LLM Master of Laws: Law and Justice 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which right may NOT be derogated even during a public emergency?
- Freedom of assembly
- Right to a fair trial
- Prohibition on torture (Correct answer)
- Right to privacy
Correct answer: Prohibition on torture
Article 4 of the ICCPR lists non-derogable rights, including the absolute prohibition on torture under Article 7.
Question 2: In administrative law, the Chevron doctrine (as it existed pre-Loper Bright) required courts in step two to defer to an agency's interpretation if:
- The agency's interpretation was the only plausible reading
- Congress explicitly endorsed the agency's view
- The interpretation was a reasonable construction of an ambiguous statute (Correct answer)
- The agency had promulgated the rule through notice-and-comment rulemaking
Correct answer: The interpretation was a reasonable construction of an ambiguous statute
Chevron step two asked whether the agency's interpretation was a permissible, reasonable construction of the ambiguous statutory text.
Question 3: Which defense in criminal law argues that law enforcement officers induced an otherwise law-abiding person to commit a crime?
- Necessity
- Entrapment (Correct answer)
- Duress
- Mistake of fact
Correct answer: Entrapment
Entrapment occurs when government agents originate a criminal design and implant it in the mind of an innocent person.
Question 4: Ronald Dworkin's theory of law as integrity requires judges to:
- Apply only rules enacted by the legislature
- Interpret law as a coherent set of principles justifying past political decisions (Correct answer)
- Follow the original intent of the constitution's framers
- Defer to majoritarian democratic outcomes in all cases
Correct answer: Interpret law as a coherent set of principles justifying past political decisions
Law as integrity asks judges to find interpretations that best fit and justify the community's legal practice as a principled whole.
Question 5: Under US equal protection doctrine, which classification triggers strict scrutiny?
- Age
- Economic status
- Race (Correct answer)
- Disability
Correct answer: Race
Race is a suspect classification, requiring the government to show a compelling interest and narrowly tailored means to survive strict scrutiny.
Question 6: The doctrine of sovereign immunity in US law holds that the federal government cannot be sued without its consent. Which statute provides the primary waiver of that immunity for tort claims?
- Administrative Procedure Act
- Federal Tort Claims Act (Correct answer)
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Tucker Act
Correct answer: Federal Tort Claims Act
The Federal Tort Claims Act (1946) waives sovereign immunity and allows private suits against the US government for negligent acts of federal employees.
Question 7: Which principle of statutory interpretation instructs courts to construe penal statutes narrowly in favor of the defendant when ambiguous?
- Ejusdem generis
- Rule of lenity (Correct answer)
- Expressio unius
- Last antecedent rule
Correct answer: Rule of lenity
The rule of lenity requires courts to resolve genuine ambiguity in criminal statutes in favor of the accused to provide fair notice.
LLM Master of Laws: Law and Justice 5
Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which right may NOT be derogated even during a public emergency?