Constitutional Law Commons^™

Section 1983 - Eleventh Amendment - Executive Immunity; Scheuer V. Rhodes

Akron Law Review

0N APRIL 29, 1970, the Governor of Ohio called out elements of the Ohio National Guard in response to alleged civil disorders in the city of Kent, Ohio, and on the campus of Kent State University. In the course of the resulting confrontation between students and members of the Guard, four students were shot and killed. The personal representatives of the estates of three of the deceased students brought actions for damages under the Civil Rights Act of 18711 naming the Governor, the Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard, various officers and members of the Guard, and the president …

Searches And Seizures - Banks And Banking - Witnesses - Right To Privacy; California Bankers Association V. Schultz, David F. Dybvig

Akron Law Review

FOLLOWING EXTENSIVE HEARINGS, Congress enacted what has become known as the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970. In California Bankers Association v. Schultz, certain parts of the Act were subjected to constitutional attack by various plaintiffs, including individual bank customers, a national bank, a bankers association, and the American Civil Liberties Union, representing itself and its bank customer members. The plaintiffs' challenges rested on the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, tenth, and fourteenth amendments.

Divorce - Pendente Lite Awards - Counsel Fees - Costs - Alimony - Effect Of Equal Rights Amendment; Wiegand V. Wiegand, Joseph M. Donley

Akron Law Review

THE PENNSYLVANIA SUPERIOR COURT, in Wiegand v. Wiegand,struck out at one of the true bastions of sex discrimination incorporated into the Anglo-American legal system. The legislated discrimination of the Pennsylvania Divorce Law was the object of the court's scrutiny. Appellee Sara Wiegand had filed a complaint in divorce a mensa et thora, a petition for alimony, and an initial petition for alimony pendente lite, counsel fees, and expenses. On August 14, 1967, the Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, ordered appellant Myron Wiegand to pay $875 per month alimony pendente lite and $250 preliminary counsel fees. Subsequently, appellee filed additional …

Managing Recreational Rivers, Ben A. Rich

Akron Law Review

This paper will discuss various approaches that have 'been or could be taken by government agencies in order to provide and protect rivers with recreational potential for use as public recreational facilities, in particular boating and canoeing, and consider them in the context of the state of Illinois, which has been faced with a tremendous increase in pressure for water based recreational facilities and anachronistic case and statute law of water and related land resources.

The fundamental issue in any situation involving use by the public of natural watercourses concerns the concept of navigability. Crucial and divergent sets of conclusions …

August 6, 2015: What Is A Religious War?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “What Is a Religious War?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Toward A Judicial Bulwark Against Constitutional Extravagance - A Proposed Constitutional Amendment For State Consent Over Judicial Appointments, Steven T. Voigt

ConLawNOW

Imagine a championship football game where one team is allowed to pick all of the referees.

Since the beginning of our nation, the line dividing federal and state power has been debated. But it has been decided in the federal courts, where judges were originally chosen by the President with the consent of a Senate that was chosen by the legislatures of the States. Federal judges are still chosen by the President with the consent of the Senate, but the Senate is no longer chosen by the States. With this constitutional change that proponents wrongly argued would not affect state …

Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski

Akron Law Review

"A PPELLANTS brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The complaint charged that the operation of two Oklahoma statutes, which prohibited the sale of 3.2% beer to males under the age of 21 while allowing females over the age of 18 to purchase the commodity, violated the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution. The three-judge court held that the gender-based classification did not violate the equal protection clause. In Craig v. Boren, on direct appeal, the United States Supreme Court reversed, finding that the gender-based classification could …

The Reaffirmation Of Federalism As A Viable Limitation Upon The Commerce Power, Randy R. Koenders

Akron Law Review

"Throughout its history, the constitutional basis of the FLSA has remained anchored in the Commerce Clause. However, despite the legitimacy of that purpose, the FLSA has been the subject of constant attacks since its inception, the most fervent of which has been the challenge to its constitutionality on state sovereignty grounds.

"Two recent United States Supreme Court cases construing the constitutionality of the FLSA and its amendments reflect not only the changing judicial posture toward extension of the Act to matters of state concern, but also the differing attitudes toward extension of the Commerce Clause itself."

Erosion Of State Sovereign Immunity And The Eleventh Amendment By Federal Decisional Law, Paul C. Weick

Akron Law Review

"This cloak of immunity in which state officials can wrap themselves to protect against damage suits brought by citizens under Civil Rights Acts has turned upon the office held by the official and his motive. Thus, through pigeonholing the amount of immunity available to an office-holder have led to varied results from the viewpoint of state officials. in general, officials operating within the judicial and legislative branches have absolute immunity, while those in the executive branch have only qualified immunity.

"This article will explore recent court decisions discussing the issues of sovereign state immunity from suit in the federal courts …

Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski

Akron Law Review

APPELLANTS brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.' The complaint charged that the operation of two Oklahoma statutes,' which prohibited the sale of 3.2% beer to males under the age of 21 while allowing females over the age of 18 to purchase the commodity, violated the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution. The three-judge court held that the gender-based classification did not violate the equal protection clause.' In Craig v. Boren,' on direct appeal, the United States Supreme Court reversed, finding that the gender-based classification could not …

The Reaffirmation Of Federalism As A Viable Limitation Upon The Commerce Power, Randy R. Koenders

Akron Law Review

AS THE Constitution was being formulated, Article I, Section 8, clause 3, giving Congress the power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes," was added because of the Framers' grave concern with the erection of trade barriers between the states, a problem which had inhibited interstate trade under the old Articles of Confederation. The federal government's regulation of commerce was meant to provide substantial equality of access to a free national market, avoiding what has been unhappily referred to as "the intolerable experience of the economic Balkanization of America

Erosion Of State Sovereign Immunity And The Eleventh Amendment By Federal Decisional Law, Paul C. Weick

Akron Law Review

This article will explore recent court decisions discussion the issue of sovereign state immunity from suit in the federal courts via the eleventh amendment and the scope of immunity which state' officials have in damage Civil Rights Acts.

Civil Rights Act; Section 1981; Title Vii; Reverse Discrimination; Equal Protection; Mcdonald V. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co., Caroline Williams

Akron Law Review

THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co.' held that Title VIP prohibits racial discrimination by both employers and unions against white persons upon the same standards as it prohibits racial discrimination against nonwhites. The Court further held that Section 19811 is applicable to racial discrimination in private employment against white persons as well as nonwhites.

Municipal Zoning; Mandatory Referendum For Zoning Amendments; Lawful Delegation Of Legislative Power; Due Process; City Of Eastlake V. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., Elizabeth Reilly

Akron Law Review

IN City of Eastlake v. Forest City Enterprises, Inc.," the United States Supreme Court held that a mandatory referendum on all zoning changes did not violate the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. The Court decided that such referenda are not delegations of legislative power, but exercises of the people's reserved power. Therefore, they need not be accompanied by discernible standards as with delegations of power to administrative agencies.

Abortion, Parental And Spousal Consent, Requirements; Right To Privacy; Planned Parenthood Of Central Missouri V. Danforth, Sharon L. Long, Patricia Ravenscraft

Akron Law Review

TWO MISSOURI-LICENSED physicians and Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri, a nonprofit corporation, originally brought this suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to challenge the constitutionality of the Missouri abortion statute' (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Striking as "overbroad" only that portion of the Act which would have required physicians to attempt to save an aborted fetus' life at any stage of pregnancy, the district court upheld the sections of the statute which required that during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a married woman seeking an abortion must have the consent of her spouse,' …

Abortion, Parental And Spousal Consent, Requirements; Right To Privacy; Planned Parenthood Of Central Missouri V. Danforth, Sharon L. Long, Patricia Ravenscraft

Akron Law Review

TWO MISSOURI-LICENSED physicians and Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri, a nonprofit corporation, originally brought this suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to challenge the constitutionality of the Missouri abortion statute' (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Striking as "overbroad" only that portion of the Act which would have required physicians to attempt to save an aborted fetus' life at any stage of pregnancy,2 the district court upheld the sections of the statute which required that during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a married woman seeking an abortion must have the consent of her spouse,' …

The Interdependence Of Our Freedoms, Warren E. Burger

Akron Law Review

IF I WERE TO GIVE A TITLE to what I want to say tonight, in this Bicentennial program, I think I would call it "The Interdependence of our Freedoms" and, in a sense, that is simply a more formal way of saying what the leaders of our revolution told each other, and the people, 200 years ago: we must hang together, or we will hang separately

Double Jeopardy; Juvenile Courts; Transfer To Criminal Court; Adjudicatory Proceedings; Breed V. Jones, Barry S. Mittenthal

Akron Law Review

THE FIFTH AMENDMENT prohibition against double jeopardy is designed to protect both federal and state' defendants from the embarrassment, expense and ordeal of successive criminal trials, which not only create anxiety and uncertainty in an accused, but also increase the danger that an innocent person may be convicted.' However, as a result of the "juvenile court's assumed ability to function in a unique manner"' a juvenile is not extended the protection of the panoply of constitutional rights afforded an adult in a criminal proceeding. Accordingly, the Supreme Court, in Breed v. Jones, was called upon to determine the applicability and …

Civil Commitment Of Mentally Ill; Right To Treatment; Parens Patriae Power; Right To Liberty; Donaldson V. O'Connor, Gary G. Cooper

Akron Law Review

THE RESPONDENT, Kenneth Donaldson, was involuntarily civilly committed! as a mental patient' in the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee. He remained confined for almost 15 years.' During that time he received little or no psychiatric care or treatment. His confinement was a "simple regime of enforced custodial care, not a program designed to alleviate or cure his supposed illness."' Donaldson, who was not aggressive or belligerent, repeatedly attempted to secure his release, claiming that the defendants unjustifiably continued to confine him despite attempts by responsible parties to have him released to their custody. In February, 1971, Donaldson filed suit under …

Administrative Agencies; Subpoena Power; Relevancy; Right Of Privacy; Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Ry. Co. V. Lopez, David L. Hostetler

Akron Law Review

The Kansas Supreme Court in Sante Fe has joined the majority of states in declaring that administrative "fishing expeditions" via the use of subpoena powers are now permissible. No probable cause need be shown and confidential information may be subject to subpoena if there is even a mere possibility of relevance to a matter within the scope of the agency's authority. The state's interest in preventing discrimination in employment practices has been declared a "compelling state interest" such as to override any claims to rights of privacy. Although primarily discussing only arrest and conviction records, the court in actuality upheld …