In 1996 and 1997, the Supreme Court declared five acts of Congress to be unconstitutional. An overview of these decisions is offered in this article. It opens with a discussion of those acts that violated the First Amendment. These decisions dealt with the constitutionality of Arizona's "official English" statute; the Communications…

The question of whether there should continue to be subsidy for magazines and newspapers through low second class postal rates (eliminated by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970) is examined in light of First Amendment objectives of an informed electorate. Judicial remedy is deemed unlikely and legislative reconsideration of such subsidy…

A libel suit for which the ruling hung on determination of the plaintiffs as public or private figures is described in this paper. First, the paper describes the case, in which an Oregon newspaper reported that an antique dealer and the local bank president had systematically swindled a citizen out of several hundred thousand dollars, and for…

The suggestion that Warren Burger's appointment to the Supreme Court was Richard Nixon's revenge upon the press is supported by some of Burger's judicial decisions and attitudes toward the press outside the courtroom, but not all of his decisions were against the news media. Burger's decision not to allow court clerks to speak to reporters, and…

Judicial activism raises the question whether the people, through their elected representatives, should make decisions about social policy issues or whether these decisions will be made by appointed members of the federal judiciary. Through a series of judicial decisions, many basic social problems have become nationalized. Yet the U.S.…

Although noting that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been a valuable ally of journalists, this paper suggests that recent efforts of the SEC in prosecuting the case of R. Foster Winans, Jr., a former writer for the "Wall Street Journal," may be unconstitutional. Following an introduction to the First Amendment issues…

The Supreme Court decision in the case of the Board of Education, Island Trees, New York, versus Steven A. Pico, addressed whether the First Amendment imposes limitations upon the exercise by a local school board of its discretion to remove library books from high school and junior high school libraries. Rejecting the recommendations of a…

Designed to help prepare the nation for a thoughtful observance of the Constitutional bicentennial, this publication contains seven essays on the topic of democracy and the Constitution. "Democracy and the Constitution" (Gordon S. Wood) looks at the popular and democratic rhetoric used to justify the federalist system in the late 1700's.…

Second in a three-part series designed to help prepare the nation for a thoughtful observance of the Constitutional bicentennial, this publication contains seven essays on the topic of capitalism and the Constitution. "American Democracy and the Acquisitive Spirit" (Marc F. Plattner) supports the argument that the framers of the…

Two 1973 Supreme Court rulings, "Miller v. California" and "Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton," consider the problem of obscenity in light of the First Amendment. Chief Justice Burger's stand, which represented that of a five-man majority, was based on the presumption that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment because…

This document presents the transcript of the September 18, 1980, oversight hearing of the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor regarding section 431 of the General Education Provisions Act, which gives Congress the authority to disapprove U.S. Department of Education…

In its 1942 ruling in the "Valentine vs. Christensen" case, the Supreme Court established the doctrine that commercial speech is not protected by the First Amendment. In 1975, in the "Bigelow vs. Virginia" case, the Supreme Court took a decisive step toward abrogating that doctrine, by ruling that advertising is not stripped of…

Issues discussed include the circumvention of the First Amendment's guarantee to free press and the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against improper search and seizure. (Author/MBR)

There are two points that a social scientist would ask jurists to consider before deciding how much further and in what direction to proceed: (1) social science is concerned with the prediction of future events, whereas the purpose of the law is to order them; (2) social science is rarely neutral. (Author/MC)

Aliens have considerable rights and benefits in the United States. They are entitled to the protections of the Constitution. However, the nature of the Constitutional protections may vary with the alien's status, as a permanent resident or as a temporary or irregular resident. (NQ)