CAS Bar Constitutional Law 5

Question 1

Under Katz v. United States, the Fourth Amendment protects against government searches when:

Accepted Answer

A person has a subjective expectation of privacy that society recognizes as reasonable

Answer

Katz replaced the trespass-based analysis with the reasonable expectation of privacy test—the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.

Question 2

The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination protects only against:

Accepted Answer

Compelled testimonial or communicative evidence, not physical evidence

Answer

The privilege applies exclusively to compelled testimonial communications; physical evidence such as blood samples, handwriting exemplars, and voice samples is not protected.

Question 3

Under Gideon v. Wainwright, the Sixth Amendment right to appointed counsel applies in:

Accepted Answer

All criminal prosecutions, state and federal, where imprisonment is a potential sentence

Answer

Gideon incorporated the right to counsel against the states, holding it fundamental to a fair trial in all serious criminal cases where liberty is at stake.

Question 4

For non-capital sentences, the Eighth Amendment's proportionality requirement is violated only by:

Accepted Answer

A sentence that is grossly disproportionate to the offense committed

Answer

Under Solem v. Helm and Harmelin v. Michigan, the constitutional bar is gross disproportionality—courts very rarely strike down non-capital sentences.

Question 5

Under District of Columbia v. Heller, the Second Amendment:

Accepted Answer

Protects an individual right to keep firearms at home for self-defense while allowing reasonable regulation

Answer

Heller recognized an individual self-defense right to keep an operable handgun at home while confirming that felon prohibitions, licensing, and sensitive-place restrictions remain permissible.

(CAS Bar) California State Bar Exam Practice Test

(CAS Bar) California State Bar Exam Practice Test

CAS Bar Constitutional Law 5