Subject · tested on MBE and MEE
Constitutional Law on the bar exam
Structure first, then rights: justiciability, federal powers, federalism, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment.
- Pages
- 181
- Chapters
- 21
- Tested on
- MBE and MEE
- Single volume
- $29
What Constitutional Law covers
Constitutional Law splits cleanly in two: the structure of government and individual rights. Candidates who study rights first tend to struggle, because justiciability and federal power questions sit in front of most rights questions on the exam.
Almost every rights question resolves into a level of scrutiny. The examiners reward a candidate who names the correct tier, assigns the burden to the correct party, and then applies it — in that order.
What examiners test
- Standing, ripeness, and mootness decide many questions before any substantive right is reached.
- Commerce Clause, taxing, spending, and Section 5 questions require identifying the enumerated power at issue.
- Equal protection answers must state the classification, the tier of scrutiny, and who bears the burden.
- Free speech questions are forum-driven: content-based restrictions, public forums, and prior restraints each have their own test.
How to work through the subject
- Learn the three tiers of scrutiny as fill-in-the-blank sentences you can write from memory under time pressure.
- Build a one-page map of federal powers versus federalism limits before memorising individual cases.
- Practise writing the justiciability paragraph first in every essay; it is fast points.
Inside the Constitutional Law volume
181 pages across 21 chapters, organised in the order the law applies:
- Judicial review, standing, ripeness, and mootness
- Commerce, taxing, spending, and Section 5 powers
- Executive power and the Youngstown framework
- Preemption, anti-commandeering, dormant Commerce Clause
- Procedural and substantive due process
- Equal protection across all three tiers of scrutiny
- Free speech, forum analysis, and prior restraints
- Free Exercise, Establishment, and Second Amendment
Frequently asked questions
How much Constitutional Law is on the bar exam?
It is one of the seven MBE subjects, so roughly a seventh of the multiple-choice questions, and it is also a frequently tested essay subject.
Do I need to memorise case names?
Rarely. Frameworks matter far more than citations. A handful of frameworks carry case names because the test itself is named after the case, such as the Youngstown categories.