Cochran Constitutional Law Case Chart Exam: First Half Actual Facts of the case and asks for

or what result and why? If you do not know the name of the case, put the test and C/U. No Overruled Cases. Second Half Essays, he reads them twice, first to see how much law is there and then to see if he missed anything. Case Name: Holding: Cite: Constitutional? Facts:

JUDICIAL REVIEW Marbury v. Madison 5 U.S. 137 No ruling; Court didnt have jurisdiction b/c writ of mandamus was for appellate court jurisdiction Unconstitution al At the end of Pres. Adams term in office, he appointed midnight judges. Pres. Jefferson refused to uphold the appointments. Secretary of State, Madison, was then sued by one of the appointed judges for enforcing Jefferson's refusal. Test of Impeachment (Art. 2, 4): Treason, bribery, or other high crimes & misdemeanors. (More based on party lines; it cant be that Congress doesnt like the way the judge decides or makes his decisions b/c that isn't a sufficient reason to impeach judge) Marshall interprets Art III 2 clause 2 of constitution as NOT allowing congress to change/add to court's original JD. By doing so and ruling that Judiciary Act was unconst (so he was without JD to issue writ) he established court's power of Judicial Review: where the const of the US as interpreted by USSC conflicts with law enacted by congress, ct can declare such laws as unconst and invalid. ***exception=Nixon v. Fitzgerald. IMPORTANT: Notice that Marbury is suing the Secretary of State, not the President. When can you sue the President or a State Governor for damages and/or injunctive relief? See Executive Immunity below.

EXECUTIVE IMMUNITY: National 492 F2d 587 Treasury Employees Union v. Nixon

Constitutional

Fed treasury employees sued president to compel him to grant pay adjustments as required by Fed law

Suit is appropriate b/c President mandated by law to grand adjustments

Clinton v. Jones

520 U.S. 681

Constitutional

Former state employee sued Pres. Clinton for sexual harassment which occurred while he was Attorney General for Arkansas. ISSUE: Can you sue the President for damages for acts done prior to taking office?

Yes. The president is liable for damages for events that happened prior to his presidency and outside the scope of his presidency. Nixon case did not apply here. Presidents only have immunity for acts committed while they're in office; not those before or after. No. The president is not liable for damages for acting within the scope of his presidency; he has executive immunity. You can sue the President for equitable relief for a tort that he has committed while in office. Yes. The Court held that when a state officer acts under a state law in a manner that violates the U.S. Constitution, he is then stripped of his general executive immunity.

Nixon v. Fitzgerald

457 U.S. 731

Unconstitutional

Former Pentagon employee sued President Nixon for damages. ISSUE: Can you sue the President for damages for an act done while in office?

Scheuer v. Rhodes

416 U.S. 232

Unconstitutional

The Ohio Gov. ordered troops into Kent State Univ. during civil rights protests against Vietnam War. Students were killed. Parents sued the Gov. for damages for gross 2 negligence. ISSUE: Can you sue a

Graves v. NY

306 US 466

Graves was an attorney for a federal loan corporation. In his income tax return for that year, he initially included his federal salary as subject to the state income tax. Petitioners, rejected his claim for a refund of the tax based on the ground that his salary was constitutionally exempt from state taxation because the loan corporation was an instrumentality of the United States Government and that he, during the taxable year, was an employee of the federal government engaged in the performance of a governmental function. Constitutional Tax on oleo margarine, a substitute for butter. ISSUE: May Congress prohibit the sale of margarine with artificial coloring by taxing it?

The Court upheld the imposition of the state income tax upon respondent's salary because the present tax was a nondiscriminatory and was not paid by the government instrumentality

McCray v. US

195 U.S. 27

Sonzinsky v. United States Pittsburgh v. Alco Parking Corp.

300 U.S. 506 417 U.S. 369

Constitutional

Fed. tax on concealable firearms. City enacted an ordinance that placed a tax on gross receipts obtained from all transactions involving the parking or storing of motor vehicles on nonresidential property. NY law granted monopoly on steamboats to X. Y was later licensed under federal law to run steamboats on same waterway. ISSUE: Is a state statute preserving a monopoly on navigable waters unconstitutional?

Constitutional

Gibbons v. Ogden

22 U.S. 1

Unconstitutional

Yes. Congress, in selecting its subjects for taxation, might impose the burden where and as it would and that a motive disclosed in its selection to discourage sale or manufacture of an article by a higher tax than on some other did not invalidate the tax. Upheld because inquiry into [Congress] hidden motives is beyond the competency of the court. Court reversed the judgment of the state supreme court that invalidated an ordinance enacted by appellant city that taxed certain parking receipts because the tax was not unconstitutional as an uncompensated taking simply because it rendered a business unprofitable. Yes. Court held that Congress has the power to regulate IC and can regulate intrastate commerce when it affects other states. Marshall used Gibbons to establish a broad view about Commerce Power of Federal Govt. 1. Congress can regulate all commerce that affects more than one state, even if action is completely intrastate. (Affection Doctrine) 2. Commerce power is delegated to Congress and limited by the political process. (elected