Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Constitutional Law Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Seattle University Law Review

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year

Articles 421 - 450 of 454

Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law

The Residential Tenant's Right To Freedom Of Political Expression, James E. Lobsenz, Timothy M. Swanson Jan 1986

The Residential Tenant's Right To Freedom Of Political Expression, James E. Lobsenz, Timothy M. Swanson

Seattle University Law Review

This Article outlines the arguments to be made on behalf of residential tenants who display political signs and who encounter threats of eviction, rent increases, and other forms of landlord opposition. In Section II, the Article describes the development of the general principles of constitutional law applicable to disputes between property owners and tenants who wish to use the property owners’ premises as a forum for the expression of the tenants’ ideas and beliefs. Tracing the history of the United States Supreme Court rulings in this area, the authors analyze the waxing and waning of first amendment speech rights, the …

Go to article

Constitutional Review Of State Eminent Domain Legislation: Hawaii Housing Authority V. Midkiff, Stuart P. Kastner Jan 1985

Constitutional Review Of State Eminent Domain Legislation: Hawaii Housing Authority V. Midkiff, Stuart P. Kastner

Seattle University Law Review

The State of Hawaii has a unique land ownership problem directly affecting many of the state's homeowners: a handful of people own a large percentage of the land available for residential housing." Consequently, a significant proportion of homeowners rent, under long-term leases, the land on which their homes are built. In 1967 the Hawaii legislature took action to break up this concentration of ownership by enacting the Land Reform Act. The legislature declared that such ownership was a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of Hawaii's citizens because of its significant contribution to the spiraling inflation of land values. …

Go to article

Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law, Justice Robert F. Utter Jan 1985

Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law, Justice Robert F. Utter

Seattle University Law Review

This Survey is designed to assist lawyers and judges who must argue and resolve search and seizure issues in Washington State. The Survey summarizes the controlling state and federal cases on search and seizure law and uses as an additional reference W. LAFAVE, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment (1978). Washington courts are likely to analyze future search and seizure issues under both the fourth amendment and Washington Constitution article I, section 7. The difference in wording between the two provisions is substantial, suggesting different degrees or types of privacy protection. This Survey summarizes the predominant treatment …

Go to article

The Washington Constitutional "State Action" Doctrine: A Fundamental Right To State Action, David M. Skover Jan 1985

The Washington Constitutional "State Action" Doctrine: A Fundamental Right To State Action, David M. Skover

Seattle University Law Review

The time is ripe to establish the nature of the Washington "state action" doctrine and its theoretical purposes, and to evaluate its capacity to serve the functions justifying its existence. This Article will perform this exegesis. This Article proposes the dismantlement of the Washington "state action" doctrine and the recognition that cases involving competing private claims of state constitutional liberties present justiciable controversies that must be decided by conscious and comprehensive judicial investigation of the merits.

Go to article

Seizing Opportunity, Searching For Theory: Article I, Section 7, George R. Nock Jan 1985

Seizing Opportunity, Searching For Theory: Article I, Section 7, George R. Nock

Seattle University Law Review

Washington case law dealing with searches and seizures has now reached a developmental stage from which it can proceed either haphazardly or along any of several well-defined lines. The purpose of this Article is not to provide a compendium of Washington search-and-seizure cases. Rather, the Article analyzes the more recent (and some of the earlier) cases in which the Washington Supreme Court has interpreted article I, section 7, and suggests several alternative theoretical bases for the further development of Washington constitutional search-and-seizure jurisprudence.

Go to article

A Constitutional Right To An Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks Of Erroneous Conviction, James E. Lobsenz Jan 1985

A Constitutional Right To An Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks Of Erroneous Conviction, James E. Lobsenz

Seattle University Law Review

The many consequences of "constitutionalizing" the right to appeal become evident only when one answers certain underlying questions about the nature of an appeal. What are the essential elements of an appeal? Why should we view the criminal defendant's right to appeal as an element of due process of law? Part II of this Article seeks to develop a theoretical due process framework for use in deciding when the right to appeal under article I, section 22 of the Washington Constitution has been unconstitutionally abridged or denied. Part III contains an analysis of oral argument as an essential element of …

Go to article

The Establishment Clause And The Free Exercise Clause Of The Washington Constitution—A Proposal To The Supreme Court, Frank J. Conklin, James M. Vaché Jan 1985

The Establishment Clause And The Free Exercise Clause Of The Washington Constitution—A Proposal To The Supreme Court, Frank J. Conklin, James M. Vaché

Seattle University Law Review

This Article traces the independent development in the case law interpreting the Washington Constitution and in the drafting of the document itself. It is the position of the authors that the strict approach and consequent rigorous, independent analysis by the Washington court is not a necessary or appropriate method of deciding church-state issues, at least in many contexts. When examining establishment clause issues under the state constitution, the Washington State Supreme Court should therefore modify its previous position and adopt a more common-sense approach in lieu of the doctrinaire rigidity that has characterized prior opinions.

Go to article

Framers Intent: The Illegitimate Uses Of History, Pierre Schlag Jan 1985

Framers Intent: The Illegitimate Uses Of History, Pierre Schlag

Seattle University Law Review

In this Article, I will present a series of attacks on intentionalism. My efforts are aimed at eroding the high ground that the intentionalist position appears to enjoy in the interpretation of state and federal constitutions. Currently, one almost has to justify departure from the framers intent in advancing a nonconforming constitutional interpretation. This Article is an attempt to reverse this assumed burden of persuasion.

Go to article

Washington's Equal Rights Amendment: It Says What It Means And It Means What It Says, Patricia L. Proebsting Jan 1985

Washington's Equal Rights Amendment: It Says What It Means And It Means What It Says, Patricia L. Proebsting

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment begins with a discussion of the ERA's legislative history and the legislature's attempt to bring state statutes into compliance with the ERA upon its passage. Next, judicial interpretations of the new constitutional guarantee are compared to the interpretation of the Washington Constitution's privileges and immunities clause. Finally, the Comment compares Washington's standard of review with a similar standard used by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and argues that the Washington Supreme Court should adopt the absolute standard applied by the Pennsylvania courts.

Go to article

An Analytical View Of Recent "Lending Of Credit" Decisions In Washington State, Hugh Spitzer Jan 1985

An Analytical View Of Recent "Lending Of Credit" Decisions In Washington State, Hugh Spitzer

Seattle University Law Review

This Article first presents an analytic framework for assessing government actions that present possible violations of article VIII, sections 5 and 7, and then analyzes five recent cases interpreting those provisions.

Go to article

The Right To Speak, Write, And Publish Freely: State Constitutional Protection Against Private Abridgment, Justice Robert F. Utter Jan 1985

The Right To Speak, Write, And Publish Freely: State Constitutional Protection Against Private Abridgment, Justice Robert F. Utter

Seattle University Law Review

This Article presents an independent analysis of a fundamental aspect of the free speech provision of the Washington Declaration of Rights, which closely resembles the free speech provisions of many other state constitutions. The focus is on whether the Washington free speech provision protects Washingtonians against abridgment of their speech and press rights by private individuals and organizations. To answer this question, this Article examines the nature of state constitutions and government, the case law of other jurisdictions interpreting similar provisions, the text of the Washington provision, the origins of the provision, the historical background of the Washington Constitutional Convention, …

Go to article

Confronting Child Victims Of Sex Abuse: The Unconstitutionality Of The Sexual Abuse Hearsay Exception, Katrin E. Frank Jan 1984

Confronting Child Victims Of Sex Abuse: The Unconstitutionality Of The Sexual Abuse Hearsay Exception, Katrin E. Frank

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment first analyzes Washington’s hearsay exception Act in the light of the principles that form the basis for the hearsay rule and its exceptions. It then examines the effect of the Act on the preexisting hearsay rules. Next, it compares the concept of unavailability as used in the hearsay exceptions with the concept of incompetence; both concepts are then analyzed according to the requirements of the hearsay rules and the confrontation clause. The Comment concludes that the Act is unconstitutional because it permits admission of hearsay of testimonially incompetent children.

Go to article

Inculpatory Statements Against Penal Interest: State V. Parris Goes Too Far, James E. Beaver, Cheryl Mccleary Jan 1984

Inculpatory Statements Against Penal Interest: State V. Parris Goes Too Far, James E. Beaver, Cheryl Mccleary

Seattle University Law Review

This article first demonstrates that courts historically did not trust penal interest statements in general, and that courts were extremely suspicious of any statements by a third party that implicated the defendant. Since Washington adopted Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3) verbatim, this article then analyzes the legislative history of the rule. The article concludes that the legislative history favored exclusion of inculpatory statements but that Congress failed to codify the exclusion because of unrelated problems. Finally, the article discusses the confrontation clause problems that arise when inculpatory statements are allowed into evidence. This article argues that the Parris holding should …

Go to article

Freedom And Diversity In A Federal System: Perspectives On State Constitutions And The Washington Declaration Of Rights, Justice Robert F. Utter Jan 1984

Freedom And Diversity In A Federal System: Perspectives On State Constitutions And The Washington Declaration Of Rights, Justice Robert F. Utter

Seattle University Law Review

Increasingly, Washington courts are being asked to consider our Declaration as an independent and effective source of protection for individual rights, including some rights not recognized or protected by the United States Supreme Court, and to give our state constitution a truly independent interpretation. No matter how sympathetic they may be to such requests, lawyers and judges face at least three major problems in making a truly independent interpretation of a state constitutional provision. First, they must justify departing from precedents laid down by the United States Supreme Court, a step which makes many people understandably uncomfortable until the differing …

Go to article

Constitutional Review Of Building Codes And Zoning Ordinances Applied To Parochial Schools: City Of Sumner V. First Baptist Church, Philip R. Meade Jan 1984

Constitutional Review Of Building Codes And Zoning Ordinances Applied To Parochial Schools: City Of Sumner V. First Baptist Church, Philip R. Meade

Seattle University Law Review

The First Baptist Church court should not have required strict scrutiny of either the building code or the zoning ordinance applications. In reaching its decision, the court incorrectly analyzed Supreme Court decisions construing the free exercise clause, and drew mistaken parallels between the two Sumner ordinances and laws that the Supreme Court has identified as burdening religious freedom. The court should have distinguished between generally applicable laws such as Sumner's building code and zoning ordinance that, in regulating the peripheral aspects of religious conduct, incidentally make a religious practice less convenient or more expensive, and laws that effectively penalize the …

Go to article

Unbridled Prosecutorial Discretion And Standardless Death Penalty Policies: The Unconstitutionality Of The Washington Capital Punishment Statutory Scheme, James E. Lobsenz Jan 1984

Unbridled Prosecutorial Discretion And Standardless Death Penalty Policies: The Unconstitutionality Of The Washington Capital Punishment Statutory Scheme, James E. Lobsenz

Seattle University Law Review

This Article advances six reasons why Washington's statutory scheme for capital punishment should be deemed unconstitutional. The current death penalty statutes violate the separation of powers doctrine, the grand jury indictment clause of the fifth amendment, the equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment and article I, section 12 of the Washington State Constitution, the vagueness doctrine of the due process clause, and the doctrine of unlawful delegation of legislative power. Finally, it promotes an unequal administration of capital punishment in further violation of the guarantee of equal protection of the law.

Go to article

Clear Standards For Discovery Protective Orders: A Missed Opportunity In Rhinehart V. Seattle Times Co., Carole J. Breitenbach Jan 1984

Clear Standards For Discovery Protective Orders: A Missed Opportunity In Rhinehart V. Seattle Times Co., Carole J. Breitenbach

Seattle University Law Review

The Washington State Supreme Court has previously balanced the interests of privacy and effective judicial administration against those of free speech and public access in the context of judicial proceedings, and the court missed a significant opportunity to expand and apply this balancing test in Rhinehart. The United States Supreme Court similarly declined to create a balancing test to ensure the full protection of First Amendment interests during pretrial discovery. A need remains for a general standard to ensure that First Amendment interests in disseminating discovery information are identified and protected when a protective order is requested.

Go to article

The Dimensions Of A Journalist's Shield—First Amendment Protection For The Constitutionality Of News Sources Against Requests For Court-Ordered Disclosure In Civil Cases, Frank Van Dusen Jan 1983

The Dimensions Of A Journalist's Shield—First Amendment Protection For The Constitutionality Of News Sources Against Requests For Court-Ordered Disclosure In Civil Cases, Frank Van Dusen

Seattle University Law Review

This comment suggests a test in civil cases that enables a court to determine if there is a first amendment interest in protecting a source’s confidentiality. If a journalist can demonstrate this interest, then the burden shifts to the litigant seeking disclosure. This comments suggests three criteria through which the litigant must persuade the court that the state’s interest outweighs the first amendment interest. The test suggested by this comment should increase protection for the first amendment interest by decreasing the number of disclosure orders issued and by giving journalists and their confidential sources a basis for predicting in advance …

Go to article

A Free Press: The Forgotten Issue In Home Placement V. Providence Journal, Robert J. Curran Jan 1983

A Free Press: The Forgotten Issue In Home Placement V. Providence Journal, Robert J. Curran

Seattle University Law Review

This Note demonstrates that the court's decision in Home Placement did infringe upon protected first amendment activity. Since free speech and free press guarantees were threatened by the government's action, the court should have balanced the competing interests and held in favor of Home Placement only upon a showing of a compelling state interest. After examining the interests of the advertiser, the reader, the government, and the newspaper, this Note concludes that the newspaper's right to control its message and to make editorial decisions free from the threat of governmental interference overbalance the antitrust claim made in this case. A …

Go to article

Political Parties Before The Bar: The Controversy Over Associational Rights, Gary L. Scott, Craig L. Carr Jan 1982

Political Parties Before The Bar: The Controversy Over Associational Rights, Gary L. Scott, Craig L. Carr

Seattle University Law Review

This article will discuss the scope and nature of constitutional protection to be afforded political party autonomy by the first and fourteenth amendments. The purpose of the present discussion is to review both legal and political sides of this question. Once this is done it will become clear that a party right to protected autonomy during the candidate selection process is not only founded upon solid constitutional ground but is also in keeping with sound political wisdom.

Go to article

Search, Seizure, And Section 7: Standing From Salvucci To Simpson, Mark H. Adams, George R. Nock Jan 1982

Search, Seizure, And Section 7: Standing From Salvucci To Simpson, Mark H. Adams, George R. Nock

Seattle University Law Review

This article traces the evolution of automatic standing from Jones v. United States to United States v. Salvucci and discusses the approach that has replaced the Jones rule in the Supreme Court. It then discusses the Washington Supreme Court’s continued adherence to the automatic standing rule, despite the Salvucci decision, under the Washington Constitution rather than the fourth amendment. After focusing on the failure of the United States Supreme Court to fashion a standing rule consistent with the Court’s stated purpose for the exclusionary rule, this article urges the Washington court to interpret the state’s constitution in a more consistent, …

Go to article

The State's Interest In Adoption And Washington's Sealed Records Statute, Eileen M. Lawrence Jan 1981

The State's Interest In Adoption And Washington's Sealed Records Statute, Eileen M. Lawrence

Seattle University Law Review

After discussing the legal effect of the adoption decree and the purpose of Washington's adoption statute, this comment will analyze the competing interests of the adoptee, the biological parents, the adoptive parents, and the state. This article will also discuss the legislative proposal in Washington attempting to abolish the good cause requirement. Finally, this article concludes the sealed records requirement is constitutionally sound and despite the need for further legislative articulation, the good cause balancing approach is the most suitable method for protecting the conflicting rights and interests inherent in the adoption process.

Go to article

The Broadening Of The Pentagon Papers Standard: An Impermissible Misapplication Of The National Security Exception To The Prior Restraint Doctrine, Sherrie L. Bennett Jan 1980

The Broadening Of The Pentagon Papers Standard: An Impermissible Misapplication Of The National Security Exception To The Prior Restraint Doctrine, Sherrie L. Bennett

Seattle University Law Review

This comment examines the history of the national security exception to the prior restraint rule and discusses the elements of the Pentagon Papers standard in the context of the Marchetti and Progressive opinions. Application of those elements to the reasoning of the cases demonstrates the failure of these lower courts to follow the Supreme Court's strict view of when restraint is justified. Examining the theoretical basis underlying the first amendment, the comment concludes that strict application of the Pentagon Papers standard is essential to continuing protection of the American people's right to be informed of government activities.

Go to article

Can The Boat People Assert A Right To Remain In Asylum?, Brian Roberts Jan 1980

Can The Boat People Assert A Right To Remain In Asylum?, Brian Roberts

Seattle University Law Review

World political reaction to the Southeast Asian refugee crisis has not asserted the refugees' human rights under international law. As a result, most of the refugees lack security from forcible return to the conditions they fled. They would have that security if the world powers act instead to implement non-refoulement, an established moral principle that arguably has attained the status of customary international law.

Go to article

Marbury V. Madison, Lord Coke, And Dr. Bonham: Relics Of The Past, Guidelines For The Present—Judicial Review Intransition?, George P. Smith, Ii Jan 1979

Marbury V. Madison, Lord Coke, And Dr. Bonham: Relics Of The Past, Guidelines For The Present—Judicial Review Intransition?, George P. Smith, Ii

Seattle University Law Review

The purpose of this article is to explore the modern significance of Coke's influence as analyzed and interpreted through the famous Bonham's Case and thereby to provide an insight into the development of our own concepts of judicial review, as borrowed from the English, in its original historical legal perspective and as seen through the decision in Marbury v. Madison and applied modernly in the principle case of Baker v. Carr.

Go to article

Parent-Child Privilege: Constitutional Right Or Specious Analogy?, Donald Cofer Jan 1979

Parent-Child Privilege: Constitutional Right Or Specious Analogy?, Donald Cofer

Seattle University Law Review

To avoid reaching incorrect verdicts as a result of insufficient evidence, courts generally require witnesses to testify to all relevant facts within their knowledge. Two important exceptions to this general rule, incompetency and privilege, rest on very different rationales. Developed at common law to exclude unreliable evidence, rules of competency disqualify certain untrustworthy witnesses from testifying. To promote extrinsic public policies, however, privileges excuse competent witnesses from providing what may be highly probative and reliable evidence. In the past decade there have been calls for legislative or judicial recognition of a parent-child privilege, similar to the marital privilege, that would …

Go to article

Proposed Citizens Right To Standing Act-Finding The Keys To Unlock The Courthouse Doors, Harold W. Wood, Jr. Jan 1979

Proposed Citizens Right To Standing Act-Finding The Keys To Unlock The Courthouse Doors, Harold W. Wood, Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

Recent Supreme Court decisions severely restrict the right of citizens to litigate in federal courts. The Court's standing requirements not only limit the ability of citizens to successfully invoke federal court jurisdiction, but also confuse lower courts and litigants attempting to apply the requirements. Standing requirements have met with increasing criticism. And Congress is now considering legislative modification of standing doctrine. Unfortunately, the Court's employment of constitutional foundations in establishing current standing requirements imposes substantial roadblocks Congress must avoid to enact remedial standing legislation. This comment examines the constitutional and pragmatic difficulties of statutory modification of standing requirements and recommends …

Go to article

Gagging The Press Through Participant And Closure Orders: The Aftermath Of Nebraska Press Association V. Stuart, Valerie Bell Jan 1979

Gagging The Press Through Participant And Closure Orders: The Aftermath Of Nebraska Press Association V. Stuart, Valerie Bell

Seattle University Law Review

In Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart the Supreme Court held that trial courts trying to minimize prejudicial publicity to preserve a fair trial must consider alternatives less drastic than gagging the press. This comment will examine post- Nebraska Press cases involving orders that restrict the flow of information concerning judicial proceedings and will suggest standards that focus on whether an indirect gag order inhibits media coverage of the judicial process. After a brief discussion of Nebraska Press' reasoning and its emphasis on the prior restraint doctrine, a survey of lower court cases will demonstrate Nebraska Press has not prevented judges …

Go to article

Status Of Student Practice Rules People V. Perez—An Initial Look At The Sixth Amendment, Catherine Walker Jan 1979

Status Of Student Practice Rules People V. Perez—An Initial Look At The Sixth Amendment, Catherine Walker

Seattle University Law Review

Despite the advent of the limited practice of law by law students as early as 1957, a California Court of Appeals in 1978 became the first court to examine the sixth amendment status of student representation in state criminal prosecutions. In People v. Perez, a California appellate court concluded that a lawyer-supervised law student, certified for limited practice by the California Student Practice Rules, is per se ineffective counsel in felony trials. Ostensibly to protect the defendant's right to effective counsel, Perez struck down the student practice rules without considering the proper function of certification in sixth amendment analysis. Moreover, …

Go to article

United States Trust Co. V. New Jersey-State Promises And The Contract Clause: An Untimely Resurrection, Clifford D. Foster Jr. Jan 1978

United States Trust Co. V. New Jersey-State Promises And The Contract Clause: An Untimely Resurrection, Clifford D. Foster Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

This comment examines the impact of United States Trust on traditional contract clause doctrines and policies. After an initial discussion of the factual and legal background, a historical survey will show the decision employs a new approach to contract clause analysis. Next, this comment will analyze the Court's new approach, especially the Court's treatment of impairments when a state is a contractual party, its willingness to make policy judgments formerly left to legislative discretion, and the decision's probable effect on any future municipal debt crises. Finally, in accord with Justice Brennan's dissent in United States Trust, this comment will …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last