Constitutional Law: Structure, Powers, and Rights
Judicial Review and Federalism
Start with Marbury: courts may review legislative and executive acts. Then map the enumerated powers, the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Commerce Clause (channels, instrumentalities, and activities substantially affecting interstate commerce), the taxing and spending powers, and the Reconstruction Amendments. State regulation of interstate commerce fails under the dormant commerce clause when it discriminates or unduly burdens, unless a legitimate local purpose survives strict scrutiny.
Separation of Powers
Know the limits on delegation, the legislative veto problem, appointment and removal rules, executive privilege, immunity, and the political question doctrine. Treaties, war powers, and the recognition power appear as short-answer traps.
Individual Rights and Tiers of Scrutiny
For due process and equal protection, identify the classification and the right: strict scrutiny (fundamental rights, suspect classes), intermediate scrutiny (sex, illegitimacy), rational basis (everything else). Then the specific doctrines: state action, incorporation, free speech fora and content neutrality, the Establishment Clause tests, free exercise, takings, and procedural due process.
Traps
Do not apply the Bill of Rights to private actors; find a state action hook. Distinguish procedural from substantive due process. A facially neutral law with discriminatory intent gets strict scrutiny; disparate impact alone usually does not. Commercial speech gets intermediate scrutiny, not full protection.
Worked Example
A city bans all billboards except those advertising local businesses. This is content-based and favors local commerce over interstate commerce. It fails strict scrutiny for speech and also burdens interstate commerce. The correct answer is that the ordinance is invalid on both grounds.