Constitutional Law Commons^™

The 1977 Soviet Constitution: A Historical Comparison, Igor L. Kavass, Gary I. Christian

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Throughout the Soviet Union's history, its four constitutions have been a reflection of the political climate of the particular period. The documents thus viewed provide a historical and political benchmark against which life and thought in the U.S.S.R. may be fairly accurately gauged. When Brezhnev addressed the USSR Supreme Soviet on October 4, 1977, to recommend the inevitable adoption of the 1977 Constitution, he again stressed the historical perspective in which the document must be viewed. He stated: "We will adopt the new Constitution on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. This is not …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

CASE DIGEST

This Case Digest provides brief analyses of cases that represent current aspects of transnational law. The digest includes cases that apply established legal principles to new and different factual situations. The cases are grouped in topical categories, and references are given for further research.

THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF OBTAINING QUASI IN REM JURISDICTION BY MARITIME ATTACHMENT IS NOT LIMITED BY Shaffer v. Heitner

MAXIMUM LIMITS ON DISABILITY BENEFITS ARE NOT APPLICABLE TO DEATH BENEFITS PAYABLE UNDER THE LONGSHOREMEN'S AND HARBORWORKERS' COMPENSATION AcT

REFUSAL OF INS DISTRICT DIRECTOR TO GRANT NON-PRIORITY OR DEFERRED STATUS IS SUBJECT TO THE ARBITRARY AND …

Recent Decisions, Gayle B. Carlson, Michael P. Coury, Celia J. Collins, Spencer M. Sax

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE-ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE DOES NOT PRECLUDE ADJUDICATION OF ANTITRUST CLAIM INVOLVING ALLEGED FRAUDULENT PROCUREMENT OF FOREIGN PATENTS

Gayle B. Carlson

=======================

ADMIRALTY-DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL DEATH ON THE HIGH SEAS ARE LIMITED TO PECUNIARY LOSS

Michael P. Coury

=======================

ANTITRUST-E.E.C. TREATY-JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT THAT OPERATES TO PRECLUDE ENTRY INTO A GEOGRAPHIC MARKET IS PROHIBITED UNDER ARTICLE 85 OF THE E.E.C. TREATY

Celia J. Collins

=========================

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-TEAS STATUTE'S DENIAL OF FREE EDUCATION TO ILLEGAL ALIENS VIOLATES EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE AND IS PREEMPTED BY THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT

Spencer M. Sax

==========================

SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY-FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITIES ACT …

The Due Process Mandate And The Constitutionality Of Admiralty Arrests And Attachments Pursuant To Supplemental Rules B And C, Jon L. Goodman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the past decade, the area of procedural due process, including traditional doctrines of in rem and quasi in rem jurisdiction, has undergone a constitutional facelift. As a result, two of admiralty's most extraordinary features--maritime attachment and garnishment and actions in rem--have been questioned from a constitutional standpoint.

The United States Supreme Court inaugurated the new era with its decision in Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp. In that case, the Court first began changing its procedural due process philosophy by broadening its conception of constitutionally protected forms of property. Having narrowly addressed itself to the question of what constitute constitutionally …

Foreign Nationals And Agencies Of Foreign Governments As Persons Under The Freedom Of Information Act: A Question Of Constitutionality, Lloyd F. Leroy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This note will first examine the FOIA as it is juxtaposed against the President's power in the area of foreign affairs. Particular attention in this area will be directed to the expressed congressional purpose for passage of the FOLA and the President's role as sole voice of the nation in international relations. Next, the conflicting interests will be highlighted by means of a hypothetical fact situation in which the FOIA dictates disclosure of information which the President feels must be withheld because of foreign policy considerations. Finally, this note will propose some solutions to both the practical problems presented and …

Recent Decisions, Jamie S. Martin, Margaret H. Fiorillo, J. Andrew Hoyal, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--COMMERCE CLAUSE--STATE TAX ON INSTRUMENTALITIES OF FOREIGN COMMERCE INVALID WHEN TAX RESULTS IN MULTIPLE TAXATION AND IMPAIRS FEDERAL UNIFORMITY IN REGULATION OF FOREIGN TRADE

Jamie S. Martin

-----------------------------

IMMIGRATION--LAWFUL UNRELINQUISHED DOMICILE--DEPORTABLE RESIDENT ALIEN MUST ACCUMULATE SEVEN YEARS OFLAWFUL DOMICILE SUBSEQUENT TO ADMISSION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCRETIONARY RELIEF

Margaret H. Fiorillo

----------------------------------

LONGSHOREMEN'S AND HARBOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT--MANUFACTURER MAY SUE STEVEDORE FOR INDEMNIFICATION FROM LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF LONGSHOREMEN'S INJURIES--THEORY OF EQUITABLE CREDIT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE LHWCA

J. Andrew Hoyal, II

Theodore A. Smedley And The Race Relations Law Reporter, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

Beginning in 1959, Ted Smedley served with personal distinction and national recognition as Director of the Race Relations Law Reporter and as Director and Editor of the successor publications,the Race Relations Law Survey and the Race Relations Law Index. Professor Smedley, who joined the Board of Editors of the Race Relations Law Reporter in the fall of 1957 as one of three Associate Directors, engaged in editorial activities in this dynamic and sensitive area over a seventeen-year period, an era marked by tremendous ferment and revolutionary change. The quality of his work is evident in the words published within the …

Recent Cases, Daniel P. Smith, R. Michael Moore

Vanderbilt Law Review

Courts Split on the Necessity of Separate Authorization for a Covert Entry Under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

Daniel Paul Smith

Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,' which regulates the use of electronic surveillance, was designed to protect "the privacy of wire and oral communications,"and to delineate "on a uniform basis the circumstances and conditions under which the interception of wire and oral communications may be authorized."' In general, communications may be intercepted only by law enforcement officers, who are engaged in the investigation of …

Recent Cases, James S. Hutchinson, James R. Newson, Iii, Andrew W. Byrd, Judith Mi. Janssen, John E. Tavss

Vanderbilt Law Review

Civil Procedure--Attorney-Client Privilege-- Privilege Protects Communications Made by Corporate Employee To Secure Legal Advice and a Matter Committed to a Professional Legal Advisor Is Prima Facie Committed To Secure Legal Advice

James S. Hutchinson

attorney-client privilege, the "predominance" test, legal activities

In summary, courts have not yet resolved how to determine who may qualify as the corporate client for purposes of the attorney-client privilege...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Constitutional Law-- Confrontation Clause-Admission at Trial of Slain Informant's

Prior Grand Jury Testimony Against Defendants Does …

Parker And Usery: Portended Constitutional Limits On The Federal Interdiction Of Anticompetitive State Action, Mark L. Davidson, Robert D. Butters

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article examines in detail the policies underlying these recent Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Sherman Act and shows that they have equal applicability to FTC enforcement of the Clayton and FTC Acts. The Article identifies the factual criteria used by the courts for distinguishing state and private conduct that is subject to the antitrust laws, and to congressional commerce dictates, from sovereign state regulatory conduct that is immune from antitrust sanction. The Article then focuses on the impact of Usery, which provides constitutional support for the so-called state action doctrine that was originated in Parker v. Brown. Finally, we …

Some Intersections Of The Negative Commerce Clause And The New Federalism, James F. Blumstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much has been written about the change in the Supreme Court's judicial philosophy, as a new, ascendant majority has been able successfully to implement its emerging notions of judicial reticence and self-abnegation. This fundamental turnabout in judicial perspective is hardly coincidental, since it reflects the fulfillment of an oft-repeated campaign pledge of Richard Nixon, who in 1968 promised, if elected, to appoint so-called strict constructionists to the Court.' In a basic way his appointees have succeeded in modifying the activist stance that prevailed on the Court during much of the tenure of Earl Warren as Chief Justice. With notable exceptions …

Book Reviews, Stephen L. Wasby, Herbert A. Johnson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Courts and Social Policy Author: Donald L. Horowitz

Reviewed by Stephen L. Wasby

Donald Horowitz's The Courts and Social Policy is a serious effort to deal with the question of judicial capacity. Horowitz talks first of the expansion of judicial responsibility, which he thinks is a departure from the traditional exercise of the judicial function, and then explores the sources of this growth, particularly expansive statutory interpretation. He believes that courts do not do well at interpreting the mixes of statutes, regulations, and local arrangements with which they are faced more and more frequently. "Griggs v. Duke Power Co.," …

Book Reviews, George A. Hay, H. Michael Mann, Teresa Amott

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews:

The Antitrust Penalties: A Study in Law and Economics By Kenneth G. Elzinga and William Breit

Reviewed by George A. Hay

The Antitrust Penalties was published in 1976. Its main mes-sage is that the only efficient antitrust penalty is a heavy fine and that incarceration comes out poorly by any benefit-cost standard.Later that year, in a celebrated and possibly unprecedented appearance, newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Donald I. Baker argued before a federal district judge that jail sentences were the appropriate penalty for a group of defendants who had just been convicted in one of the major price-fixing …

Recent Cases, Alan W. Duncan, Elton G. Snowden, William A. Holby, Joseph W. Gibbs

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law -- Newsperson's Privilege - The First Amendment Guarantee of a Free Press Protects Against Compelled Disclosure of a Journalist's Exercise of Editorial Control and Judgment

Plaintiff, a former army officer who had achieved national prominence by claiming that his superiors ignored his reports of atrocities by American forces in Vietnam,' brought a libel suit against defendant television producer, reporter, and network for broadcasting a program that cast doubt upon plaintiff's allegations. Contending that defendant did not present available information corroborating plaintiff's claims, plaintiff sought discovery of the producer's beliefs, opinions, intent, and conclusions in preparing the program.

Alan …

Recent Cases, Robert E. Banta, Oby T. Brewer, Iii, Cornelia A. Clark, I. Terry Currie, Douglas W. Ey, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law-First Amendment-School Authorities May Prohibit High School Student's Distribution of Sex Questionnaire to Prevent Possible Psychological Harm to Other Students Robert Edward Banta

Plaintiff, editor of a high school publication,' brought suit in federal court seeking an order compelling defendant school officials to allow the student publication to distribute a sex questionnaire,to students in the high school and to publish the results. Plaintiff claimed that defendants had not shown that the planned distribution would disrupt school activities and that, therefore, defendants'prohibition of the questionnaire violated 42 U.S.C. § 19831 and the first and fourteenth amendments. Pointing to potential psychological …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

1. Admiralty A State has Standing to Sue to Recover the Cost of Replacing Natural Resources Destroyed by Pollution

=============

2. Aliens' Rights Executive Order Barring Lawfully Admitted Resident Aliens from Federal Civil Service is Valid

==============

3. Constitutional Law Scope of Lacey Act Limited to Foreign Laws Designed to Protect Wildlife

==============

4. European Economic Community Restrictive Resale Provisions, Discriminating Pricing Policies, and Refusals to Deal by Corporation with a Dominant Position in a Substantial Part of EEC Violates Article 86 of the EEC Treaty

==============

5. International Travel Statute Suspending Social Security Income Benefits for Recipient Temporarily Out …

Recent Decisions, Aubrey W. Bogle, Iii, Edward H. Lueckenhoff, Clark C. Siewert, Joe B. Foltz, Michael P. Peck

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Admiralty--Requirement of Minimum Contacts for Jurisdiction to Attach Property of Nonresident Defendant is not Applicable to Maritime Attachment

Aubrey W. Bogle, III

==================

Buy American Statutes--New Jersey--Constitutionality of Buy American Statute Upheld by State Supreme Court

Edward H. Lueckenhoff

=================

Citizenship--The Fourteenth Amendment requires Proof by Clear, Convincing, and Unequivocal Evidence that Relinquishment of United States Citizenship is Voluntary

Clark C. Siewert

=================

Extradition--Double Jeopardy Provision of Extradition Treaty Applies even Where Crime Committed before Ratification

Michael P. Peck

===================

Sovereign Immunity--Service of Process in the United States on a Permanent Mission to the United Nations must Conform to the …

Quiet Revolution: The Development Of Notice Requirements In Admiralty In Rem Actions, Ronald M. Morris

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The personification theory has declined in acceptance in the United States since the turn of the century. It is now largely discredited, and has been labeled a mere "literary theme" whose disappearance is "to be welcomed. The personification theory maintains vitality, however, because it provides a rationale for concluding that a ship, and not her owner, may be liable--a result many courts find difficult to justify without the theory.

If the personification theory is taken to its logical extreme, the constitutional due process requirement of notice and opportunity to defend is satisfied by pasting a summons to the vessel's bridge. …

Books Received, C. C. S.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS IN EUROPE

Edited by R. M. Goode and K. R. Simmons Published for the Faculty of Laws; Queen Mary College, University of London Boston: A. W. Sijthoff, 1978. Pp. 448.

COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

By Mauro Cappelletti and William Cohen Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs -Merrill, 1979. Pp. 628.

COMPARATIVE LAW: WESTERN EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEMS

By John H. Merryman and David S. Clark Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs -Merrill, 1978. Pp. 1278.

THE DISCIPLINE OF LAW

By Lord Denning London: Butterworths,1979. Pp. 330.

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS BETWEEN STATES

By Guy S. Goodwin -Gill Oxford: Clarendon Press, …

The Influence Of James B. Thayer Upon The Work Of Holmes, Brandeis, And Frankfurter, Wallace Mendelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

James Bradley Thayer was one of the major figures in American constitutional law if only because of his influence upon Holmes, Brandeis, and Frankfurter (to say nothing of Learned and Augustus Hand). Now almost forgotten, Thayer, along with Christopher Columbus Langdell, John Chipman Gray, and James Barr Ames, was one of the giants at the Harvard Law School during its "golden age"at the close of the nineteenth century.' His legal career began only after serious flirtation with divinity and the Greek and Latin classics. That his interest in such matters was never suppressed entirely is evident in his "A Western …

Recent Cases, John P. Kelly, G. David Dodd

Vanderbilt Law Review

The principle that the government must not only refrain from providing special preference to a particular religion, but, that it also must stand apart from religion in general is abridged once the government seeks to provide sustenance to religious interests. Government neutrality is preserved, however, when the government merely provides fertile ground on which religious interests can thrive independently. Because state-imposed employment accommodation of religious precepts creates proselytizing opportunities" upon which religious interests flourish and because there is no overriding government interest in requiring such accommodation, Title VII's Randolph Amendment transgresses establishment clause prohibitions.

John P. Kelly

=========================

The court …

Recent Cases, James H. Lokey, Jr., Stephen D. Goodwin, Charles L. Jarik

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Criminal Procedure-Circuits Split over Application of Stone v. Powell's "Opportunity for Full and Fair Litigation"

James H. Lokey, Jr.

In Stone v. Powell,' the third 1976 decision, the Supreme Court made a limited but distinct break with precedent. Stone held that a state prisoner may not be granted federal habeas relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure was introduced at his trial as long as the state has provided an "opportunity for full and fair litigation" of his fourth amendment claim." The Court, as noted previously, did not define what kind of "opportunity" …

The Continuing Presidential Dilemma, Thomas Blau

Vanderbilt Law Review

The problems of the Presidency are not new. The transformation has occurred in the evaluation of such behavior and especially in the concept of the proper balance between the Presidency and Congress.Changing personalities in office may account for much of the evolution of the institutional critiques. Organizing the Presidency--much to Stephen Hess's credit--does not participate in the simplistic version of this dialectic. Despite having served on the staffs of two Presidents, he calls for a drastic diminution in the power of the White House staff in favor of its rival, the Cabinet. An effective Presidency, in his view,requires a more …

Recent Cases, Samuel E. Stumpf, Jr., M. Carolyn Barefield, Robert S. Reder, Stephen C. Morton, Randolph C. Coley

Vanderbilt Law Review

Noerr-Pennington Immunity for Joint Efforts to Influence Governmental Action - Intent to Cause Competitive Injury, Evidenced by Repeated, Baseless Opposition Before an Adjudicatory Body, Does Not Result in Loss of Noerr-Pennington Immunity Absent Specific Allegations of Conduct External to or Abusive of the Adjutory Processes

Samuel E. Stumpf, Jr.

Constitutional Law - First Amendment - Student's Right to Receive Information Precludes Board's Removal of Allegedly Offensive Books from High School Library

M. Carolyn Barefield

Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure - Federal Courts Are Bound by Federal Wiretapping Statutes and Will Not Exclude Evidence Seized by State Agents in Violation of More …

Recent Cases, Laurence M. Hamric, William G. Scott, Mitchell M. Purvis, George M. Kryder, Iii, Richard M. Pitt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Laurence M. Hamric

The instant decision demonstrates the inability of the Court, on its own or with the meager guidance provided by Congress, to discern a clear standard by which to measure the propriety of union organizational activity in light of current federal labor and antitrust law. Faced with a fact pattern that did not embody an apparent anticompetitive intent, a classic conspiracy between labor and non-labor entities, or activity clearly unrelated to the legitimate union interest in achieving better wages and working conditions, the Court was forced to abandon the "clear showing" test of Pennington," the"intimately related" test of …

Buckley V. Valeo, Its Aftermath, And Its Prospects: The Constitutionality Of Government Restraints On Political Campaign Financing, Brice M. Clagett, John R. Bolton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court's decision in Buckley v. Valeo' undoubtedly will be the forerunner of many future decisions dealing with the complex area of political campaign finance and thus will exert a profound influence on the structure of American politics. From a broader perspective, the decision significantly applies fundamental constitutional law doctrines concerning the first amendment and separation of powers. Accordingly, a clear understanding of what the Court did and did not do in Buckley is essential to any further legislative or judicial initiatives in the regulation of political activity. This article will examine the Court's holdings in Buckley, describe the …

Recent Cases, Richard T. Hurt, Jay D. Christiansen, William J. Rees, William D. Gutermuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Action Under Color of State Law--Legislative Authorization of Private Action Resembling Public Function Constitutes Action Under Color of State Law

The instant case creates a two to two split in the circuits on the question whether the seizure of a tenant's possessions under a land-lord lien statute is action under color of state law. The decisions in Davis and Anastasia provide the potential for abuse that Fuentes was designed to prevent-the indiscriminate entry into the debtor's home and seizure of his belongings without prior notice and hearing.Hall and the instant opinion, however, provide a more equitable result. While the …

The Constitutionality Of The Multistate Tax Compact, Robert M. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is now firmly established that states have the constitutional power to tax multistate businesses on net income reasonably attributable to activity within the taxing state. Within this legal frame-work, limited only by Public Law 86-272, the states have fashioned separate and diverse rules for the taxation of multistate corporations.'The recently formed Multistate Tax Compact provides an efficient alternative to both the present disarray of state statutes and possible federal regulation of interstate taxation. The principal purposes of the Compact are to establish uniform rules for determining state tax liabilities of multistate taxpayers, to eliminate ineffective tax administration and the …

Recent Cases, Walter S. Weems, Mary M. Schaffner, Ronald G. Harris

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law-State and Local Tax-- Nondiscriminatory Ad Valorem Property Tax on Imports Stored in Warehouse Pending Sale Is Not Prohibited by Import-Export Clause

The framers of the Constitution enacted the import-export clause with the apparent intent that it remedy shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation and achieve specified national goals. Since the Articles of Confederation allowed individual states to regulate commerce as they saw fit, the seaboard stales, through whose ports goods in foreign commerce had to pass, were able to impose duties on imports destined for inland states. One reason for the import-export clause was to preserve harmony among …

Book Reviews, Ernest Van Den Haag, James F. Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consensual Government "The Morality of Consent" by Alexander M. Bickel

Reviewed by Ernest van den Haag

Bickel wanted to make the scope of the law comprehensive enough to proclaim the norms that are consensually perceived to be necessary to social life, yet to let individuals and groups pursue their choices without being forced to conform altogether to majority views or being strapped into judicial strait jackets. His work, and the unifying theme of this posthumous collection of essays, very largely consisted of elaborations of his answer to the question: how can we define the province of constitutional interpretation so as …