WV Bar Constitutional Law 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits West Virginia from:
- Teaching about world religions in public schools
- Displaying the Ten Commandments in every courthouse as an official endorsement (Correct answer)
- Providing bus transportation to parochial school students
- Granting tax exemptions to religious organizations
Correct answer: Displaying the Ten Commandments in every courthouse as an official endorsement
Officially endorsing a particular religion by displaying religious texts in government buildings violates the Establishment Clause under the Lemon test and its successors.
Question 2: Under the Fourth Amendment, a warrantless search of a home is presumptively:
- Reasonable
- Unreasonable (Correct answer)
- Valid with probable cause alone
- Permitted during exigent circumstances only
Correct answer: Unreasonable
The Fourth Amendment establishes that warrantless searches of the home are presumptively unreasonable, subject to recognized exceptions.
Question 3: Which doctrine allows federal courts to strike down West Virginia laws that conflict with federal law?
- Federalism doctrine
- Preemption doctrine (Correct answer)
- Abstention doctrine
- Political question doctrine
Correct answer: Preemption doctrine
The Supremacy Clause-based preemption doctrine allows federal law to displace conflicting state law through express, field, or conflict preemption.
Question 4: The Sixth Amendment right to counsel in West Virginia criminal proceedings attaches at:
- The moment of arrest
- The filing of formal charges (Correct answer)
- The first police interrogation
- The time of the crime
Correct answer: The filing of formal charges
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is a critical-stage right that attaches once formal charges or adversarial proceedings have been initiated.
Question 5: Under the Equal Protection Clause, gender-based classifications are subject to:
- Rational basis review
- Strict scrutiny
- Intermediate scrutiny (Correct answer)
- Per se invalidity
Correct answer: Intermediate scrutiny
Gender-based classifications receive intermediate scrutiny, requiring the law to be substantially related to an important government interest.
Question 6: The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has original jurisdiction over:
- All felony cases
- Writs of mandamus, prohibition, and habeas corpus (Correct answer)
- Small claims disputes
- Traffic violations
Correct answer: Writs of mandamus, prohibition, and habeas corpus
Under Article VIII of the West Virginia Constitution, the Supreme Court of Appeals has original jurisdiction to issue extraordinary writs including mandamus, prohibition, and habeas corpus.
WV Bar Constitutional Law 2
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits West Virginia from: