Transcript Document 7670528

AMERICAN LEGAL
SYSTEM—the BASICS
 The United States is a
federal system—what
does that mean?
 What does balance of
power mean in our
system?
 What are the sources of
law?
 How does the court get
involved in judgment of
the other branches of
government?
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Federalism is…
• Union of fifty states under one central
government authority.
• And, it is a system of parallel
governments-local, state, federal.
• There is a shared power between these
parallel systems, but the federal
constitution and statutory laws have
supremacy. Marbury v. Madison
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Balancing Power = Sharing Power
• Parallel Systems of
Government
• Three Branches of
Government
• Checks and Balances
Among Branches
• Executive
– President
– Governor
• Legislative
– Congress
– State Legislature
• Judicial
– Federal Courts
– State Courts
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Sources of Law…
•
•
•
•
Constitutions
Legislative acts - i.e., statutes or laws
Administrative law – i.e., rules or
regulations
Court decisions - court or case law.
(common law)
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Courts get involved by
• Applying principles of law to specific set of
facts--settle disputes.
• Construing or interpreting legislative or
regulatory enactments.
– Statutory interpretation--philosophy of courts varies.
Strict construction, liberal, plain meaning.
• Determining the constitutionality of legislative or
administrative actions.
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State Courts
– Courts of Limited Jurisdiction--lower trial courts. Municipal,
county courts, small claims, traffic, probate. SEATTLE
MUNICIPAL COURT. Not published
– Courts of General Jurisdiction)-major trial courts. KING
COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT. Not usually published
– Intermediate Appellate Courts--they hear appeals from trial courts
and administrative agencies. THREE COURTS OF APPEALS in
Washington. (Northwest, Southwest and all of Eastern
Washington) Division I,II, III (Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane) (Wash
App. P2d). Often published
– Courts of Last Resort-often called the Supreme Court. WASH
STATE SUPREME (Wash, Wash 2d) PUBLISHED
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Federal Courts
• District Courts--at least one in every state, usually more than two. In
Washington we have Eastern District and Western District. Cases
generally either between citizens of different states or involving
litigation of federal statutes or the federal constitution. (F.Supp)
• Courts of Appeals--there are 13 courts of appeals. –11 geographic
circuits and one for DC, one federal . Decides issues of law not fact.
9th Circuit Court of Appeals (California, Oregon, Alaska, Montana,
Idaho, Nevada, Arizona) F2d, F3d (9th Cir.)
• Courts of Special Jurisdiction---e.g. Tax Court, Customs Courts, etc.
(Federal Circuit)
• Supreme Court--no redress. Brought before Supremes by appeal
(writ of certiorari) or through original jurisdiction. Hears cases such
as validity of a state or federal statute or any right or privilege is
claimed under the Constitution. Requires 4/9 judges to accept. (U.S.)
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Finding Court Decisions
• US Supreme Court: Decisions can be found in the official report,
United States Reports. e.g., Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas, 349 U.S. 294 (1955) vol 349 of the reports at page 294.
• US Courts of Appeals reported in Federal Reporter, Second Series.
Clark v. Whitting, 607 F.2d 634 (4th Cir. 1979).
• US District Courts—Federal Supplement (F.Supp.) Ponton v.
Newport News School Board, 632 F.Supp. 1056 (E.D.Va. 1986)
• State cases: State Supreme Court and State Appellate cases often in
more than one set. Washington Reports and Pacific Reporter. (P.2d)
• HINT: First page of a decision generally gives a good summary of
the court history, decision, official name and date of case.
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Finding Statutes
• Federal statutes are officially compiled according to topic
in the United States Code (U.S.C.)
• Congressional acts in their chronological order of passage
are compiled in the US Statutes at Large (Stat.) by Public
Law number P.L. 94-142 means 142nd law passed by the
94 Congressional session—not the year.
• Citations to the statutes are not reflective of the
changes—for example 94-142 is commonly used to
describe the special education law—but the content of
EHA or 94-142 is significantly different than the IDEA
which is now the federal special education law.
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Rules and Regulations
• When agencies (Dept of Justice, Dept of
Education, etc) issue rules or regulations
designed to assist in the implementation of
federal statutes are in the Federal Register
(Fed. Reg.), the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR).
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What is the Goal of Reading a
Court Decision?
• To find the rule that the judge pronounces.
• Anything else that may be said in the
opinion --e.g., anything not particular to
resolving the issue before the court are
dicta.
• Dicta are not binding.
11
Case Analysis
• Is a skill and like any other…takes time to
develop.
• Don’t get discouraged by the legalese,
cases are really just stories about people
like you and me.
• Try the framework I am giving you today.
• Hint: it is always a good idea to read the
opinion.
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Analyzing Court Decisions:
aka briefing a case
• Title and citation (where to find it again and
how to reference it in a discussion)
• Level or type of court hearing the case
• Relevant facts involved in the case
• Disputed issue or issues in the case
• Holdings of the court
• Legal doctrine or principle supporting the
decision—i.e., rationale/reasoning.
• Significance of the decision regarding future
actions
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FACTS
• Who did what to whom and why are they
in court?
– What facts are necessary to make a decision—
i.e., what is legally relevant.
– Often difficult to decide—especially as you
are learning how to brief—what is relevant.
– When in doubt, keep it in.
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ISSUE(s)
• What question is the plaintiff asking the
court to address?
– There may be substantive legal issue(s) and
procedural legal issue(s).
– We are interested in the substantive ones only
in this class.
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HOLDING
• How does the court answer the question or
issue?
– Can be a yes/no answer
– More often it is a mixed
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REASONING/RATIONALE
• How does the court reach its holding in the
case—i.e., why does the court answer the
question the way it does?
– Justification for the ruling
– Guidelines for future situations
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SIGNIFICANCE
• Why is this decision (holding and
reasoning) important for the future
behavior of similar parties?
• Does the decision have additional
significance for other parties because of the
court’s holding?
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American Case Law
• Your reading/case law is primarily
concerned with statutory/regulatory rights.
• We also have case law that has applied
Constitutional rights to disability
discrimination.
• Complicated and NOT commonly argued
since ADA passed.
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Disabled Persons as a Suspect Class?
• Section 504 and ADA are designed to
prohibit discrimination and offer remedies
for violations.
• Why not use federal (or state)
constitutional protections—i.e., equal
protection analysis?
• What is equal protection?
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Equal Protection
• Equality (equal protection?) is critical component
of our legal system.
• Equal protection guarantees in federal & state
Constitutions--no state shall “deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.”
• Principal ideas underlying equal protection are
FAIRNESS and IMPARTIALITY.
• Requires that government (state) treat “similarly
situated” individuals similarly—i.e., in
nondiscriminatory manner.
21
But…
• Our system recognizes that some forms of
discrimination are beneficial to society as a
whole…so we classify people by certain
traits—e.g., age, residency, gender,
academic preparation, disability(?)
• Question is when is are these
classifications unconstitutional—i.e.,
violation of rights.
22
Legal Standards Used to Analyze
Equal Protection
• Rational Basis Test
– Treating groups differently is assumed constitutional. Government
burden is to show that there is a rational basis for the different treatment
and serves a legitimate government interest. (driving age, zoning laws)
• Strict Scrutiny Test
– Treating groups differently is assumed Unconstitutional when the groups
are on basis of a suspect class of people or effects a fundamental right
(bill of rights). (voting on basis of gender, Japanese Americans interred
during WWII) Government burden very high and almost impossible to
satisfy.
• Intermediate or Heightened Scrutiny Test—maybe
– Some justices believe that treating people differently on basis of some
characteristic that does not infringe on fundamental right or effect
suspect class requires government to show more than rational basis—
because some groups may be “quasi-suspect class.”
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City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living
Center, 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• FACTS:
– Group home for people with mental retardation wanted to move
into a residential neighborhood.
– City required a special use permit pursuant to zoning ordinance
that required such permit for hospitals for the insane, feebleminded, alcoholic or drug addicts, and penal institutions.
– CLC applied and was denied permit.
– CLC sued the city—zoning ordinance was unconstitutional on its
face because discriminated against people with mental retardation
in violation of equal protection.
• ISSUES:
– Which EP standard should be applied?
– Was it an equal protection—i.e., constitutional—violation?
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Decision:
• HOLDING:
– Standard to apply is rational basis; people
with mental retardation are not suspect class
nor quasi-suspect class.
– Supremes rule that CLC should be permitted,
under rational basis test, denial is a violation
of equal protection.
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Why?
• RATIONALE/JUSTIFICATION
– Persons with mental retardation are not suspect or
quasi-suspect because
• they have reduced ability to cope with and function in the
world—i.e., immutably different from others
• States have legitimate reasons to issue regulations/rules
concerning their lives.
• Therefore, do not apply the strict scrutiny or heightened
scrutiny test.
– However, there was no rational basis/reason for city to
deny CLC a permit; it was irrational prejudice.
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Why important?
• SIGNIFICANCE:
– This case declared unequivocally that disabled
persons are not suspect or quasi-suspect class
for purposes of EP analysis.
– Basically ended Constitutional EP arguments
in examples of disability discrimination.
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Briefing Davis on Monday
• Come prepared – READ DAVIS before Monday’s
class.
• Break into the five groups.
• Assign someone to write the brief you come up
with as a group (on large white paper).
• Debate/discussion/write for about 45 hour.
• Each group will post on wall and present their
brief to class.
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