Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law
This domain tests how constitutional limits structure government and protect rights: supremacy, judicial review, separation of powers, federalism or devolution, and enforceable fundamental rights. Questions usually ask you to identify the standard of review and apply it to a concrete statute or official act.
Core rules
- Supremacy and review: A constitution binds legislation and executive action; courts may refuse to apply inconsistent norms where review is available.
- State action: Most rights bind government, not private actors, unless a constitution extends them or a statute implements them.
- Scrutiny: Categorize the classification or right: strict scrutiny (compelling interest, narrow tailoring), intermediate (important interest, substantial relation), rational basis (legitimate end, rational means). Proportionality analysis is common outside the U.S. model.
- Limits on rights: Content-neutral time/place/manner rules need a significant government interest, narrow tailoring, and alternative channels; prior restraints face heavy suspicion.
- Procedural guarantees: Notice, hearing, an impartial decision-maker, and a reasoned decision are baseline due-process requirements.
Worked example
A statute bans all leafleting in a public park within 100 meters of a courthouse. A protest group challenges it. First ask whether the park is a public forum and whether the ban is content-neutral. A blanket ban is not narrow: it covers charitable, political, and labor speech and leaves no alternative nearby channel. Even if the aim of protecting court access is significant, the means are not substantially related. The restriction likely fails intermediate scrutiny; a buffer zone limited to entrances and picketing during court hours would be easier to defend.
Traps
Do not jump to strict scrutiny merely because speech is involved; identify the forum and neutrality first. Do not ignore state action or standing. Distinguish facial from as-applied challenges. Do not treat deference as abdication: rational-basis review still requires a legitimate purpose and a rational connection, and review may be more searching where fundamental interests are at stake.