Constitutional Rights and Liberties Flashcards

The Equal Protection Clause requires 'strict scrutiny' when a law classifies individuals based on which of the following?

Answer: Race or national origin

Race and national origin are suspect classifications that trigger strict scrutiny, requiring a compelling government interest and narrow tailoring to survive equal protection challenge.

The Fourteenth Amendment's incorporation doctrine has made which of the following applicable to state governments?

Answer: Nearly all provisions of the Bill of Rights through selective incorporation via the Due Process Clause

Through selective incorporation, the Supreme Court has applied nearly all Bill of Rights provisions to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause on a right-by-right basis.

Under Craig v. Boren, a state law setting different legal drinking ages for men and women would be subject to which standard?

Answer: Intermediate scrutiny, because the classification is based on sex

Sex-based classifications receive intermediate scrutiny under Craig v. Boren, requiring the government to show the classification is substantially related to an important government interest.

The right to privacy recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut and its progeny protects which of the following from state interference under substantive due process?

Answer: Intimate decisions within marriage and family life rooted in liberty traditions

Griswold and subsequent cases protect intimate decisions rooted in the concept of ordered liberty and deeply embedded in the nation's traditions, particularly within the marital relationship and family.

State action is generally required for a constitutional rights claim. Which of the following is MOST likely to constitute state action?

Answer: A private university in a contract with the state to operate a public library

The public function doctrine and entanglement doctrine find state action when a private entity performs a traditional governmental function or is so entwined with the state as to be treated as a state actor.

Under Mathews v. Eldridge, the procedural due process required before the government deprives someone of a protected interest is determined by balancing:

Answer: The private interest, risk of erroneous deprivation, and the government's interest including administrative burden

Mathews v. Eldridge balances the private interest at stake, the risk of erroneous deprivation under existing procedures and probable value of additional safeguards, and the government's interest including fiscal and administrative burdens.

The Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted since the Slaughter-House Cases, protects:

Answer: Only a narrow set of rights of national citizenship such as travel between states and access to federal offices

The Slaughter-House Cases narrowed the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause to protect only rights of national citizenship, such as interstate travel and access to the federal government, leaving most rights to the Due Process Clause.