Constitutional Law Flashcards

A public high school principal deletes articles on teen pregnancy from a school-sponsored student newspaper produced in a journalism class. The deletion is:

Answer: Permissible if reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns

Under Hazelwood, educators may control school-sponsored expression when actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.

A state law provides that only landowners may vote in water storage district elections, with votes weighted by land value. The scheme is:

Answer: Valid, because special-purpose districts with disproportionate landowner impact are exempt from one-person-one-vote

Salyer and Ball recognize an exception for special limited-purpose districts whose activities disproportionately affect landowners.

Congress passes a statute directing federal courts to reopen final judgments in cases already dismissed. The statute is:

Answer: Unconstitutional because it violates separation of powers by commanding results in decided Article III cases

Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm held Congress may not require Article III courts to reopen final judgments, which invades the judicial power.

A state statute bars corporations from spending general treasury funds on independent political advertisements for candidates. Under current doctrine, the ban is:

Answer: Unconstitutional, because independent expenditures by corporations are protected political speech

Citizens United held that the government may not ban independent political expenditures by corporations, which are protected speech.

Police obtain a state court injunction barring a specific newspaper from publishing articles alleging official corruption because the articles are 'malicious.' The injunction is:

Answer: An unconstitutional prior restraint on publication

Near v. Minnesota establishes that enjoining publication in advance is a prior restraint bearing a heavy presumption of unconstitutionality.

A father challenges a state's denial of unemployment benefits to his daughter, asserting her constitutional rights, though she is an adult fully able to sue. The court should:

Answer: Dismiss for lack of third-party standing because no obstacle prevents the daughter from asserting her own rights

Third-party standing generally requires a close relationship plus a hindrance to the right-holder suing herself, and an able adult faces no such hindrance.

A state criminalizes advocating the overthrow of the government. A speaker at a rally makes abstract calls for revolution 'someday.' A conviction is:

Answer: Unconstitutional under Brandenburg, because the speech was not directed to imminent lawless action likely to occur

Brandenburg protects abstract advocacy of violence unless it is directed to inciting imminent lawless action and likely to produce it.