Constitutional Law Commons^™

October 27, 2016: Republicans About To Practice Supreme Court Shutdown, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Republicans About to Practice Supreme Court Shutdown“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Mdc Rests. V. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 76 (Oct. 27, 2016), Alysa Grimes

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

To “provide” health benefits under the Minimum Wage Amendment, an employer need only offer to employees (rather than enroll them in) a qualifying health benefit plan. Tips are not included in an employee’s gross taxable income for calculating maximum health benefit plan premiums.

Mississippi V. Tennessee: Resolving An Interstate Groundwater Dispute, Peter G. Berris

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

This commentary explores the legal background and potential ramifications of Mississippi v. Tennessee: an original jurisdiction case involving a dispute over aquifer groundwater. Although the Supreme Court has addressed water disputes between states in the past, Mississippi v. Tennessee is the first such case to center exclusively on groundwater. As a result the Court has the opportunity to resolve a question of great relevance in an era where access to water is a recurring news story; is aquifer groundwater an interstate resource subject to equitable apportionment, or an intrastate resource subject to state sovereign ownership.

Perry V. Terrible Herbst, Inc., Nev. Adv. Op. 75 (Oct. 27, 2016), Wesley Lemay Jr.

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Minimum Wage Amendment (MWA) of the Nevada Constitution does not have a specific statute of limitations provision. Because the MWA is closely analogous to recovery for back pay under NRS 608.260, the two-year statute of limitations provision in NRS 608.260 applies, and not the catch-all four-year period from NRS 11.220.

Nev. Yellow Cab, Et Al., V. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 77 (Oct. 27, 2016)., Beatriz Aguirre

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court, sitting en banc, considered a writ of mandamus challenging a district court order denying a motion dismiss and motion for summary judgment. The Court held that its previous decision in Thomas v. Nevada Yellow Cab Corp. applied retroactively. As a result, the Minimum Wage Amendment (the “Amendment”) to the Nevada Constitution passed by Nevada voters in 2006 included taxicab driver wages.

Recording A New Frontier In Evidence-Gathering: Police Body-Worn Cameras And Privacy Doctrines In Washington State, Katie Farden

Seattle University Law Review

This Note contributes to a growing body of work that weighs the gains that communities stand to make from police body-worn cameras against the tangle of concerns about how cameras may infringe on individual liberties and tread on existing privacy laws. While police departments have quickly implemented cameras over the past few years, laws governing the use of the footage body-worn cameras capture still trail behind. Notably, admissibility rules for footage from an officer’s camera, and evidence obtained with the help of that footage, remain on the horizon. This Note focuses exclusively on Washington State’s laws. It takes a clinical …

The Armstrong Evolution, Michael Pappas

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Private Property For Public Use: The Federal Trademark Dilution Act And Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act As Violations Of The Fifth Amendment Takings Clause, Brian C. Smith

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Sanitizing Cyberspace: Obscenity, Miller,And The Future Of Public Discourse On The Intemet, John Tehranian

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

October 20, 2016: Why Tolerate Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why Tolerate Religion“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Process Without Procedure: National Security Letters And First Amendment Rights, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

Each year, the FBI uses tens of thousands of NSLs to obtain “transactional records” related to telephone calls, emails, text messages, online forums, and other communicative activity. NSLs are usually accompanied by nondisclosure orders that prevent recipients from speaking about or acknowledging the requests. Although over 100,000 NSLs have been issued since 2001, there have been fewer than 10 known judicial challenges.

I argue that the absence of procedural safeguards within the NSL authority has created a de facto regime of automatic compliance with the requests, endangering First Amendment rights in the process. NSLs are explicitly directed at uncovering the …

Restitution And The Excessive Fines Clause, Kevin Bennardo

Louisiana Law Review

The article offers solutions to further the conversation regarding the U.S. constitution's Eighth Amendment's limits on restitution. Topics discussed include application of Excessive Fines Clause; the case law interpreting the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment; and ways in which Excessive Fines Clause should be applied to restitution in criminal cases.

By The Pricking Of My Thumbs, State Restriction This Way Comes: Immunizing Vaccination Laws From Constitutional Review, Megan Joy Rials

Louisiana Law Review

The article argues how states should not allow philosophical exemptions and should either retain or create religious exemptions that meet certain requirements under the Free Exercise Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Establishment Clause. It reports the U.S. Supreme Court's jurisprudence regarding parental rights in cases 'Jacobson v. Massachusetts' and 'Zucht v. King.'

October 15, 2016: So, Hallowed Secularism Is Getting Somewhere, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “So, Hallowed Secularism is Getting Somewhere“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Single-Family Zoning, Intimate Association, And The Right To Choose Household Companions, Rigel C. Oliveri

Florida Law Review

Many local governments use single-family zoning ordinances to restrict occupancy in residential areas to households whose members are all related to one another by blood, marriage, or adoption. The Supreme Court upheld such ordinances in the 1974 case of Belle Terre v. Boraas, and they have been used to prevent all sorts of groups from living together—from unmarried couples who are raising children to college students. This Article contends that Belle Terre is wholly incompatible with the Court's modern jurisprudence on privacy and the right of intimate association. The case appears to have survived this long because of a …

Big Data Blacklisting, Margaret Hu

Florida Law Review

“Big data blacklisting” is the process of categorizing individuals as administratively “guilty until proven innocent” by virtue of suspicious digital data and database screening results. Database screening and digital watchlisting systems are increasingly used to determine who can work, vote, fly, etc. In a big data world, through the deployment of these big data tools, both substantive and procedural due process protections may be threatened in new and nearly invisible ways. Substantive due process rights safeguard fundamental liberty interests. Procedural due process rights prevent arbitrary deprivations by the government of constitutionally protected interests. This Article frames the increasing digital mediation …

Because, The Internet: The Limits Of Online Campaign Finance Disclosure, Vitaliy Kats

Florida Law Review

During the 2011–2012 election cycle, Shaun McCutcheon contributed $33,088 to sixteen different candidates for federal office. McCutcheon’s donations complied with the base limits the Federal Election Commission (FEC) set for contributions to individual candidates.McCutcheon wanted to contribute more but was barred by the FEC’s aggregate limit on contributions.In June of 2012, McCutcheon and the Republication National Committee (RNC) filed a complaint before a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. McCutcheon and the RNC claimed that the aggregate limits on contributions to candidates and political committees were unconstitutional under the First Amendment.The three-judge panel granted …

Docs V. Glocks: Speech, Guns, Discrimination, And Privacy—Is Anyone Winning?, Marla Spector Bowman

Florida Law Review

Americans discuss some of the most intimate details of their lives within the small confines of their neighborhood doctor's office. Many Americans, however, may be taken aback if their physician asked them whether they owned a firearm during a routine physical examination. Although most Americans might not consider firearms education to be their physician's primary purpose, a significant number of doctors in Florida, and throughout the medical community, consider promoting firearms safety a part of practicing preventative medicine.

When a group of Florida legislators saw this behavior as a threat to the Second Amendment, gun owner access to healthcare, and …

Constitutional Right Of Confrontation Applied To States

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Beware The Friends You Keep And The Places You Sleep: The Fourth Amendments Limited Protection Over Visitors And Their Belongings, Alysha C. Preston

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note concludes that the Arizona Supreme Court correctly applied the possession test and strongly urges the Supreme Court to address the issue and follow in Arizona’s footsteps. The possession test not only provides the best guidance for both officers and courts, but also provides the most precision and clarity. More importantly, this approach aligns with current Supreme Court case law and conforms to established Fourth Amendment principles. Holding otherwise would gravely undermine policy, disregard current precedents, and undervalue the sole purpose for the Fourth Amendment’s existence: to protect one’s reasonable expectation of privacy. Part I examines the scope …