Constitutional Rights and Privileges Worksheet

Instructions: To receive full credit for each question, provide a 100-200-word substantive response to each question.

You may work with other students. However, the answer you provide must be your own words/language. If it is found that students simply copy and paste each other's responses, those students will receive a ZERO for the assignment.

1) Federal law allows a district court to order the civil commitment of a mentally ill, sexuallydangerous federal prisoners beyond the date he/she would otherwise be released. 18 U. S. C. §4248.

A recent Supreme Court Case, United States v. Comstock, 560 U.S. 126 (2010), upheld the law as permissible under the necessary and proper clause of the U.S. Constitution, U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 18.

Look up and consider the necessary and proper clause of the U.S. Constitution U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 18. From reading this clause alone, do you believe that the indefinite confinement of sexually dangerous prisoners is necessary and proper?

2) In a dissenting opinion in the Comstock case, Justice Thomas of the Supreme Court wrote, "The fact that the federal government has the authority to imprison a person for the purpose of punishing him for a federal crime - sex-related or otherwise - does not provide the government with the additional power to exercise indefinite civil control over that person."

Only Justices Thomas and Scalia dissented in the Comstock case. With regard to Justice Thomas's quote, do you think that Justice Thomas was correct in his dissent?

3) Should DNA testing be provided for any type of criminal case? If not, which cases should be entitled to receive such testing?

4) Reflect on the limits of jailhouse searches.