Constitutional Law Commons^™

Constitutional Law--The Right To A Jury Trial In Disbarment Proceedings, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Lawyers in the United States have long been considered officers of the court, subject to examination for good moral character and adequate education in law before admission to the bar. They have also been subject to summary proceedings for disbarment whenever they have deviated from accepted standards of conduct embodied in various codes of professional ethics. Although the specific grounds for disbarment vary from state to state and between federal and state courts, one thing is clear: in the absence of a specific statutory provision there traditionally has been no right to a jury trial in disbarment proceedings. Since the …

Constitutional Law--Double Jeopardy--Prosecutions By Both A City And A State For An Identical Offense As A Violation Of The Prohibition Against Double Jeopardy--Waller V. State, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In Benton v. Maryland, decided in June of this year, the Supreme Court explicitly extended fifth amendment protection against double jeopardy to the states through the fourteenth amendment. Palko was specifically overruled to the extent that it was inconsistent with the Benton decision. Thus, the theories traditionally used to defend prosecutions by both a city and a state for the same offense must be examined to determine whether they are still valid when the fifth amendment's prohibition against double jeopardy is applied to state proceedings. This Recent Development examines the implications of the Benton decision for those theories.

Howard: The Road From Runnymede: Magna Carta And Constitutionalism In America, Leonard W. Levy

Michigan Law Review

A Review o The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America by A.E. Dick Howard

Conscription And The Constitution: The Original Understanding, Leon Friedman

Michigan Law Review

The general words of the Constitution-famous phrases such as "due process," "freedom of speech," "interstate commerce," and "raise and support armies"-are not self-evident concepts. As Justice Frankfurter said, "The language of the [Constitution] is to be read not as barren words found in a dictionary but as symbols of historic experience illumined by the presuppositions of those who employed them. Not what words did Madison and Hamilton use, but what was it in their minds which they conveyed?" While the framers obviously could not have foreseen the discovery of electromagnetic radio waves or atomic energy, and had no "intent" concerning …

Sturm & Whitaker: Implementing A New Constitution: The Michigan Experience, Walter D. De Vries

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Implementing a New Constitution: The Michigan Experience by Albert L. Sturm and Margaret Whitaker

Personal Privacy In The Computer Age: The Challenge Of A New Technology In An Information-Oriented Society, Arthur R. Miller

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to survey the new technology's implications for personal privacy and to evaluate the contemporary common-law and statutory pattern relating to data-handling. In the course of this examination, it will appraise the existing framework's capacity to deal with the problems created by society's growing awareness of the primordial character of information. The Article is intended to be suggestive; any attempt at definitiveness would be premature. Avowedly, it was written with the bias of one who believes that the new information technology has enormous long-range societal implications and who is concerned about the consequences of the …

Levy: Origins Of The Fifth Amendment, O. John Rogge

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Origins of the Fifth Amendment by Leonard W. Levy

Constitutional Law--Police Power--Michigan Statute Requiring Motorcyclists To Wear Protective Helmets Held Unconstitutional, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The effects of the helmet decisions on the law in general may be substantial. On the one hand, if a helmet statute is held constitutional, inroads could be made upon personal liberty; the legislature might rely on similar strained and unproved relationships to the general welfare in order to justify regulations impinging upon other areas of individual conduct. On the other hand, to hold such a statute unconstitutional may require the judiciary to interfere unreasonably with the legislature's conception of public welfare. In light of these considerations, courts dealing with challenges to such regulations in the future should pay closer …

Dietze: America's Political Dilemma, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

A Review of America's Political Dilemma by Gottfried Dietze

The Constitution, Congress, And Presidential Elections, Albert J. Rosenthal

Michigan Law Review

It has been recommended by a prestigious commission of the American Bar Association and endorsed by the ABA's House of Delegates. The Bar Association of the City of New York, which had previously recommended a different proposed amendment, has now shifted its support to direct popular vote, as has Senator Birch Bayh, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. A Gallup poll indicates that 66 per cent of the nation supports this amendment, with only 19 per cent opposed.

It must be remembered, however, that a decision to amend the Constitution is, as …

Constitutional Law--Executive Agreements--International Law--Executive Authority Concerning The Future Political Status Of The Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

It is fair to conclude that the President, even in the absence of express congressional authorization, has constitutional authority indeed, a constitutional duty-to carry out those obligations assumed under the Micronesian trusteeship agreement. Execution of this agreement lies within the scope of the authority given the President by the faithful execution clause and by his independent constitutional powers in the area of foreign policy. Thus, it is next necessary to determine the scope of the president's authority under the trusteeship agreement.

The Supreme Court And The People, Everett Mckinley Dirksen

Michigan Law Review

There is only one circumstance, as I read the Constitution, which authorizes the federal government to intrude or interfere with the governmental structure of a state. That would occur under the provisions of section 4 of article IV, which, in pertinent part, state: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government .... " This was the question, if indeed there was a federal question, to be determined in the earlier Baker v. Carr and the reapportionment cases. To rely on the fourteenth amendment for authority to establish by judicial decree a new …

Proposed Legislation To Implement The Convention Method Of Amending The Constitution, Sam J. Ervin Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides that constitutional amendments may be proposed in either of two ways--by two-thirds of both houses of the Congress or by a convention called by the Congress in response to the applications of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Although the framers of the Constitution evidently contemplated that the two methods of initiating amendments would operate as parallel procedures, neither superior to the other, this has not been the case historically. Each of the twenty-five constitutional amendments ratified to date was proposed by the Congress under the first alternative. As a result, …

The Alternative Amendment Process: Some Observations, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The alternative method of formal amendment of the Constitution raises unresolved questions of interpretation. As a contribution to the formulation of procedures for the implementation of this method Senator Ervin has introduced a bill dealing with the matter in considerable detail. In dealing with the subject I propose to discuss not only the convention procedure provided in article V, and in this connection point up some considerations respecting Senator Ervin's bill, but also some basic questions relating to the formal amendment process and the role assumed by the Supreme Court in the process of constitutional change.

Article V: The Comatose Article Of Our Living Constitution?, Robert G. Dixon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Capacity for steady--even startling-development and relative incapacity for formal change, are twin features of American constitutionalism often noticed but seldom analyzed conjointly. Even the most stalwart supporters of the status quo do not want an unamendable Constitution, but disagreement as to how change should be effected, and the scope of it, runs deep. Indeed, this is the central problem of Marbury v. Madison. That case was the effective innovator of judicial review, our "real" system for developmental constitutionalism. Interestingly, it also was one of the quite rare instances when a seemingly simple constitutional text was at issue (scope of Supreme …

The Dirksen Amendment And The Article V Convention Process, Arthur Earl Bonfield

Michigan Law Review

This article will concentrate on the legal issues facing Congress in the current effort to call a constitutional convention. Because all of the previous amendments to the Constitution were proposed to the states by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, the issues raised in the present situation have never been resolved. The appropriate course of action for the national legislature is especially in doubt. An attempt will therefore be made here to focus on proper decision-making by Congress in resolving these constitutional issues. The role of the judiciary will be considered only incidentally, since, as will be seen, …

Disadvantages Of A Federal Constitutional Convention, Ralph M. Carson

Michigan Law Review

Article V says that on application of two-thirds of the states Congress "shall" call the convention for proposing amendments. The imperative color of this word cannot be disregarded. It leaves no discretion in Congress as to the convening of an article V assembly, although it may be consistent with some control by Congress over the modalities. A deliberate refusal on the part of Congress to call a convention, once the requisite number of state applications were in hand, may be expected, by enlarged analogy to what has been done in the recent civil rights cases and what is being proposed …

Along The Midway: Some Thoughts On Democratic Constitution-Amending, Clifton Mccleskey

Michigan Law Review

In the American political circus there is apt to be going on at any given time a number of sideshows pretty much unrelated to the action under the Big Top. Essentially harmless and perhaps even functional for the system, they include the activities of the anti-vivisectionists, campaigns to impeach the Chief Justice, and the fratricidal spasms of various Marxist-oriented splinter movements. Among these sideshows, however, one has been distinguished by its perennial character and by the attention given to it by otherwise sober and restrained persons. I refer to the attempt through state legislative petitions to get Congress to call …

Constitutional Law--Commerce Clause--1966 Amendments To Fair Labor Standards Act Extending Coverage To Employees In State-Operated Schools, Hospitals, And Related Institutions Held Constitutional--Maryland V. Wirtz, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1966, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and for the first time extended the coverage of the minimum wage and overtime provisions to employees in state-operated schools, hospitals, and related institutions. The State of Maryland, joined by twenty-seven other states, brought an action to enjoin enforcement of the amendments insofar as they applied to these state-operated facilities and sought a declaratory judgment ruling the amendments unconstitutional. The states asserted that the amendments were unconstitutional in two respects. First, they contended that the "enterprise" concept of FLSA coverage, which extended the Act to cover all employees of an …

Advisory Committee On Sentencing And Review: American Bar Association Project On Minimum Standards For Criminal Justice: Standards Relating To Post-Conviction Remedies, Daniel J. Meador

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice: Standards Relating to Post-Conviction Remedies (Tentative Draft) recommended by the Advisory Committee on Sentencing and Review

Emerson: Political And Civil Rights In The United States, T. A. Smedley

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Political and Civil Rights in the United States. 3d ed. 2 vols. by Thomas I. Emerson, David Haber, and Norman Dorsen

The Elementary And Secondary Education Act The Implications Of The Trust-Fund Theory For The Church-State Questions Raised By Title I, Jon Feikens

Michigan Law Review

The issues raised by the granting of federal aid both to education in general and to non-public education in particular have caused considerable controversy in recent years. Although several federal statutes dealing with various aspects of both types of aid had been enacted previously, the early 1960's saw an increased desire on the part of Congress to enter this area with a comprehensive plan. Finally, in 1965, the question of aid to education in general was resolved in favor of carrying the war on poverty to the elementary and secondary schools. Simultaneously, a so-called "church-state settlement" was reached whereby it …

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 …

Labor Law-Nlrb Regulation Of Employer's Pre-Election Captive Audience Speeches, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

One of the most effective weapons that an employer may utilize to dissuade his employees from accepting unionization is an antiunion speech delivered to the assembled employees on company time and property shortly before a scheduled representation election. Two recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions have provided an opportunity for reopening the much debated question of a campaigning union's right to reply under equal opportunity conditions to such a captive audience speech. In McCulloch Corp., a union sought to have the unfavorable results of a representation election set aside on the ground that the employer's refusal to allow …

Slumlordism As A Tort, Joseph L. Sax, Fred J. Hiestand

Michigan Law Review

The war against poverty has been fought with rather more vigor than its initiators contemplated. Thus far, however, the major engagements have taken place in the streets of Watts and Chicago, which is not quite what they had in mind. Some, who think it odd that as we pass more laws we get more lawlessness, will perhaps content themselves by observing that the feeding hand is always bitten. Those less easily satisfied have begun to see the need for adopting some legal solutions as far reaching as the problems they are designed to abate; the following article is addressed to …

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 …

Attorney-Client-Client's Right To Engage Out-Of-State Attorney For Advice Concerning Federal Claim Is A Privilege And Immunity Of National Citizenship--Spanos V. Skouras Theatre Corp., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The state and federal courts, existing side by side within the boundaries of each state, separately control admission to practice law before their respective bars. Although membership in a state bar is generally a prerequisite for admission to the bar of a federal court, the two systems do function under separate and distinct ground rules, and they appear to have done so with a minimum of friction. However, the principal case is indicative of the problems that may arise when state policy on the right to practice law within the state conflicts with federal policy.

Unauthorized Practice Of Law-Union Program Of Hiring Attorneys Is Unauthorized Practice Of Law--Illinois State Bar Ass'n V. United Mine Workers Of America, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

District 12 of the United Mine Workers (UMW) employed an attorney on a salary basis to prosecute members' claims under the Workmen's Compensation Act. Members were free to employ other counsel, but if they sought help from the union lawyer, the union agreed not to interfere with the attorney-client relationship. The attorney prepared his case from filed reports of the accidents, and, generally, his first contact with the union member was when they appeared before the Commission. Since the attorney was compensated by the union, the entire amount received in award or settlement went to the member. The Illinois Bar …

Newman: Conviction: The Determination Of Guilt Or Innocence Without Trial, B. J. George Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Conviction: The Determination of Guilt or Innocence Without Trial by Donald J. Newman