OR Bar Constitutional Law 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A city ordinance prohibits all leafleting on public sidewalks to prevent litter. Under First Amendment analysis, this ordinance is most likely:
- Constitutional as a valid time, place, and manner restriction
- Unconstitutional because public sidewalks are traditional public forums (Correct answer)
- Constitutional because the government has a compelling interest in cleanliness
- Unconstitutional only if applied to political speech
Correct answer: Unconstitutional because public sidewalks are traditional public forums
Public sidewalks are traditional public forums where content-neutral restrictions must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant interest, and a total ban on leafleting is not narrowly tailored.
Question 2: Which doctrine allows courts to strike down a vague criminal statute that fails to give fair notice of what conduct is prohibited?
- Overbreadth doctrine
- Void for vagueness doctrine (Correct answer)
- Prior restraint doctrine
- Chilling effect doctrine
Correct answer: Void for vagueness doctrine
The void for vagueness doctrine under the Due Process Clause requires criminal statutes to define offenses with sufficient clarity that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited.
Question 3: A state law requires all private clubs with more than 400 members to admit women. A male-only private club challenges the law. The strongest constitutional basis for upholding the law is:
- The Commerce Clause
- The Equal Protection Clause
- The state's police power to regulate large associations (Correct answer)
- The Nineteenth Amendment
Correct answer: The state's police power to regulate large associations
States may regulate private clubs under their broad police power, particularly when the club is large enough that exclusion of women substantially affects their economic and social opportunities.
Question 4: Under the Establishment Clause, which test did the Supreme Court apply in Lemon v. Kurtzman to evaluate government aid to religious schools?
- The coercion test
- The endorsement test
- The Lemon three-part test requiring secular purpose, neither advancing nor inhibiting religion, and no excessive entanglement (Correct answer)
- The neutrality test
Correct answer: The Lemon three-part test requiring secular purpose, neither advancing nor inhibiting religion, and no excessive entanglement
Lemon v. Kurtzman established a three-part test: the law must have a secular legislative purpose, its principal effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.
Question 5: A federal statute requires state legislatures to enact certain environmental standards or else the federal government will regulate directly. Under New York v. United States, this law is:
- Constitutional as a valid exercise of the Commerce Clause
- Unconstitutional as commandeering state legislatures (Correct answer)
- Constitutional because environmental regulation is a federal interest
- Unconstitutional as a violation of the Tenth Amendment's reserved powers
Correct answer: Unconstitutional as commandeering state legislatures
New York v. United States held that Congress may not compel state legislatures to enact or administer federal regulatory programs, as this violates the anti-commandeering principle.
Question 6: When a plaintiff claims a state actor violated substantive due process by infringing a non-fundamental right, the court applies:
- Strict scrutiny requiring a compelling government interest
- Intermediate scrutiny requiring an important government interest
- Rational basis review requiring a legitimate government interest (Correct answer)
- Heightened scrutiny requiring a substantial government interest
Correct answer: Rational basis review requiring a legitimate government interest
Substantive due process challenges to laws infringing non-fundamental rights are evaluated under rational basis review, which requires only that the law be rationally related to a legitimate government interest.
Question 7: Which constitutional clause most directly prohibits states from imposing tariffs on goods imported from other states?
- The Supremacy Clause
- The Import-Export Clause
- The Dormant Commerce Clause (Correct answer)
- The Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV
Correct answer: The Dormant Commerce Clause
The Dormant Commerce Clause, implied by Congress's Commerce Clause power, prohibits states from enacting laws that discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce, including state tariffs on out-of-state goods.
OR Bar Constitutional Law 2
A city ordinance prohibits all leafleting on public sidewalks to prevent litter.
Under First Amendment analysis, this ordinance is most likely: