a Congress on the Federal level and State Legislature obviously on the state Bul 3310 Exam 2 Study Guide Separation of Powers Check and Balances 1 Legislative Makes Laws level 2 Executive Enforces Administers laws a Governor and Administrative Agencies b Presidents 3 Judicial Interpret Laws a Courts Judges Trial courts Appellate courts Supreme Courts etc 4 All three have Distinct and Separate ports of the Government Co equal i a While supposedly have equal power the truth is that they have shifting power which means that their strength in power depends upon the situation b Legislative has tremendous power when passing the Budget for the other branches c Executive has large amounts of power when the President appoints certain positions within the other branches Judicial interprets the laws and has overall power within the courts d 5 Case Examples a US v Nixon 1974 i Watergate Scandal Nixon claimed he had executive order and could conceal personal evidence ii Courts said no and that he must release all necessary evidence regardless of position in government b Clinton v Jones 1997 i Sexual Harassment Clinton claimed that he did not have to proceed with trial while he was president and this remained true but others could continue with trial without him c Bush v Gore 2000 i FL messed up the vote count Go figure ii Supreme court decided to stop the recount and this ended up with Bush winning Supreme court essentially decided president Constitutional Judicial Review Deal w Judiciary 1 Determining whether laws actions violate the Constitution a State law violated US Constitution when the father requested to be excused from jury duty for fulfilling mother duties b Legislature fixed the law as it was unconstitutional 2 Interpreting determining the meaning of law Interstate Commerce 1 Commerce between two or more states 2 The Commerce Clause US Constitution Art 1 Sec 8 The Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign Nations and among the several states a If business between two or more states Congress regulates law Intrastate Commerce 1 Commerce within a state a Dealt with by the specific state legislature Cases Interstate vs Intrastate 2 Wickard v Filburn 1942 a Filburn farmer i FDR asked Congress to get economy back on track through agricultural means acreage ii Told farmers that they could only sell crop from a certain amount of iii Filburn claimed that since all of his operations too place in his state county and even farm that it was the duty of the state to regulate his decisions It was intrastate commerce iv DECISION Congress has power to regulate state or local activity if the authority substantially effects interstate commerce 3 Heart of Atlanta v U S and Katzenbach v McClung 1964 a Products of Civil right era i Public Accommodations 1 Motels Restaurants etc 2 Businesses of interstate commerce must desegregate ii Heart of Atlanta v US claimed that they performed intrastate commerce and did not have to abide by this law since all of their actions took place in GA Since they had customers from out of state though they lost iii Katzenbach v McClung claimed that they did all of their business locally and even their customers were locals It was found out that they imported their meats from Chicago so they too partook in interstate commerce Federal State Regulation of Commerce 1 Subject Matters Exclusively Federal limited to the federal government a Any attempted state regulation is unconstitutional under the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses i Examples Bankruptcy Printing Money Post Office Declaration of War and Establishment of Armed Forces 2 Subject Matters of Possible Dual Regulation a Subjects preempted exclusively by federal law i No state agencies to regulate certain things ii Any state law is unconstitutional under the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses b Subjects covered by federal law which do not preempt the field i State laws which are in irreconcilable conflict are unconstitutional 1 Garnishment 2 Federal law 3 Florida law Legal proceeding brought by a creditor in which a court orders an employer to pay a percentage of an employee s wages to a creditor on a periodic basis Garnishment mas 25 of wages cannot be 100 because of support obligations i e family self etc Garnishment is not permitted when an employee is head of the family with the exception of alimony and child support must be at least a family of 2 Irreconcilable would be if any states said something that directly broke the federal law Florida says the maximum is 45 which is in direct violation of Federal law 4 ii State law must not discriminate against interstate commerce in favor of intrastate commerce 1 Cannot make it harder to practice interstate commerce in order to better intrastate commerce iii State law must not impose an undue burden on interstate commerce 1 Example Train car length in different states caused trains to have to remove cars when crossing borders Extremely inconvenient so deemed unreasonable 3 Subject Matters Exclusively Local must be in effect a State Local regulation permitted subject to police power limitation all three i Law must relate to public health safety welfare or morals 1 Basically anything ii Law must not violate US Constitution i e equal protection segregation due process or commerce clauses iii Law must not be unreasonable or arbitrary 1 Interpretations subject to court determination 4 Commerce Clause and Taxation of Business by States a Nexus or Taxable Situs reguired i Nexus They benefit from tax services company pays taxes and those tax dollars or put towards something that directly effects them b Fair Appointment required i Only tax those revenues that are attributable to those taxes in their state Guidelines for Interpreting Constitutional Rights 1 Constitutional rights are not absolutes a Amendment 1 Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech i Still have laws that prohibit certain things that we can say 1 Yelling fire in a movie theatre is very illegal and if everyone rushes out and someone dies then you are at fault 2 Speech is punishable in that case 2 Constitutional issues involve weighing process between competing policies a Amendment 4 Unreasonable search and seizures vs FSU searching everyone leaving Strozier in case they are stealing b Must weight out what is best what is most efficient and effective 3 Constitutional rights are variable from time to time a Constitutional before may not be constitutional today 4 Constitutional rights
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