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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.

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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.

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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.

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Legal Standards Used to AnalyzeEqual 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, feeble-minded, 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.