American Law Final

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Civil Rights Act of 1964

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• Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights law suits
• Department of Justice to initiate law suits to desegregate public facilities and schools
• Federal funds to be withheld from discriminatory state and local programs.
• Prohibited discrimination in employment base on race, religion, national origin or sex.
• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce bans on employment discrimination
• Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce (c.f. CRA 1875 and Civil Rights Cases 1883)
• Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964)—upheld constitutionality of the public accommodations

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Voting Rights Act of 1965

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• Prohibited Literacy Tests
• Trigger Formula: voting laws suspend where less than 50% of eligible voters registered
• Federal Examiners could register people to vote(taking power from local officials)
• Federal Examiners to monitor elections
• Federal Pre-Clearance required of any new voting regulations
• South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966)
• Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

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Chief Justice John Marshall

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• Nominated by John Adams 1800
• Served until 1835
• Marbury v. Madison (1803) Judicial Review
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)- implied powers of Congress

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Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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• Harvard Law School Professor
• Massachusetts Supreme Court 1882-1902
• U.S. Supreme Court 1902-1932
• The common law
• Buck v. Bell (1927)—Supported Virginia law allowing for compulsory sterilization: “Society can keep itself from “being swamped with incompetence...Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

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Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969)

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• Criminal Due Process Rights (Mapp v. Ohio 1961)
• Racial Equality (Brown v. Board of Education 1954)
• Representational Equality (Reynolds v. Simms 1964)
• Establishment of Religion (Abbington v. Schempp 1963

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Justice Anthony Kennedy

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• Stanford University—London School of Economics (undergraduate)
• Harvard Law School
• Private Practice San Francisco
• Professor McGeorge School of Law
• Worked for Ronald Reagan in California
• United States Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) 1975 by President Ford
• Appointed by President Reagan to Supreme Court 1988

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Supreme Court Appointments

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• Article II, Sec 2: President shall nominate and with the “advise and consent” of the Senate shall appoint judges of the Supreme Court
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Full Senate
• Life Tenure: “The judges…shall hold their office during good Behavior…” (Article III, section 1)
• Leaving the Court: Resignation, Death, and Impeachment.

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Article 1 Section 8

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powers granted to national government—e.g. power to coin money, power to declare war, power to regulate interstate commerce

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Article 1 Section 9

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powers denied to national government—e.g. o interference with slave trade until 1808; no bill of attainder or ex post facto law

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Article 1 Section 10

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Powers denied to states. E.g. can’t coin money, enter into treaties or alliances etc.

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Article IV Section 1

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“Full Faith and Credit” Clause

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Article VI Section 1

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“National Supremacy Clause”

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10th Amendment

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all powers not granted to national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states

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Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

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Employers engaged in interstate commerce are required to pay minimum wage.

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Maryland v. Wirtz (1968)

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upheld 1966 extension of FLSA to workers, whose activities affected interstate commerce in state schools and hospitals and set minimum wages and maximum hours.
• Majority: L=Liberal
o Brenan—L
o Marshall—L
o White
o Warren—L
o Black--L
o Harlan
o Fortas—L
• Dissent: Douglas, Stewart

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National League of Cities v. Usery (1976)

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Rejects 1974 amendments to FSLA extending minimum wage/ maximum hours benefits to state workers engaged in interstate commerce. Congress cannot regulate traditional state functions. Maryland v. Wirtz overruled.
• Majority: N=Nixon
o Rehnquist—N
o Powell—N
o Burger—N
o Stewart
o Blackmun—N
 “Although I am not untroubled by certain possible implications of the Court’s opinion—some of them suggested by the dissents—I do not read the opinion so despairingly as does my Brother Brennan.”
• Dissent:
o Brennan
o Marshal
o White
o Stevens

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Garcia v. SAMTA (1985)

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National League of Cities v. Usery is overruled
• Majority:
o Blackmun—switched sides
o Brennan
o Marshall
o White
o Stevens
• Dissent
o Rehnquist
o Burger
o Powell
o O’Conner

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U.S. v. Darby (1941)

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businesses had to set min. wage

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Equal Rights Amendment (Proposed 1972)

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banned discrimination against women by national government and states—Passed by Senate 84-8 and House 354-24—States failed to ratify

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Supreme Court on Women's Rights

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• Reed v. Reed (1971): Idaho statue gave men preference over women in the administration of estates. Supreme Court rules that the law in unconstitutional (Unanimous)
• Frontiero v. Richardson (1973): Differential benefits to men and women in the military declared invalid (8-1)
• Craig v. Boren (1976): Court invalidates (7-2)

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Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

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• State statue prohibited Birth Control information and advise
• Right to privacy part of the “liberty” protected by the 14th amendment due process clause
• 9th amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

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Roe v. Wade (1973)

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• First Heard in 1971: initial vote 5-2 in favor of women’s rights
• Majority: Brennan, Douglas, Marshall, Stewart, Blackmun (wrote the opinion)
• Dissent: Burger, White
• Chief Justice Burger set the case for argument
o If the chief justice is in the majority than the chief justice decides who writes the opinion. If he is not in the majority than the most senior justice assigns who writes it.
• Right to abortion is part of the right to privacy (Griswold) protected by the due process clause of the 14th amendment
• Establishes the trimester formula balancing right of the women’s privacy against the right of the state to regulate
• Vote 7-2 (Blackmun writing the opinion)
• Majority: Brennan, Marshall, Stewart, Douglas, Blackmun. Burger, Powell
• Dissent: Rehnquist, White

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Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)--Pennsylvania Statue

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• Informed Consent and 24 Hour waiting period
• Parental or judicial consent for minors
• Spousal Notification (Unconstitutional)
• Record keeping procedures
• Medical emergencies will excuse the compliance

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Furman v. Georgia (1972)

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• Death Penalty unconstitutional as currently administered—violates due process and 8th Amendment
• 5-4 decision with nine separate opinions. Central theme in majority was the arbitrary and capricious nature of the death penalty
• Blackmun Dissents

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Georgia v. Gregg (1976)

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• Georgia’s “bifurcated” system that provided “aggravating” and “mitigating” circumstances to guide jury was constitutional
• Death Penalty justified on the basis of retribution and deterrence
• 7-2 vote (Brennan and Marshall dissent—DP violates the 8th Amendment per se.)
• Blackmun: “I concur in the judgment.”

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Callins v. Collins (1994)

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• Blackmun’s twenty-two page dissent from denial of certiorari—talked about in book
• “From this day forward I shall no longer tinker with the machinery of death.”

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Type 1 error

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incorrectly convicting an Innocent person

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Type II error

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incorrectly letting a guilty person free

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Adversarial Model of Criminal Justice

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Emphasizes the fight between defense and prosecution

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Consensual Model of Criminal Justice

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emphasizes the cooperation between defense and prosecution: Plea Bargaining (reduces case load, ensures conviction, reduces uncertainty for defendant, defendants encouraged by their own lawyers)

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Crime Control Model of Criminal Justice

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goal of the process is to ensure public safety

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Due Process Model

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Goal of the process is to protect defendants from abuse of government power

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Discretionary Model

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emphasizes role of discretion in decision to arrest, prosecute etc.

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The Chicago jury project: The American Jury (1966)

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Judges agreed with jury verdicts in 78% of the cases. Confirmed by more recent findings

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U.S. v. Windsor (2013)

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• Defense of Marriage Act (1966); House 34267 Senate 84-14
• Section 3 of DOMA—“Marriage” for all purpose under federal law, including the provision of federal benefits, is only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife. Spouse” is a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
• New York recognizes the marriage of New York residents Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, who wed in Ontario, Canada, in 2007. Spyer died in 2009 and left her estate to Windsor who clamied the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses, but was barred from doing so by sec. 3.
• Windsor paid $363,053 in estate taxes and sought a refund, which the Internal Revenue Service denied.
• Section 3 declared unconstitutional—5th amendment due process/liberty clause has an “equal protection” component

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The Thin Blue Line Chronology of Events

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• Nov. 28th 1976—Patrolmen Robert Wood shot and killed in Dallas
• 1977—Randall Adams convicted (largely don testimony of David Harris) and sentenced to death
• January 1979—Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirms conviction. Execution set for May 8th 1979
• May 5th 1979—Supreme Court (Justice Powell) grants stay (improper jury selection). Governor commutes sentence to life. No new trial granted.
• 1985—Errol Morris goes to Texas to interview “Dr. Death” and learns about the Adams case
• 1985—David Harris is convicted and sentenced to death for murder of Mark Mays
• 1988—The Thin Blue Line is released. Harris recants testimony
• 1989—Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules that Adams is entitled to a new trial. Dallas DA drops all chargers. No new trial
• June 30th 2004—David Harris is executed for the murder of Mark Mays
• 2010—Randall Adams dies (age 61)

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The Disenfranchisement of Blacks

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• US v. Newberry (1921); Grovey v Townsend (1935): Congressional power to regulate elections doesn’t extend to primary elections

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Blackmun Nomination

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• Nixon southern strategy
• Justice Abe Fortas Resignation (1969)
• Nixon nominates Clement Haynesworth (rejected by Senate)
• Nixon nominates G. Harold Carswell (rejected by Senate)
• Chief Justice Warren Burger
• Blackmun nominated 1970: Senate Judiciary committee unanimous; Senate 94-0