Constitutional Law Test Questions:

1. Constitutional Law Test Questions:

2. Assume Congress passes an Energy Conservation Act. The Act requires all users of energy in this country to reduce their consumption by a specified percentage, to be set by a presidential executive order. The Act sets forth specific standards the President must use in setting the percentage and detailed procedures to be followed. The provision that allows the President to set the exact percentage is probably: Constitutional, because it creates a limited administrative power to implement the statute. Constitutional, because inherent executive powers permit such actions even without statutory authorization. Unconstitutional as an undue delegation of legislative power to the executive. Unconstitutional, because it imposes a mandate on state government offices in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

3. Answer • A is the correct answer. Congress may delegate power to the executive branch as long as it does so with an intelligible standard. This is a low threshold that is easily satisfied by the fact that the Act set forth “specific standards” for the President. It therefore follows that C is incorrect. B is incorrect because the President does not have inherent power to establish environmental laws. D is incorrect because we have a generally applicable law.

4. President Obama has expressed a desire to negotiate a nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia. Assume he in fact reaches an agreement for both countries to reduce their nuclear arsenal by 50 percent, and the US immediately begins to dismantle half of its nuclear missiles, bombs, etc. Which of the following arguments provides the strongest support for the dismantling of the country’s nuclear arsenal? A. Congress authorized the President to negotiate such agreements in a statute passed during a previous presidential administration. B. Article II, Section 2 grants the President power to make treaties with other countries. C. We never ended our “Cold War” with the Russians, and the President, as Commander-in-Chief, is authorized to oversee the waging of that war. D. The President is the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations.

5. Answer • A is the best answer. Under Justice Jackson’s opinion in Youngstown Steel, the President’s foreign affairs power is at its greatest when it is supported by congressional authorization. B is incorrect because treaties need to be ratified by the Senate, and C is incorrect because the “Cold War” is not a real war declared by Congress. D is based on the Court’s language in Curtiss-Wright, but that language has limited force, and D is not as good an answer as A.

6. A statute authorizes the US Dept. of HHS to issue rules governing the distribution of federal grant funds for scientific research. The statute provides that, in issuing those rules, HHS must follow procedures and substantive standards contained in the statute. The statute also provides that any rules issued by HHS under authority delegated to it by the statute may be set aside by a majority vote of the House and Senate’s Joint Committee on Scientific Research. The provision of this statute relating to the power of the Joint Committee: Constitutional, because it is a necessary and proper means of ensuring that the rules issued by HHS are actually consistent with the will of Congress. Constitutional, because discretionary money grants authorized by statute are privileges, not rights, and, therefore, Congress has greater freedom to intervene in their administration than it has to intervene in the administration of regulatory laws. Unconstitutional, because it denies equal protection of the laws to members of Congress who are not appointed to the Joint Committee authorized to set aside the rules issued by HHS. Unconstitutional, because it authorizes a congressional change of legal rights and obligations by means other than those specified in the Constitution for the enactment of laws.

7. Answer • D is the correct answer. The authority granted the joint committee violates the principle established in Chadha. Thus A and B are incorrect. C is incorrect because members of Congress are not a suspect class and we would be in rational basis review. (The answer guide also points out that the equal protection clause only applies to states, but the question is a little misleading since it talks about equal protection of the laws and that is part of the fifth amendment’s due process clause.)