FE-1 Constitutional Law key terms

The power of courts to examine legislative or executive acts and declare them void when they conflict with the constitution. In the U.S. system it is not textually explicit but was asserted in Marbury v. Madison (1803).

The 1803 decision in which Chief Justice Marshall held that a federal statute conflicting with the Constitution cannot be applied by courts, establishing judicial review and the principle that the Constitution is paramount law.

Article VI clause providing that the Constitution, federal statutes, and treaties are the supreme law of the land, binding state judges notwithstanding contrary state law. It anchors federal preemption of inconsistent state enactments.

The doctrine under which valid federal law displaces conflicting state law. It may be express, implied by field occupation, or implied because state law obstructs federal purposes or creates obstacle conflict.

The requirement that a plaintiff have a concrete injury in fact, fairly traceable to the defendant's conduct, and likely redressable by a favorable ruling. It is a core limit on federal judicial power under Article III.

Article III's requirement that federal courts decide only actual disputes between adverse parties. It bars advisory opinions and underlies standing, ripeness, mootness, and political question limits.

The doctrine barring review of disputes that are too premature, where the issues are not yet fit for adjudication or the plaintiff has not suffered hardship from delayed review.

The doctrine dismissing cases in which the dispute has ended, leaving no live controversy. Exceptions include voluntary cessation, capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review, and collateral consequences.

A court's opinion on a legal question divorced from an actual dispute. Federal courts may not issue them because Article III confines jurisdiction to cases and controversies.

A justiciability rule under which courts decline cases committed to the political branches or lacking manageable judicial standards, such as certain foreign affairs, impeachment, and Guarantee Clause disputes.

Amendment generally barring federal suits against a state by citizens of another state or foreign country. It underlies state sovereign immunity, subject to exceptions such as consent, abrogation, and suits against officers.

The 1908 decision allowing federal suits against state officers for prospective injunctive relief to stop ongoing violations of federal law, a workaround to state sovereign immunity.

Article I, Section 8 grant of power to Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Modern doctrine permits regulation of channels, instrumentalities, and activities substantially affecting interstate commerce.

The implied limit on state laws that discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce, even absent federal regulation. Discriminatory laws face strict scrutiny; neutral laws use Pike balancing.

Article I, Section 8 clause letting Congress make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated powers. It supports implied powers but cannot justify wholly extraconstitutional ends.

Congress's Article I power to lay taxes and spend for the general welfare. Spending conditions on states must serve the general welfare, be unambiguous, relate to the federal interest, and not coerce.

The specific legislative authorities listed in Article I, Section 8, such as commerce, tax, spending, bankruptcy, patents, and war powers. Federal action generally requires a source among them.

Amendment reserving to the states or the people powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states. It informs federalism limits and the anti-commandeering rule.

The principle that Congress may not compel state legislatures to enact laws or state executives to administer federal regulatory programs. It derives from the Tenth Amendment and structural federalism.

Clauses in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments barring government deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process. They support procedural protections and, under the Fourteenth, substantive fundamental rights.

The doctrine protecting certain fundamental liberties from government interference regardless of procedure. Economic regulation gets rational basis; fundamental rights such as privacy get heightened scrutiny.

The process by which selected Bill of Rights protections are applied against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, mostly accomplished through twentieth-century selective incorporation decisions.

Fourteenth Amendment clause forbidding states from denying any person equal protection of the laws. It governs classifications, triggering rational basis, intermediate, or strict scrutiny depending on the group and right.

The most demanding tier of review: the law must serve a compelling governmental interest and be narrowly tailored, using the least restrictive means. It applies to suspect classifications and fundamental rights.

Mid-level review requiring an important governmental interest and a substantially related means. It applies to sex-based classifications and certain content-neutral speech regulations.

The most deferential standard: a law survives if it is rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. Courts accept any conceivable justification, and the challenger bears the burden.

A classification such as race, national origin, or alienage (in some contexts) that triggers strict scrutiny because it is inherently invidious and historically linked to discrimination.

Liberties deemed so important that government infringement triggers strict scrutiny, including voting, travel, marriage, procreation, and access to courts. They are protected largely through substantive due process and equal protection.

Provision barring laws abridging freedom of speech. Protection varies by category and forum; content-based restrictions face strict scrutiny, while content-neutral time, place, and manner rules face intermediate review.

A government restriction imposed before speech occurs, such as licensing or injunctions. It carries a heavy presumption of unconstitutionality and requires narrow, objective standards and prompt judicial review.

The rule that a law is void if it fails to give ordinary people fair notice of prohibited conduct or invites arbitrary enforcement. It arises under the Due Process Clause and overlaps with overbreadth.

A First Amendment rule allowing facial invalidation of a law that prohibits a substantial amount of protected speech relative to its legitimate sweep, even as applied to the challenger.

First Amendment provision barring laws respecting an establishment of religion. Modern tests examine government purpose, effect, and entanglement, alongside coercion and historical practice approaches.

First Amendment provision protecting religious exercise from government interference. Laws that are neutral and generally applicable typically face rational basis; discriminatory or individualized exemptions invite strict scrutiny.

A three-part Establishment Clause standard asking whether a law has a secular purpose, a primary effect neither advancing nor inhibiting religion, and no excessive entanglement. Its status has been narrowed by later decisions.

The requirement that constitutional rights generally constrain only governmental conduct. Private conduct is reachable only when sufficiently entangled with or performing a public function for the state.

The first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, protecting individual liberties such as speech, religion, criminal procedure safeguards, and property. Most protections now apply to states through incorporation.

The doctrine shielding governments from suit without consent. In federalism contexts it bars many damages actions against states, subject to congressional abrogation under Section 5 and suits for prospective relief.

Congress's Fourteenth Amendment authority to enforce the amendment by appropriate legislation. It may remedy and prevent constitutional violations but cannot redefine the amendment's substantive guarantees.