...Constitutional Law II Tebbe Spring 08 4 Equality and the Constitution 4 Class 1: Slavery and the Constitution 4 1. The Original Constitution 4 2. State v. Post 4 3. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) 4 4. Reconstruction 5 5. Post-Reconstruction Cases 6 Class 2: The Advent of American Constitutional Law: Brown 7 6. RACIAL EQUALITY 7 7. Brown I (1954) The segregation of children in public schools based solely on race violates the Equal Protection Clause. 7 2. Brown II 8 3. What was the constitutional harm in Brown? 8 4. THEORY 8 5. Subsequent School Desegregation 9 Class 3: Local Efforts to Desegregate: Parents Involved 11 6. Parents Involved 11 Class 4: Rational Basis Review: Cleburne, Romer, etc. 13 2. Tiers of Scrutiny 13 3. Beazer (1979) 13 4. Moreno (1973) 14 5. Cleburne (1985) 14 6. Romer (1996) 15 7. Nordlinger (1992) and Allegheny Pittsburgh (1989) 16 8. Lee Optical (1955) 17 Class 5: Racial Classifications and Heightened Scrutiny: Strauder, Korematsu, Loving 17 9. Heightened Scrutiny Analysis 17 10. Strauder (1880) 17 11. Korematsu (1944) 18 12. Loving (1967) 19 13. Theories Supporting Strict Scrutiny of Racial Classifications 20 14. Tiers of Scrutiny 20 15. Tiers of Scrutiny Table 21 Class 6: Facially Neutral Classifications: Washington v. Davis 21 16. Types of Discrimination (from Fall) 21 X. Disparate...
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...GPR 213: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW GROUP ASSIGNMENT GROUP TWO MODULE 1 NAME | ADMISSION NO. | SIGNATURE | OCHOLA BRIAN ODUODI | G34/3233/2014 | | NASIBI TIMOTHY MURWA | G34/3404/2014 | | KIPINGOR EMMY CHEBET | G34/3308/2014 | | ABDI FARDOSA MUSTAFA | G34/3287/2014 | | WALEKHWA B. STEPHEN | G34/3319/2014 | | CHARLOTTE MUTAI | G34/3331/2014 | | SIKUKU CORNELIUS WANGILA | G34/3392/2014 | | CHABI BRIAN OTIENO | G34/3399/2014 | | WANJALA GILBERT MASINDE | G34/1417/2010 | | MURIMI MARTIN MUCHIRI | G34/3255/2014 | | Question 2:“The courts should draw the limits to discretionary power in a way which strikes the most suitable balance between executive efficiency and legal protection of the citizen” Discuss above statement With the exponential expansion of powers of the executive arm of government and equally massive interests in civil liberties, it is therefore inevitable that we re-examine the relationship between these discretionary powers and what is essentially the rule of law. This essay seeks to analyse the role played by the courts in the limitation of this powers while ensuring that the Executive runs efficiently while ensuring that that the rights of civilians are protected. Discretionary...
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...Constitutional Law Introduction Many people assume that a government acts from a vague position of strength and can enact any regulation it deems necessary or desirable. This chapter emphasizes a different perspective from which to view the law: action taken by the government must come from authority and this authority cannot be exceeded. Neither Congress nor any state may pass a law in conflict with the Constitution. The Constitution is the supreme law in this country. The Constitution is the source of federal power and to sustain the legality of a federal law or action a specific federal power must be found in the Constitution. States have inherent sovereign power—that is, the power to enact legislation that has a reasonable relationship to the welfare of the citizens of that state. The power of the federal government was delegated to it by the states while the power of the states was retained by them when the Constitution was ratified. The Constitution does not expressly give the states the power to regulate, but limits the states’ exercise of powers not delegated to the federal government. Chapter Outline I. The Constitutional Powers of Government Before the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation defined the central government. A. A Federal Form of Government The U.S. Constitution established a federal form of government, delegating certain powers to the national government. The states retain...
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...responsible for interpreting the constitution. Strict constructionists and judicial activism are two sides of the same body that guide a judge in the decision making of court cases. Strict construction is defined as the interpretation of the law while basing the argument on the narrow and literal meaning of the law. It does not make exceptions for the difference in times of writing the constitution and conditions experienced today, changes in the society and innovations. Judicial activism, on the other hand, considers what the language of the policy maker intended to capture from an extended point of view to consider the societal complexity and current standards of conduct for humans (Pandey, 2012). The strict constructionist limits the judicial discretion, restricting judges in determining legal cases and especially those outlined in the Constitution. Their discretion is only allowed when the decision is necessary for resolving a substantial dispute between antagonizing parties. It expects judges faced with constitutional questions to allow substantive deference to ideas argued by elected branches and restrain their actions only when there are clear violations of the constitutional limits (Mark, 2012). The concept controls the court to interpret laws and take part in policy-making. Judges are expected to pass...
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...Assignment 2: The Statutes Sara Barboza Dr. Joseph McCue PAD 525 Constitutional and Administrative Law October 18, 2015 INTRODUCTION The word miscegenation comes from the Latin words miscere (to mix) and genus (type, family, or descent) and has been used to refer to cohabitation or intermarriage between racial groups. Regulated by state law, miscegenation was illegal in many states for decades. However, interracial marriage in the United States has been fully legal in all U.S. states since the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, that decreed all state antimiscegenation laws unconstitutional. Many states, of course, had chosen to legalize interracial marriage much earlier. According to a May 14, 2012, Huffington Post article entitled “Interracial Marriage Statistics: Pew Report Finds Mixed-Race Marriage Rates Rising,” the 1980 Census (the first to collect data on interracial marriage) reported that 3% of all married couples were from different races. The number had risen to 8.4% (one in twelve couples) by 2010. Looking at marriages recorded in the years between 2008 and 2010, we find that 22% of newly-married couples in Western states were of different races or ethnicities, compared to 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast, and 11% in the Midwest. QUESTION 1: Analyze and evaluate each case independently by providing the following (about two paragraphs per case): LOVING V. VIRGINIA CASE. 1. Facts of the case: In 1958, Mildred Jeter, a black woman...
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...States v. Lopez dealt with a previous decision made by the Supreme Court called the “Gun-Free Schools Zone Act of 1990,” and whether this act was constitutional. In other words, is Congress given the power by the Constitution to regulate guns in schools under the Commerce Clause? Alfonso Lopez Jr. was a twelfth-grade student at Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas. On March 10, 1992, he carried a concealed .38 caliber revolver and five cartridges into the school. When confronted by school authorities, Lopez admitted he had the weapon. He was then arrested and charged under Texas law with firearm possession on school property. This was dismissed after federal agents charged Lopez with being in violation of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. This act forbids, “any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that [he] knows ... is a school zone.” Lopez was found guilty following a bench trial and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and two years’ supervised release. However, Lopez did not believe that this act was constitutional. He moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the Gun-Free School Zones Act was, “unconstitutional because it was beyond the powers of Congress to legislate control over public schools” (Source 1.) The trail court denied this motion. The court ruled that it was a, “constitutional exercise of Congress’s power to regulate activities in and affecting commerce, and the business of elementary, middle and high schools ... affects...
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...of political power 3 The Role of a State Constitution: Influence of U.S. Constitution • Texas’s constitution is heavily influenced by the U.S. Constitution – Political power is derived from the people – Both constitutions feature a separation of powers • Legislative, executive, and judicial branches – A system of checks and balances limits the powers of each branch, as a way to protect against tyranny – Certain individual rights must not be violated 4 The Role of a State Constitution: How U.S. Constitution Is Different • The idea of federalism is also embodied in the constitutions of the U.S. and Texas • Important differences distinguish the two – Supremacy clause: the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are the supreme law of the land – Necessary and proper clause: the federal government has all the authority it needs to carry out its powers 5 The First Texas Constitutions • Six different constitutions governed the state prior to the current constitution • Each reflects different national priorities, different issues of the time, and the different values of the writers 6...
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...the law'. This plunged England into civil war. * The civil war seen as a 3 way dispute by the lawyers. The Parliament, the King and the common law were all vying for ultimate power. * Eventually, Charles I lost the struggle and was executed in 1649. * The civil war and the ideas that rose up during it led to constitutional change in England and development of lots of ideas that influenced the colonies like Australia. The king versus the common law In 1598 (before he was King of England), James I wrote The Trew Law of Free Monarchies, setting out the divine right of Kings. * He was supported in this idea by the attorney-general, Francis Bacon. * Bacon argued that that according to natural law, only absolute monarchy could avoid 'confusion and dissolution'. This theory was based on the natural law theory that law is based on reason and the will of the Crown. * According to Bacon, the King could govern by prerogative alone – parliamentary powers allowed only by tolerance of the King – he could dismiss or convene Parliament as he saw fit. * The power not to be dismissed without its consent was what Parliament really wanted – and only force through the civil war gave them that. * James I: “Kings are justly called Gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of Divine power upon earth; for if you consider the Attributes to God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a King... [kings have] their wills at that time served by law.” ...
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...OUTLINE CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. Introductory Statement B. Statement of the Problem C. Significance of the Study D. Theoretical Framework E. Scope and Limitation F. Review of Related Literature CHAPTER TWO: JOHN RAWLS PHILOSOPHY A. Biography of John Rawls CHAPTER THREE: PHILIPPINE TAXATION A. Concept of Taxation B. Nature of Taxation and Its purpose C. Concept of Income Taxation D. Purpose of Taxation E. Current Uses of Taxation CHAPTER FOUR: SOCIAL JUSTICE IN TAXATION A. Social Justice B. Principles of Justice C. Well Ordered Society D. Original Position E. Veil of Ignorance F. Civil Disobedience CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT The works of John Rawls was basically centered on justice as depicted on his work “Theory of Justice” and “Political Liberalism. John Rawls is considered to be one of the most influential philosophers during his time as he specialized in the concept of justice and fairness as a tool for attaining social justice in the society. His works received various criticisms since it may be viewed as unrealistic but though it may be criticized, his works are one of the influential and most bought book and already translated in various language to be used as curriculum in philosophy classes. Rawls differentiate the concept of justice and fairness as he tried to show that the idea of justice is fairness and...
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...Chaichantipyuth Wenzhen Dai Penn Law Summer 2006 I. Introduction and Historical Background A. What the course will cover? This is not an introductory course. You are all lawyers; I shall assume a good deal of professional expertise, and that many of you already have a body of knowledge about American law. The task: prepare you for the coming year, give you the basic grounding that you will need for the courses you are going to start taking in September. For this, you need two things: ♥ A great deal of basic factual information about how the courts and the legal system function, and about basic legal concepts (and legal vocabulary); ♥ But more importantly: background information about some of the critical ways in which the American legal system is unique, and differs from legal systems elsewhere in the world. This is hard: often you will find that your professors or fellow‐students will make assumptions or presuppose certain ways of doing things that aren’t explained in class. A large goal of this course is to explain those assumptions, and make them explicit. >> UNIQUENESS OF AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEMS Briefly, there are four aspects of the American legal system that set it apart: 1) Inherited common law, existing out of three components: (a) judicial power; (b) civil jury trial; (c) law‐equity ; 2) Written Constitution ...
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...Facts This writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, raising a question of public importance involving the interpretation of Articles 74 (pari materia to Article 163) and 156 of the Constitution, has been referred to this six-judge Constitution Bench. On August 7th, 2014, President Pranab Mukherjee issued a Presidential order removing Mizoram Governor Kamla Beniwal with barely four months left of her tenure. Ms. Beniwal, who had crossed swords with PM Narendra Modi as Gujarat governor, was only recently transferred to Mizoram. According to Ms. Beniwal, she was transferred after a nudge from home secretary Anil Goswami to quit did not elicit the desired response from her. The Government has stated that the decision to advise the Presdient to sack Ms. Beniwal was taken after it came to light that she had misused the governor's office (in Gujarat) to make several unauthorized air travels, including to her home state of Rajasthan, at the expense of the state exchequer. Citing Gujarat Raj Bhavan records, the Government states that Ms. Beniwal flew out of Gujarat 63 times using the state aircraft between 2011 and 2014, with as many as 53 of these trips being to her home city of Jaipur. The Government also states that as chancellor of universities, she had allegedly started taking keen interest in appointment of vicechancellors. Ms. Beniwal denies these allegations and states that the sole motivation for her removal was political vendetta. She asks that the Court examine...
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...and violation of human rights occurred regularly. The courts were also reluctant to review these powers because, they were restricted by rules, for example there was a rule that judicial control does not extend to government’s policy decisions, another rule was that a reviewing court may not substitute it’s opinion for that of the administrative body, unless the official has acted mala fide or in bad faith. This is supported by case of Shidiack v Union Government , where it was held that, if the administrative organ has duly and honestly applied himself to the question which has been left to his discretion, it is impossible for the court of law either to make him change his mind or to substitute it’s conclusion for his own. It is true that for any government to function effectively, it must be bestowed with discretionary powers, discretionary powers involves the exercise of a choice between two or more options on the part of the decision maker. The exercise of these discretionary powers must be checked and controlled by other branches of government, but this was not the case in South Africa. In the past the only manner in which those powers could be controlled was common law basis, but as a result of a narrowly defined grounds of judicial review of government action and decisions, the system of Parliamentary supremacy allows the government to easily exclude the courts power of review via the so-called ouster clauses. The promulgation of the interim and the final constitution...
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...Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice Volume 7 | Issue 1 Article 2 September 2013 The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing Katherine Connor Ellen J. Vargyas Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj Recommended Citation Katherine Connor and Ellen J. Vargyas, The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing, 7 Berkeley Women's L.J. 13 (1992). Available at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol7/iss1/2 Link to publisher version (DOI) http://dx.doi.org/ This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals and Related Materials at Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice by an authorized administrator of Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact jcera@law.berkeley.edu. The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing Katherine Connort Ellen J. Vargyast TABLE OF CONTENTS I. II. INTRODUCTION ....................................... THE FACTUAL CONTEXT ............................. A. The Scope of the Problem ............................ 1. Post-Secondary Admissions Tests .................. 2. Vocational Aptitude Tests and Interest Inventories. B. Causes of Gender Differences in Test Scores ........... 1. Post-Secondary Admissions Tests .................. 2. Vocational Aptitude Tests and Interest Inventories. C. Validity of the Tests .......................
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...Chapter One – Individual Rights Under the United States Constitution I. History of Criminal Procedure a. The Magna Carta i. 1215 agreement between King John of England and English nobility creating certain civil rights. ii. Due process is referred to as "law of the land" and "legal judgment of peers." Some state constitutions continue to use these phrases. iii. A legal principle which states that no one should be deprived of life, liberty, or property except by proper legal proceeding. The principle is enshrined in the 39th clause of Magna Carta (1215) which provides that ‘no freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his freehold or outlawed or banished or in any way ruined, nor will we (ie the monarch) take or order action against him, except by the lawful judgment of his equals and according to the law of the land’. b. The United States Constitution iv. 1789 v. Bill of Rights – proposed in 1789 and ratified (became law) in 1791. vi. Chapter 1, Page 14 – Provisions of Bill of Rights – Table 1.2 vii. The notion of due process is also embodied in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution, and in Articles 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. viii. The reference in the 5th Amendment applies only to the federal government and its courts and agencies. The reference in the 14th Amendment extends protection of due process to all state governments...
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... So almost necessarily, the party who has the majority in the executive power also has it in the legislative power. In fact, Americans typically LIKE divided governments. If you want an example of that, just look at the last presidents of the US. Bill Clinton e.g. was a member of the Democratic Party while the congress was held by the Democratic Party as well. However, interestingly enough, that situation lasted only 2 years, after which the Americans decided to elect a republican president: Bush. The same happened more or less to Bush, and after that to Barack Obama. This is called the Fundamental Split between political parties. As part of that, what happened is that American people were able to express their ideas. They often like to have one party at power in the Congress and another party at power in the Government. What if a third party develops himself? One of the two parties will try to move towards the same ideas. They do have third party candidates in Congress, but their power is very small. It’s an idea that is embraced by the American people: there’s a uniform trust in the government. They have a real debate going on right now in the US: on the left, you have people who think that the government should do more and more/be involved in more things. The left doesn’t like Barack Obama because they think he’s not envolved enough in giving governmental solutions. On the other hand, the right doesn’t like Obama neither because...
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