Constitutional Law Flashcards

A state law requires all public school teachers to be U.S. citizens. A lawful permanent resident denied a teaching job challenges the law. The law is most likely:

Answer: Valid under the public function exception to strict scrutiny for alienage classifications

Under Ambach v. Norwick, teaching is a governmental function tied to democratic self-governance, so citizenship requirements receive only rational basis review.

A city ordinance prohibits sleeping overnight in all public parks. Protesters camping to dramatize homelessness challenge it. The ordinance is likely:

Answer: Valid as a content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation

Under Clark v. CCNV, a content-neutral ban on overnight sleeping is a reasonable time, place, and manner restriction serving park maintenance interests.

A state supreme court strikes down a state search statute, resting its decision on both the Fourth Amendment and an adequate, independent state constitutional ground. The U.S. Supreme Court should:

Answer: Decline review because the state ground independently supports the judgment

The Supreme Court will not review a state judgment resting on an adequate and independent state ground, since reversal on the federal issue would not change the outcome.

Congress conditions 5% of federal highway funds on states raising the drinking age to 21. A state objects that this coerces state policy. The condition is:

Answer: Valid because it is related to highway safety and not unduly coercive

South Dakota v. Dole upheld this condition as unambiguous, germane to the spending purpose, and a mild inducement rather than coercion.

A public university expels a student for a semester without any hearing after accusing him of cheating. His strongest constitutional argument is:

Answer: Procedural due process requires notice and an opportunity to be heard before deprivation of his education interest

Continued enrollment at a public institution is a protected interest, and disciplinary deprivations require at least notice and some opportunity to respond.

A state grants a tax exemption for religious publications only, not secular ones. The exemption most likely violates:

Answer: The Establishment Clause, because it favors religious over nonreligious publications

In Texas Monthly v. Bullock, an exemption available solely to religious publications was held to impermissibly advance religion.

A newspaper publishes truthful information about a confidential judicial disciplinary proceeding, obtained lawfully. The state prosecutes the paper. The prosecution is:

Answer: Unconstitutional absent a state interest of the highest order

Under Smith v. Daily Mail, the state may not punish publication of lawfully obtained truthful information about a matter of public significance absent a need of the highest order.