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Simple English definitions for legal terms

constitutional avoidance

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A quick definition of constitutional avoidance:

Constitutional avoidance is when the Supreme Court tries to avoid making decisions about the Constitution if they can. Instead, they try to solve cases using other laws. This means that if there are two ways to understand a law, and one way is clearly okay with the Constitution, while the other way might not be, the Supreme Court will choose the way that is okay with the Constitution. This is to avoid having to make hard decisions about the Constitution. For example, in one case, the Supreme Court said that a law that said people had to have a jury trial for breaking a court order only applied to criminal cases, not civil cases. This was because having a jury trial for civil cases might not be okay with the Constitution.

A more thorough explanation:

Constitutional avoidance is a legal principle that suggests that the Supreme Court should avoid ruling on constitutional issues if possible. Instead, they should try to resolve cases based on other grounds, such as statutory interpretation.

For example, if the Supreme Court is faced with two possible interpretations of a law, one of which is clearly constitutional and the other of which is questionable, the court will choose the interpretation that is constitutional to avoid having to make a difficult constitutional decision.

One example of constitutional avoidance is the case of Michaelson et al v. United States ex rel. Chicago. In this case, the court interpreted the Clayton Act's requirement of a jury trial for contempt of court charges to apply only to criminal contempt charges. This was because legislation mandating jury trials for civil contempt of court raises constitutional questions.

Another example of constitutional avoidance is the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate as a tax, rather than as a regulation of interstate commerce. This allowed the court to avoid ruling on the constitutionality of the individual mandate under the Commerce Clause.

These examples illustrate how the Supreme Court uses constitutional avoidance to avoid making difficult constitutional decisions. Instead, they try to resolve cases based on other grounds, such as statutory interpretation or tax law.

constitutional amendment | constitutional clauses

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texaslawhopefully
22:30
@KnowledgeableRitzyWasp: That all sounds great. It sounds like it has fairly diverse cuisine for a smaller city
yeah there are so many good cuisines in ithaca
renard99
22:31
@lilypadfrog: that’s a pity I’da be liking them all
texaslawhopefully
22:31
Only food I’m going to miss for sure if I leave Texas is texmex
22:31
waspy hasnt had thai food in ithaca yet. ithaca thai is so good
^^^^ truuuuuu
22:32
there are two major thai places and they have very similar names bc a divorced husband and wife own them lol
22:32
personally i think taste of thai is better than taste of thai express but thats just me
i had pho tho and it was really good and huge portions
texaslawhopefully
22:32
Glad they have good Thai food, I love Thai food! Can’t wait to visit :)
22:33
when tex goes to ithaca i want to come
Dkk
22:34
Crying Tiger, best Thai dish.
damn im so hungry all i had today was a curry tonkatsu and buldak
and it was a lil baby noodle cup
vvv hungry
22:36
curry tonkatsu so yummeh
22:36
whats even open rn? pizza?
CTB is it i think
22:37
is collegetown pizza not open
22:37
i used to get a slice from there or wings over at like 1am after my shift at the restaurant
Dkk
22:48
Ross Ulbricht free. God Bless Trump. Huge win.
JeremyFragrance
22:54
agreed
texaslawhopefully
22:55
This is an interesting read: https://thedispatch.com/article/birthright-citizenship-trump-implications/
Dkk
23:01
I mean, idk how it's possible to end birth right citizenship without amending the constitution because to me the 14th amendment is pretty clear about it.
ross ulbricht tried to hire a hitman to kill 5 people
i am not that sympathetic to him
Dkk
23:04
@KnowledgeableRitzyWasp: That might have been an FBI agent. It was most likely him and he was most likely doing it to retrieve stolen funds that corrupt FBI agents stole, but yeah moral gray area but me personally, cool with hitmen. It's not like it is uncommon to hire hitmen. I don't think the action itself is necessarily wrong but the intent behind it can be.
Dkk
23:05
Like, Boeing whistblowers being killed by hitmen = wrong but a guy hiring hitmen to retrieve stolen funds = good to me.
texaslawhopefully
23:05
@Dkk: Yeah, for sure. My guess is it'll go to SCOTUS and it'll be 8-1 or 7-2, saying that EO was unconstitutional.
Dkk
23:06
Indeed. I need a count for how many exectuive orders he has signed and how many already have pending lawsuits.
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