10:832:356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution, Political Question, John Finn
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture #5: Public Health Duties and Powers: Federalism and Public Health
I. Legal Terms to Know
• Cause of Action- Fact or facts that give a person the right to sue.
• Certiorari- A discretionary device of the U.S. Supreme Court, used to choose which cases the
court wishes to hear. Without this writ, the case is not heard by the USSC.
• Codification- The process of arranging laws of a state or country; this is how common law
becomes state law.
• Common Law- Laws created by the usage and customs of a group of people; usually come
from Feudal systems; opposite of statutory law.
• Statutory Law- laws, created by a legislature; opposite of common law.
• Defendant- person being sued or criminally prosecuted.
•Dicta- expressions of the court that go beyond the ruling or judgement.
• Dissent- Disagreement with the majority decision.
• Holding- Legal principle decided by the case; opposite of dicta; refers to the ruling of the
court.
• Plaintiff- The person who is suing, who brings the action.
• Petitioner- The aggrieved party; party who brings suit.
• Respondent- Person against whom suit is brought.
II. Current United States Supreme Court Members
• Chief Justice John Roberts.
• Justice Anthony Kennedy.
• Justice Clarence Thomas.
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Justice Steven Breyer.
• Justice Samuel Alito.
• Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
• Justice Elena Kagan.
• Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.
• Example: 4,4 split and then a swing vote.
III. State Court Versus Federal Court
• State Court:
• Divorce and child custody matter.
• Probate and inheritance issues.
• Real estate questions, and juvenile matters.
• Most criminal cases, contract disputes, traffic violations, and personal injury cases.
• http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/UnderstandingtheFederalCourts/Jurisdiction.aspx.
• Federal Court:
• The constitutionality of a law.
• Cases involving the laws and treaties of the U.S.
• Ambassadors and public ministers.
Page !1
• Disputes between two or more states.
• Admiralty law.
• Bankruptcy cases.
• http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/UnderstandingtheFederalCourts/Jurisdiction.aspx.
IV. How are Cases Heard by the USSC?
• Case must be a matter of law, not a political question or a matter in equity.
• There must be a case.
• Example: Cannot bring up the controversy of abortion just because.
• MUST be a case or controversy- cannot decide matter of public concern or other issues on their
own
• Person bringing the suit MUST have standing (the legal ability to bring a case)
• Can be a case involving “diversity of citizenship” (from different states or territories
•http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/UnderstandingtheFederalCourts/Jurisdiction/
DifferencebetweenFederalAndStateCourts.aspx.
V. DeShaney Versus Winnebago: County Department of Social Services
• County Department of Social Services:
• 489 U.S. 189.
• Holding- There was no violation of the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause.
• Although the state cannot deprive an individual of life, liberty or property, without due
process of law, in the instant case, the state was not causing the deprivation. The
deprivation of rights was caused by Joshua’s father, who was not a state actor. The state
does NOT have the duty to prevent an individual from violating the rights of another.
• “Poor Joshua: Private Space and the Constitution” by John Finn:
• Poor Joshua! Victim of repeated attacks by an irresponsible, bullying, cowardly, and
intemperate father, and abandoned by respondents, who placed him in a dangerous
predicament and who knew or learned what was going on, and yet did essentially nothing
except as the Court revealing observes, ante at 193, “dutifully recorded these incidents in
[their] files.” It is a sad commentary upon American life, and constitutional principles- so
full of late of patriotic fervor and proud proclamations about “liberty and just for all,” that
this child, Joshua DeShaney, now is assigned to live out the remainder of his life
profoundly retarded. Joshua and his his mother, as petitioners here, deserve- but now are
denied by this Court- the opportunity to have facts . . .
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0h4eNk7yLw.
• Constitution should be applicable to not only state actors but also private actors.
• Threats to citizens usually come from private parties and corporations.
• Therefore, the constitution is irrelevant because the state is not usually “out to get you.”
• In Joshua’s case, the private party was his father.
• 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Relevant Sections):
• Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
Page !2
Document Summary
Page !1: disputes between two or more states, admiralty law, bankruptcy cases, http://www. uscourts. gov/federalcourts/understandingthefederalcourts/jurisdiction. aspx. The deprivation of rights was caused by joshua"s father, who was not a state actor. The state does not have the duty to prevent an individual from violating the rights of another: poor joshua: private space and the constitution by john finn, poor joshua! No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of. In 1982 authorities first learned petitioner might be a victim of child abuse when his second wife complained to police. The county department of social services (dss), respondents, interviewed the father, but he denied the accusations and dss did not pursue it further. In 1983 petitioner was admitted to a local hospital with multiple bruises and abrasions. The physician suspected child abuse and notified dss. Dss obtained an order placing joshua in the temporary custody of the hospital.
