Study Bar Exam Constitutional and Criminal Law: 97 Flashcards on Scrutiny Tiers, Mens Rea and Defenses

Constitutional Law and Criminal Law are the two MBE subjects where the answer usually hinges on a single defined term: which tier of scrutiny applies, which level of mens rea the statute requires, whether the confinement involved movement. Bar Exam: Constitutional and Criminal Law (deck code OS0453, 97 cards) on Flip It is a definitions deck built for that — 36 cards of constitutional doctrine, 40 of substantive crimes and defenses, 15 of criminal procedure, and a handful about the exam itself.

Nine representative cards

Everything the 97 cards cover

• Structure and federalism: separation of powers, checks and balances, the Supremacy Clause (Article VI), the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8), the Tenth Amendment, judicial review via Marbury v. Madison.
• Rights and review: the Bill of Rights (1791), the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, incorporation, substantive and procedural due process, equal protection, strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, rational basis, content-based vs. content-neutral speech restrictions, Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses.
• Police practice: probable cause, search warrants, the exclusionary rule, Miranda warnings, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, right to counsel.
• Crimes: actus reus and mens rea, murder in the first and second degree, felony murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, assault, battery, robbery, burglary, larceny, embezzlement, false imprisonment, kidnapping, rape, arson, conspiracy, attempt, solicitation, accomplice liability, misdemeanor vs. felony.
• Defenses: self-defense, deadly force, the Castle Doctrine, defense of others, necessity, duress, insanity, M'Naghten, diminished capacity, voluntary and involuntary intoxication, entrapment, mistake of fact, mistake of law.
• Procedure: arrest, indictment vs. information, arraignment, plea bargains, discovery, beyond a reasonable doubt, voir dire, peremptory challenges, jury trial for crimes over six months, confrontation, hearsay.

Three drills specific to this deck

Use the amendment cards as an index into the doctrine cards. The deck covers the same ground twice on purpose: once amendment by amendment (What does the Fourth Amendment protect?) and once doctrine by doctrine (exclusionary rule, warrants, probable cause). Do not suspend the duplicates — instead, draw the amendment card first and try to list its doctrine cards from memory before checking. That is exactly the retrieval path an MBE fact pattern demands.

Supply the case names yourself. Marbury is the only case in 97 cards, yet MBE Constitutional Law questions are case holdings in disguise. Add one case per scrutiny tier and one per speech rule as you go. While you are editing: the deck has no cards on standing or justiciability, the dormant Commerce Clause, or state action — all heavily tested. Those four additions are the highest-value cards you can write.

Move the last two cards to the front. Cards 96 and 97 (Louisiana and Puerto Rico skip the NCBE exams; whether a law degree is required) belong with the four bar-exam orientation cards that open the deck. Card 96's front is also garbled — "What which US jurisdictions do not use NCBE exams?" — so fix the wording while you reorder.

Working through the same category? Pair this with Bar Exam Contracts and Torts for the other two MBE-heavy subjects, and Bar Exam Key Concepts for admission rules across jurisdictions.