Also known as: facial challenge · facial attack
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A descriptor used to define the period of nighttime for common-law burglary. Nighttime exists when natural light prevents a person from discerning another's facial features.
A descriptor used to define the period of nighttime for common-law burglary. Nighttime exists when natural light prevents a person from discerning another's facial features.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A challenge to a statute or regulation that attacks the provision as written rather than its enforcement in a particular instance. The attack succeeds only when the challenger shows the measure is invalid in all or substantially all of its applications.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A challenge to a statute or regulation that attacks the provision as written rather than its enforcement in a particular instance. The attack succeeds only when the challenger shows the measure is invalid in all or substantially all of its applications.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Freya Freeman entered a neighbor's home after dusk to retrieve stolen property. Natural light had faded so completely that no one could discern facial features outside. The court treated the entry as occurring at nighttime under the common-law definition and therefore sustained the burglary charge.
Nighttime exists when natural light is insufficient for a person to discern another's facial features. The test focuses on visibility rather than clock time or sunset. Entry during that period satisfies the nighttime element of burglary.
Supporting sources
Francisco Frost owned beachfront parcels rendered unusable by a new state coastal-protection statute. He sued claiming the statute effected a taking on its face because it denied all economically viable use. The court examined whether the regulation denied viable use in every application before assessing the facial takings claim.
Frostline Textiles funded an electioneering broadcast within the statutory window. The company brought a facial challenge to the corporate-expenditure ban. The court upheld the provision after determining it was not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad on its face.
Franklin Foundry produced a documentary critical of a candidate and sought to distribute it through video-on-demand. It mounted a facial challenge to the electioneering-communication prohibition. The court assessed whether the ban was invalid in all applications before rejecting the facial attack.
Felicity French, a physician facing prosecution, challenged the state abortion law on its face. She asserted standing to raise patients' rights and asked the court to declare the statute invalid in its entirety. The court addressed whether the law could survive a facial constitutional attack.
Fatima Flores was sentenced to death under Georgia procedures. She argued the system was facially arbitrary because of racial influences shown in statistical studies. The court first confirmed the statute's facial validity under prior precedent before turning to the application challenge.
The plaintiff must show the statute or regulation is invalid in all or substantially all of its applications. Isolated invalid applications do not suffice. Courts require proof of substantial overbreadth measured against the provision's legitimate sweep.
Supporting sources
A facial challenge attacks the statute or regulation as written and seeks to invalidate it in its entirety. An as-applied challenge contends only that the provision was enforced unconstitutionally against the particular plaintiff. The two theories require different showings and produce different remedies.
Supporting sources
…Hallford, who is under two pending prosecutions for violating the Texas abortion laws, has standing to challenge the facial validity of those laws. A physician who is faced with the risk of criminal prosecution for violation of a statute regulating the performance of abortions may assert his patients' rights as…