Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law tests the structure of government and individual rights: judicial review, standing, federalism, Commerce Clause, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment. The bar expects you to select the correct tier of scrutiny and to spot state-action and justiciability defects.
Core rules
- Standing requires injury in fact, causation, and redressability; third-party rights generally cannot be asserted.
- Race classifications trigger strict scrutiny; gender classifications trigger intermediate scrutiny; most economic and social classifications get rational-basis review.
- The Commerce Clause reaches channels, instrumentalities, and activities substantially affecting interstate commerce.
- State action is required for due-process and equal-protection claims; private conduct is not ordinarily constitutional.
Worked example
A state statute gives a 10-point civil-service preference to veterans. A nonveteran applicant denied a job sues under the Equal Protection Clause. Reasoning: Veterans are not a suspect class, and government employment is not a fundamental right. Rational-basis review applies. The state need only show that the preference is rationally related to a legitimate interest, such as rewarding military service and facilitating readjustment. The statute likely survives. If the preference were limited to a racial group, strict scrutiny would apply and the analysis would change.
Traps
- Applying strict scrutiny to gender or alienage classifications without checking the context.
- Forgetting that the state-action requirement can be satisfied by entwinement or a public function.
- Treating taxpayer standing as general; it is narrow.
- Missing that a facial challenge can succeed only if no set of circumstances validates the law.