Constitutional Law Flashcards

A state statute bans all outdoor advertising signs except those promoting on-site businesses. A nonprofit challenges the ban as applied to its political billboards. What level of scrutiny applies to the restriction on the nonprofit's political speech?

Answer: Strict scrutiny, because the regulation is content-based as to noncommercial speech

Exempting on-site commercial messages while banning political messages is content-based discrimination against noncommercial speech, triggering strict scrutiny.

Congress passes a statute requiring state legislatures to enact regulations for disposing of radioactive waste or take title to the waste. The statute is best challenged under which doctrine?

Answer: The anti-commandeering doctrine of the Tenth Amendment

Under New York v. United States, Congress may not commandeer state legislatures by compelling them to enact or administer a federal regulatory program.

A city denies a permit for a religious group to use a public park for worship services, though it grants permits to secular groups for similar gatherings. The strongest constitutional claim is:

Answer: Free Exercise Clause violation because the policy is not neutral and generally applicable

A policy that treats religious uses worse than comparable secular uses is not neutral or generally applicable and triggers strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause.

A plaintiff sues a private shopping mall for excluding her leafleting activity, claiming a First Amendment violation. The suit will most likely fail because:

Answer: There is no state action by a privately owned mall

The First Amendment restrains only government conduct, and a private mall's exclusion of speakers is not state action under Hudgens v. NLRB.

A state taxes out-of-state milk producers at a higher rate than in-state producers to protect local dairies. Absent congressional authorization, the tax is:

Answer: Invalid as facial discrimination against interstate commerce

A facially discriminatory tax that economically protects in-state interests is virtually per se invalid under the dormant Commerce Clause.

The President, without congressional authorization, orders the seizure of private steel mills during a labor strike to support a war effort. Under Justice Jackson's Youngstown framework, the President's power is:

Answer: At its lowest ebb if Congress has implicitly or explicitly disapproved such seizures

When the President acts contrary to the express or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb and the seizure fails, as in Youngstown.

A federal statute grants any citizen standing to sue agencies that fail to prepare environmental reports, regardless of personal harm. A plaintiff with no concrete injury sues. The suit should be:

Answer: Dismissed, because Congress cannot eliminate Article III's injury-in-fact requirement

Under Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, a statutory citizen-suit provision cannot substitute for the constitutional requirement of concrete, particularized injury.