Publication Date
5-2000
Document Type
Casenote
Abstract
In City of Chicago v. Morales, the Supreme Court revisited the issue of the constitutionality of municipal and state loitering laws. In this case the Court was presented with a Chicago municipal ordinance that prohibited individuals from loitering with known gang members. The Court struck down the ordinance as overly vague under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It found that the law gave too much discretion to police officers charged with its enforcement and did not define its crucial terms specifically enough. The Court was closely divided, however, and both the concurring and dissenting Justices gave cities suggestions for altering their loitering ordinances to make them conform to constitutional requirements.
Recommended Citation
Farrar, Jerritt
(2000)
"Just Hangin' Around: Gangs and Due Process Vagueness in City of Chicago v. Morales,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 51:
No.
3, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol51/iss3/10