US Constitutional Law

  • Amendment 26

    Twenty-sixth Amendment AMENDMENT 26: Right to Vote at Age 18 – Reduction of Voting Age Qualification Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971. Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are…

  • Amendment 24

    Twenty-fourth Amendment AMENDMENT 24: Abolition of Poll Taxes in Federal Elections Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 1964. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or…

  • Amendment 23

    Twenty-third Amendment AMENDMENT 23: Presidential Vote for the District of Columbia Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961. Section 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to…

  • Amendment 20

    Twentieth Amendment AMENDMENT 20: Presidential Term & Succession, Assembly of Congress – Commencement of the Terms of the President, Vice President and Members of Congress Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933. Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion…

  • Amendment 19

    Nineteenth Amendment AMENDMENT 19: Women’s Right to Vote – Woman’s Suffrage Rights Passed by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 1920. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to…

  • Amendment 18

    Eigtheenth Amendment AMENDMENT 18: Prohibition of Intoxicating Liquors Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21. Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and…

  • Amendment 16

    Sixteenth Amendment AMENDMENT 16: Income Tax Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913. Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 16. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to…

  • Amendment 11

    Eleventh Amendment AMENDMENT 11: Suits against States Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795. Note: Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 11. The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one…

  • Segregation

    Segregation Beginning in the late 1800s, nearly half of the States passed racial segregation laws. Segregation means the separation of one group from another. Most of those Jim Crow laws –laws that separate people on the basis of race-were aimed at African Americans. Some were also drawn to affect Mexican Americans, Asians, and Native Americans.…

  • Amendment 22

    The Twenty-second Amendment: Presidential Term Limits “It’s a good thing we’ve got a 22nd Amendment or I would run again.” (Bill Clinton) George Washington established the tradition that a president would only seek two terms in office. But Franklin Delano Roosevelt broke that precedent. During the crises of the Great Depression and World War II,…

  • Amendment 17

    The Seventeenth Amendment: Direct Election of Senators Another reform of the Progressive Era was allowing the people to select U.S. senators, rather than having state legislatures choose them, as originally provided in Article I. Advocates of the Seventeenth Amendment hoped to avoid the corrupt practice in which political machines, backed by corporate wealth, hand-picked senatorial…

  • Amendment 4

    The 4th Amendment The 4th Amendment, like the 3rd Amendment, also grew out of colonial practice. It was designed to prevent the use of writs of assistance -blanket search warrants with which British customs officials had invaded private homes to search for smuggled goods. Each State constitution contains a similar provision. The guarantee also applies…

  • Jurisdiction

    Jurisdiction Federal Court Jurisdiction The constitutional courts hear most of the cases tried in the federal courts. That is, those courts have jurisdiction over most federal cases. Jurisdiction is defined as the authority of a court to hear (to try and to decide) a case. The term means, literally, the power “to say the law.”…

  • Cruel and Unusual Punishment

    Cruel and Unusual Punishment The 8th Amendment also forbids “cruel and unusual punishment.” The 14th Amendment extends that prohibition against the States, Robinson v. California, 1962. The Supreme Court decided its first cruel and unusual case in Wilkerson v. Utah, 1879. There a territorial court had sentenced a convicted murderer to death by a firing…

  • Exclusionary Rule

    Exclusionary Rule Introduction According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, when the police obtain evidence by violating the bill of rights, the victim of their misconduct may lack any effective legal remedy. Yet some enforcement mechanism is necessary if several important constitutional guarantees are to be a reality and not merely expressions of hope.…

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