MBE Tip of the Day: Constitutional Law
MBE Tip of the Day: Constitutional Law
Welcome to our MBE tip of the day series. This “MBE tip of the day” post focuses on constitutional law.
You will see 25 scored constitutional law MBE questions on the Multistate Bar Exam. In this post, we will review a constitutional law question together. Note that we have posted several MBE tips (which you can find links to at the bottom of this post) that focus on a specific multiple-choice question that many students answer incorrectly. If you can master these questions, it could increase your MBE score by that many points if you see any of these issues tested again (which, by the way, you will!). These posts of MBE tips and tricks will not only cover substantive law but also strategy. So each “MBE tip of the day” post covers one highly-tested area of substantive law as well as an important MBE strategy. You can sign up to receive these posts directly to your inbox for the upcoming administration at the bottom of this page.
MBE Tip of the Day: Constitutional Law
MBE Tip of the Day Instructions:
Do your best to answer this constitutional law MBE question (before even looking at the answer choices and before looking at the answer below!) Ask yourself: What is the subject? What is the legal issue, rule, and analysis? What is the conclusion? Try to answer these beginning questions before even reading the answer choices. Then, uncover the answer as well as read more about our MBE tip of the day.
Show the MBE Question...
Constitutional Law MBE Question
A woman, a resident of State A, recently entered into a contract with the government of State B to perform specialized services. The woman fully performed duties under the contract, but State B breached the contract. The woman wishes to sue State B to recover money damages from the breach.
Assuming that no relevant commentary regarding judicial review has been made by a state or Congress, which court(s) would have original jurisdiction over her claim?
(A) The state court only.
(B) The federal court only.
(C) The Supreme Court only.
(D) The state court and the federal court only.
Subject:
Legal Issue:
Legal Rule and Analysis:
Choose an answer choice that most closely matches your conclusion and explain why the others are incorrect:
Show the Answer to the MBE Question...
Answer to the Constitutional Law MBE Question
Subject: Constitutional Law
Legal Issue: Judicial review and original jurisdiction
Legal Rule and Analysis: There are constitutional limits on what kinds of claims between which parties can be brought in which courts. The 11th Amendment prohibits a private individual from suing a state for money damages or injunctive relief in federal court (unless there is consent by the state or by Congress). This is called sovereign immunity. The rationale behind this rule is that states should not have cases that involve the state decided by federal courts. The states can decide these issues.
Besides commenting on sovereign immunity, the Constitution also addresses the Supreme Court’s role in these cases. The Constitution grants original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court over any case that involves ambassadors, public ministers, consuls, or where the state is a party plaintiff against an alien citizen.
In this case, the woman wants to sue the state for breach of contract. This means that the state would be a party to the case. As such, federal courts would not have original jurisdiction over this type of claim. Rather, it is more appropriate for a state to hear the claim. Since the state is not a party plaintiff in this case, the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction would not apply here.
Conclusion: The state court only would have original jurisdiction over this claim.
Look at the answer choices provided. Choose an answer choice that matches your conclusion. Review the other answer choices provided.
The answer choice (A) is therefore correct. (B) is incorrect because it does not recognize that the concept of sovereign immunity would prevent this case from being heard in federal court. (C) is incorrect because it does not recognize that the state court would have original jurisdiction. Further, the state is not a party plaintiff, so the Supreme Court would not have original jurisdiction. (D) is incorrect for the same reason as (B). Sovereign immunity prevents a private individual from suing a state for money damages or injunctive relief in federal court.
MBE Tip: Experiment with how you read MBE questions. While we generally don’t advise students to ever read the answer choices before the fact pattern, some students do find it helpful to read the call of the question before the fact pattern, as you would for an essay question. We don’t always find that this saves time (starting from the beginning and reading straight through is usually most efficient), there are some questions where reading the fact pattern first sends your thought process in the opposite direction of what the call of the question ultimately asks. Thus, maybe you are a bar exam taker who would have more success with reading the call of the question first. Practice MBE questions both ways to see what works best for you!
Show Summary of the Two Key Takeaway Points for the Day
Key Takeaways and MBE Tips From Prior Posts
Takeaway for the Law: Sovereign immunity prevents a private individual from suing a state for money damages or injunctive relief in federal court (absent consent).
MBE Tip: Experiment with the two different approaches to reading MBE questions to find what works best for you!
If you would like to see “MBE tip of the day” posts from prior days, please check out all of our past MBE tip of the day archives here! We have several of them and we list them by subject!
Looking for additional MBE help? If you are looking for MBE help, read our 10 expert MBE tips here. Check out our step-by-step guide to improving your MBE score, please review this post for an overview of tips. If you would like to have the next MBE tip emailed to you when we come out with another one, please fill out the form below.
MBE Tip of the Day
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Other resources
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- Bar Exam Crash Course and Mini Outlines for a helpful overview of the Uniform Bar Exam components
- Real MBE questions —the best practice questions available!
- An MBE guide, which has a guaranteed 7-point score increase.
You can read more about our MBE services here.
Looking for MBE Help?
Free or discounted resources
- A five-star MBE course that provides you with the best instruction, outlines, and questions. Preview our course for free here!
- Free popular bar exam guides (an MBE guide, a guide on how to pass the bar exam, and a guide to hiring a bar exam tutor) written by bar exam experts!
- Our new Free Bar Exam Resource Center, which includes our most popular free guides, posts, webinars, and more!
- Free bar exam webinars taught by top bar exam experts
Other resources
Our most POPULAR and highly rated bar exam resources are:
- Our On Demand Bar Exam Course
- Our NEW MBE Mastery Class, which covers 35 recently released MBE questions in an engaging and helpful way to help you boost your MBE score!
- MBE private tutoring for those seeking one-on-one help to pass the MBE.
- Bar Exam Crash Course and Mini Outlines for a helpful overview of the Uniform Bar Exam components
- Real MBE questions —the best practice questions available!
- An MBE guide, which has a guaranteed 7-point score increase.
You can read more about our MBE services here.
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