due process, the right of privacy, or, in extremis, the ninth amendment. In order to strike down the statute under any of these doctrines, however, the Court would be forced to enter uncharted waters. Whatever course the Court took, its action …

The Griswold Penumbra: Constitutional Charter For An Expanded Law Of Privacy?, Robert G. Dixon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The comments that follow are divided into a brief review, for purposes of perspective, of the elusive nature of "privacy" as developed in American law to date, and an attempted rigorous analysis of the privacy aspects of Griswold. A final section suggests that effectuation of the new constitutional right of marital privacy necessarily or derivatively implies a corollary right of access to birth control information and devices-a right which should have been more clearly articulated by the Court.

Penumbras, Peripheries, Emanations, Things Fundamental And Things Forgotten: The Griswold Case, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The varying theories followed in the several opinions in the Griswold case can be fully understood and appreciated only in the context of the tortuous but fascinating history of the judicial interpretation of the fourteenth amendment.

The Right Of Privacy: Emanations And Intimations, Robert B. Mckay

Michigan Law Review

When Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren wrote in 1890 of "The Right to Privacy," they sought a means of protecting against unwelcome newspaper attention to social activities in the Warren household. Addressing their argument to the private law of torts, they presumably did not anticipate constitutional protection for other rights under the claim of privacy. Nevertheless, seventy· five years later that concept, now called the "right of privacy," was used by the Supreme Court of the United States in Griswold v. Connecticut to describe a constitutional right. Some members of the Court said the new right was within the "penumbra" …

Boles: The Bible, Religion And The Public Schools, Arthur E. Sutherland

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Bible, Religion and the Public Schools (3d ed) by Donald E. Boles

Characterization Of Interstate Arrangements: When Is A Compact Not A Compact, David E. Engdahl

Michigan Law Review

The real increase in the use of "compacts" is still very recent, so there has as yet been little significant litigation concerning these instruments. For this reason, relatively few lawyers have had sufficient exposure to the subject to discover what an unhappy state the law of "compacts" is in. However, if the present trend toward their increased use continues, interstate authorities and agencies founded upon "compacts" may be expected to become as familiar to the average lawyer as conventional governmental agencies are today. This article is not intended to anticipate all of the legal problems which are sure to arise …

Evidence Illegally Seized By Private Persons Excluded From Criminal Prosecution--People V. Mccomb, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

At common law, illegally seized evidence was admissible on the theory that the nature of the seizure did not necessarily affect the probative value of the evidence. However, in 1914 the United States Supreme Court, in order to protect the fourth amendment's guarantee of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, adopted a rule excluding from federal courts evidence illegally seized by federal officials. In 1961, the scope of this rule was extended by Mapp v. Ohio, which held that all evidence obtained in violation of the fourth amendment is inadmissible in state courts. However, the Mapp doctrine applies only …

Predicting Court Cases Quantitatively, Stuart Nagel

Michigan Law Review

This article illustrates and systematically compares three methods for quantitatively predicting case outcomes. The three methods are correlation, regression, and discriminant analysis, all of which involve standard social science research techniques. Two prior articles have generated requests for a study dealing with the problems involved in handling a larger number of cases and predictive variables. The present article is also designed to provide such a study. It does not presuppose that the reader has read the earlier articles, although such a reading might help to clarify further some of the points made here. The cases used to illustrate the methods …

Noise And The Law, George A. Spater

Michigan Law Review

For practical purposes the discussion of the law of noise can be considered in two parts: first, the rights of a complainant against a private person and second, the rights of a complainant against the government or an agency acting by government authority.

Zoning Law In Michigan And New Jersey: A Comparative Study, Roger A. Cunningham

Michigan Law Review

It is one thesis of this article that the "lawyer's view" has generally prevailed in Michigan and that the "planner's view" has generally prevailed in New Jersey. Since the zoning law of these two states is thus fairly representative of the opposing judicial attitudes set forth in the preceding paragraph, they are especially suitable for comparative study. This study begins with a look at the constitutional bases and statutory provisions for zoning. It then proceeds to examine judicial attitudes toward zoning determinations in general and continues by focusing on specific current zoning problems. The conclusions to be drawn from these …

The Line Between Federal And State Court Jurisdiction, Leslie A. Anderson

Michigan Law Review

From the beginning of this nation, there have been controversies involving the division of jurisdiction between federal and state courts. Often, these controversies have centered on the diversity of citizenship provision of the federal constitution. Today, however, the more poignant question is whether any division of jurisdiction between the federal and state systems retains logical bases.

Although myriad developments have relevancy with respect to this question, I have here focused upon two of the more important ones: the increasing overlap of subject matter being litigated in federal and state courts and the growing uniformity of standards to be applied in …

Group Legal Services And The Right Of Association, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has recently curtailed the reach of state statutes that prohibit solicitation of legal business. In two unprecedented opinions the Court has held that the soliciting activities of lay organizations fall within the protection of the right of association.

The Commerce Clause Held No Limitation To The Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts-Wahl V. Pan American World Airways, Inc., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three wrongful death actions were brought in a federal district court in New York by United States citizens as survivors of passengers killed in the crash in Turkey of an airplane owned and operated by defendant Middle East Airlines (MEA). MEA is a Lebanese corporation operating in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, whose United States sales are made by its general sales agent, Pan American World Ainvays, Inc. The court held that maintaining a New York office and entering into a general sales agency agreement with Pan American to promote travel on MEA of passengers originating in the United …