Cruzan v. Missouri Department of Health (1990) is an important United States Supreme Court case involving an incompetent young adult and the “right to die.” This case was the first "right to die" case heard by the Supreme Court. In...
constitutional law
CSS
Reno v. Catholic Social Services, Inc.(CSS) is a case from the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court where the Circuit court upheld an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulation that required illegal immigrants to obtain INS...
curtilage
Curtilage includes the area immediately surrounding a dwelling, and it counts as part of the home for many legal purposes, including searches and many self-defense laws. When considering whether something is in a dwelling's curtilage, courts...
custodial interrogation
Custodial interrogation refers to the questioning of a detained person by the police in connection with a criminal investigation. A person qualifies as detained not only when under arrest, but also whenever they are not free to leave for...
Department of Justice (DOJ)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is the federal executive agency charged with enforcing federal law. Also referred to as the Justice Department or the DOJ. Its mission statement is “to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United...
disturbance of the peace
Disturbance (or breach) of the peace is a generic term encompassing a variety of conduct that violates public order, disturbs the public, or incites violence, including any violation of any law enacted to preserve peace and good order. It is...
divestitive fact
A divestitive fact is a fact that causes the loss of previously held legal rights. As seen in Bailey v. Iowa Beef Processors Inc., divestitive facts are a type of operative facts.
[Last updated in September of 2022 by the Wex...
double jeopardy
The Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substantially the same crime. The relevant part of the Fifth Amendment states, "No person shall . . . be subject for the...
draft
Document Draft
Draft refers to an unfinalized document, which can arise in numerous contexts in the legal field. Often, contracts, motions, briefs, and pieces of legislation go through numerous drafts before agreeing upon a finalized...
due process
Introduction
The Constitution states only one command twice. The Fifth Amendment says to the federal government that no one shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in...