constitutional law
anserplouis
FinalExamCon.LawIFall2020-1.rtf
Final Examination Fall, 2020
Due Date: December 7, 2020
(No Later Than 7:00pm)
Your examination ha s been divided into six parts. Answer one question f rom each part.
Part I Answer one question from this part.
Suppose Congress decides to use its powers under the Commerce Clause to require that a person buy some good or service. It’s clear that Congress can regulate individual existing intrastate activities (like a farmer growing wheat for his own consumption in Wickard), if such intrastate activities, taken in the aggregate, have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. But suppose Congress instead says, in effect, “The decisions of many individuals not to purchase a product, taken in the aggregate, have a substantial negative effect on the interstate market for the product; therefore, we are going to use our Commerce power to require individuals to buy that product, even individuals who are not now, and have never been, in the market for that product.” Can Congress do this?
- Congress, in an attempt to greatly broaden the availability of health-care insurance, pursuant to its powers to regulate commerce, enacts the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). In N.F.I.B. v. Sebelius, twenty-six states claimed that the mandates go beyond the Commerce power. Write an essay explaining the outcome of this case.
Part II Answer one question from this part.
- In light of Nixon v. Fitzgerald and Clinton v. Jones, write an essay explaining the scope of the President's power to claim immunity from a law suit while in office.
- . Write an essay explaining scope of executive and legislative immunity from civil and criminal suits and grand jury investigations. In your discussion cite relevant case law to substantiate your assertions.
Part III Answer one question from this part.
- The demand for public services caused government to increase especially since President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected and given a mandate by the people to employ administrative machinery to end the suffering caused by the Great Depression. To allow the president to lead and the government's bureaucracy to administer public programs expeditiously, U.S. congress’s persons increasingly began to delegate, and sub delegate their legislative powers to the executive branch. Review Schechter Poultry Corporation v.United States and United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation. What limitations have the Court posed upon Congressional authority to delegate policy-making power? When is delegation a violation of the separation of powers doctrine?
- What is the significance of Gibbon v. Ogden and McCulloch v. Maryland?
Part IV Answer one question from this part.
- Article I, Section 7 of the US Constitution gives the President the power to veto any bill passed by Congress. Yet the Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York concluded that the Constitution prohibits the use of a line item veto. Write an essay explaining why and how the Court's arrived at this conclusion. Does this ruling contradict the Court's decision in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha decided in 1983?
- . Assuming that the judiciary was the proper department to define the scope of executive privilege-did the Court give the right answer in the US v. Nixon case? What were the arguments supporting executive privilege? What were the Court's reasons for rejecting an absolute unqualified, presidential privilege stemming- from the "the very important interest in confidentiality of presidential communications" pertaining to "nonmilitary and no diplomatic discussion? What considerations outweigh the qualified confidentiality privilege which the Court does not recognize?
Part V Answer one question from this part.
9. Write an essay explaining the Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush and Rasul v.Bush. To what extent do these cases illustrate how and why the Supreme Court may limit and check the powers of the President and Congress?
- Does the Court's decision in Korematsu expand Presidential powers while the decision in Youngstown Sheet v. Sawyer limits Presidential power? Explain
Part VI Answer the following question:
14. To what extent, if any, does the Court’s decision in Wickard v. Filburn impact the outcome of Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US, Katzenbach v. McClung, Gonzales v. Raich, and U.S. v. Lopez?
