Episodes
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Constitutional Law: Judicial interpretation
Judicial interpretation is the way in which the judiciary construes the law, particularly constitutional documents, legislation and frequently used vocabulary. This is an important issue in some common law jurisdictions such as the United States, Australia and Canada, because the supreme courts…
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Constitutional Law: Void for vagueness
In American constitutional law, a statute is void for vagueness and unenforceable if it is too vague for the average citizen to understand, and a constitutionally-protected interest cannot tolerate permissible activity to be chilled within the range of the vagueness (either because the statute is…
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part Six)
Overseas and nonresident citizens. U.S. citizens residing overseas who would otherwise have the right to vote are guaranteed the right to vote in federal elections by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986. As a practical matter, individual states implement…
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part Five)
Young adults. A third voting rights movement was won in the 1960’s to lower the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. Activists noted that most of the young men who were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War were too young to have any voice in the selection of the leaders who were sending...
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part Four)
Legal challenges to disfranchisement. Although African Americans quickly began legal challenges to such provisions in the 19th century, it was years before any were successful before the U.S. Supreme Court. Booker T Washington, better known for his public stance of trying to work within societal...
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part Three)
Religious test. In several British North American colonies, before and after the 1776 Declaration of Independence, Jews, Quakers, Catholics, and/or Atheists were excluded from the franchise and/or from running for elections. The Delaware Constitution of 1776 stated that "Every person who shall be...
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Supreme Court Opinions: Roe v. Wade
Roe v Wade was a 1971, 1973 landmark decision by the US Supreme Court. It ruled that a state law that banned abortion was unconstitutional. The 7 to 2 decision had Chief Justice Warren E Burger and six other Justices vote for "Jane Roe" and Justices William Rehnquist and Byron White vote against...
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Shurtleff v City of Boston
Shurtleff v City of Boston, (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Background. Boston, Massachusetts allows groups to have their flags flown over Boston City Hall. A Christian group, Camp Constitution, sought to have the…
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part Two)
Milestones of national franchise changes 1789: The Constitution grants the states the power to set voting requirements. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying white males (about 6% of the population). 1790: The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited citizenship to "free...
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Constitutional Law: Voting rights (Part One)
Voting rights in the United States, specifically the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, has been a moral and political issue throughout United States history. Eligibility to vote in the United States is governed by the United States Constitution and by federal and state...
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Supreme Court Opinions: Brown v Davenport + United States v Vaello Madero
Brown v Davenport, (2022), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. The case concerned whether habeas relief may be granted if the Brecht v Abrahamson test alone is satisfied, or if the application of Chapman v California by the state courts was unreasonable because of AEDPA. The...
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City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin LLC
City of Austin v Reagan National Advertising of Austin LLC, (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the application of zoning restrictions on digital billboards in the city of Austin Texas. In a 6 to 3 ruling, the Court ruled that the Austin regulation against off-premise...
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Supreme Court Options: Thompson v. Clark
Thompson v. Clark, (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning whether a plaintiff suing for malicious prosecution must show that he or she was affirmatively exonerated of committing the alleged crime. The Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh held...
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Supreme Court Opinion: Ramirez v. Collier + Houston Community College System v. Wilson + Badgerow v. Walters
Ramirez v. Collier (2022), is a United States Supreme Court case related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Background. On July 19, 2004, 20-year-old John Henry Ramirez (born June 29, 1984), a former United States...
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Supreme Court Opinion: Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Fazaga
Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Fazaga, (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the use of law enforcement surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 and the state secrets privilege defense. The case stems from a 2011 class action lawsuit...
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Supreme Court Opinion: Wooden v. United States
Wooden v. United States, (2022), was a Supreme Court of the United States case dealing with the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that multiple criminal offenses that a person commits during a single criminal episode do not count as separate convictions…
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Constitutional Law: Nationality law (Citizenship) Part Two
Current scheme. Acquisition of nationality. There are various ways a person can acquire United States nationality, either at birth, by naturalization, or through court decisions and/or treaties. Birth within the United States. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that "All persons born…
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Constitutional Law: Nationality law (Citizenship) Part One
United States nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds United States nationality. In the United States, nationality is typically obtained through provisions in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and international agreements. Citizenship is a right, not a privilege. While…
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Supreme Court Opinion: United States v. Tsarnaev
Current scheme. Acquisition of nationality. There are various ways a person can acquire United States nationality, either at birth, by naturalization, or through court decisions and/or treaties. Birth within the United States. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that "All persons born…
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Supreme Court Opinions: Wooden v. United States
Wooden v. United States, (2022), was a Supreme Court of the United States case dealing with the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that multiple criminal offenses that a person commits during a single criminal episode do not count as separate convictions…
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Supreme Court Opinion: United States v. Zubaydah
United States v Zubaydah, (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case related to the state secrets privilege. Background. Abu Zubaydah was captured by the United States in Pakistan in 2002 and has been alleged to be a member of Al Qaeda. While in custody he had been transferred to multiple...
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Constitutional Law: Equal Protection Clause (Part 3)
Tiered scrutiny. Despite the undoubted importance of Brown, much of modern equal protection jurisprudence originated in other cases, though not everyone 18/2022 agrees about which other cases. Many scholars assert that the opinion of Justice Harlan Stone in United States v Carolene Products Co....
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Constitutional Law: Equal Protection Clause (Part 2)
Gilded Age interpretation and the Plessy decision. In the United States, 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction and the start of the Gilded Age. The first truly landmark equal protection decision by the Supreme Court was Strauder v West Virginia (1880). A black man convicted of murder by an...
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Constitutional Law: Equal Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws". It mandates that…
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Constitutional law: Due Process Clause (Part Two)
Substantive due process. By the middle of the 19th century, "due process of law" was interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court to mean that "it was not left to the legislative power to enact any process which might be devised. The due process article is a restraint on the legislative as well as on…
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Constitutional law: Due Process Clause (Part One)
n United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as authorized by law. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets...
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Constitutional law: Privacy laws (Part 2)
Appropriation of name or likeness. Although privacy is often a common-law tort, most states have enacted statutes that prohibit the use of a person's name or image if used without consent for the commercial benefit of another person. Appropriation of name or likeness occurs when a person uses the...
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Constitutional law: Privacy laws (Part 1)
The privacy laws of the United States deal with several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into their private affairs, discloses their private…
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Constitutional law: Constitutional criminal procedure (Part 3)
Assistance of Counsel. U.S. Constitution amendment 6 provides: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. The Assistance of Counsel Clause includes, as relevant here, at least six distinct rights: the right to counsel…
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Constitutional law: Constitutional criminal procedure (Part 2)
Trial procedure. Compulsory process. U.S. Constitution amendment 6 provides: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have a compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor . . . . The Compulsory Process Clause guarantees the defendant the right to obtain...
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Constitutional law: Constitutional criminal procedure (Part 1)
The United States Constitution contains several provisions regarding the law of criminal procedure. Petit jury and venue provisions—both traceable to enumerated complaints in the Declaration of Independence—are included in Article Three of the United States Constitution. More criminal procedure...
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Constitutional Law: Right to a trial by jury
A citizen’s right to a trial by jury is a central feature of the United States Constitution. It is considered a fundamental principle of the American legal system. Laws and regulations governing jury selection and conviction/acquittal requirements vary from state to state (and are not available…
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Constitutional law: Freedom of association
Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membership based on certain criteria. It can be…
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Constitutional law: Laissez-faire
Laissez-faire; from French: laissez faire, 'let do') is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. As a system of thought, laissez-faire rests on the...
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Constitutional law: Freedom of peaceful assembly + right to petition
Freedom of peaceful assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ideas. The right to freedom of association is recognized as…
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Constitutional law: Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press in the United States is legally protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Nevertheless, freedom of the press in the United States is subject to certain restrictions, such as defamation law, a lack of protection for whistleblowers, barriers to...
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Constitutional law: Freedom of speech and expression (Part Two)
Types of speech restrictions. The Supreme Court has recognized several different types of laws that restrict speech, and subjects each type of law to a different level of scrutiny. Content-based restrictions. Content-based restrictions "are presumptively unconstitutional regardless of the...
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Constitutional law: Freedom of speech and expression (Part One)
In the United States, freedom of speech and expression is restricted by time, place and manner— though otherwise strongly protected from government restrictions by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, many state constitutions, and state and federal laws. Freedom of speech, also...
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Constitutional law of the United States: Freedom of religion (Part 2 of 2)
Supreme Court rulings. Jehovah's Witnesses. Since the 1940s, the Jehovah's Witnesses have often invoked the First Amendment's freedom of religion clauses to protect their ability to engage in the proselytizing (or preaching) that is central to their faith. This series of litigation has helped to...
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Constitutional law of the United States: Freedom of religion (Part 1 of 2)
In the United States, freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Freedom of religion is closely associated with separation of church and state, a concept advocated by Colonial founders such as Dr. John Clarke, Roger Williams,...
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The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress from taking effect until after the next election of the House of Representatives has occurred. It is the most recently adopted amendment but was one of…
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The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23…
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The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with presidential succession and disability. It clarifies that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, and establishes how a vacancy in the office of the vice president can…
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The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution
The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified…
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The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution extends the right to participate in presidential elections to the District of Columbia. The amendment grants the district electors in the Electoral College as though it were a state, though the district can never have more electors than...
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The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person is eligible for election to the office of President of the United States to two, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors....
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The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide prohibition on alcohol. The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by the 72nd Congress on February 20, 1933, and was ratified by the...
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The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twentieth Amendment (Amendment XX) to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when...
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The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Part 3)
Legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the amendment's validity in Leser v Garnett. Maryland citizens Mary D. Randolph, "'a colored female citizen' of 331 West Biddle Street", and Cecilia Street Waters, "a white woman, of 824 North Eutaw Street", applied for and were granted...
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The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Part 2)
Woman suffrage and World War I patriotism. When World War I started in 1914, women in eight states had already won the right to vote, but support for a federal amendment was still tepid. The war provided a new urgency to the fight for the vote. When the U.S. entered World War I, Catt made the...