November 29, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 11/29, I distributed 2 handouts. One had excerpts from the Maine Tort Claims Act, which we reviewed when we discussed sovereign immunity. The
other handout, regarding the assignment due next Thursday 12/6 is included here. I went over a recent U.S. Supreme Court argument regarding the reach of the commerce clause to bar Maine's law regarding internet sales of tobacco to minors. We discussed the Kruckenberg and Solomon cases. On Tuesday 12/4 we will finish Chapter 6, and move onto Chapter 7. The assignment is to read and prepare to discuss Chapter 7,
as well as to work on the case brief assigned.

ASSIGNMENT FOR DECEMBER 6, 2007
The assignment for December 6 is to do a case brief of the case of Campbell Soup Company v. Wentz, page 293 of the text. I will collect the assignment at the beginning of class. Please make an extra copy of your brief so that we can still
discuss it after I’ve collected the brief.

Follow the format from the Sample Brief that I previously distributed. Note especially that the Facts, Issues, and Holding are copied and pasted. Whatever you
put into the Fact section should appear exactly in your Issue and
Holding sections as well. Your Issue and Holding sections should be
identical to each other, except that the issue is a question, and the Holding is the
answer to that question. Your briefs will be evaluated on the format, as well as the specific content.

You should work by yourself in doing this brief. This is not a collaborative assignment, and working with others, or copying or allowing the copying of work, will
be considered academic dishonesty.

If for any reason you cannot be in class on December 6th,
I still expect the case brief to be submitted on time. You can e-mail
it to me before class meets. I may still accept papers later than that,
but late papers will be reduced one letter grade. I have decided that I
will accept a maximum of one late paper from any student, so if you
have already handed any previous paper in late, you’ve used up your quota.

November 27, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 11/27, we continued our discussion in Chapter 6 of the text. We discussed the Padilla and Atkins cases. On Thursday 11/29 we will finish Chapter 6. I also will distribute a new casebrief assignment on Thursday.

November 20, 2007

POS 282 ---Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 11/20, I first handed back the Cody case briefs, and we went over in some detail what I was looking for for each segment of the brief. The class also voted to have the final written assignment be another case brief. In Chapter 6 of the text, I went over one Maine Supreme Court case regarding advisory opinions under the Maine Constitution, Opinion of the Justices of 4/16/2004. We discussed the Sullivan case on p. 232, and then I went over two 2007 U.S. Supreme Court cases regarding standing, Massachusetts v. EPA and Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation. The Maine case is available on the Maine Supreme Court website, and the 2 U.S. Supreme Court cases are available on the U.S. Supreme Court website. When we come back for the final three weeks of the semester on 11/27, we will resume our discussion of Chapter 6 picking up after the Sullivan case.

November 15, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 11/15, I collected the Cody case briefs, which I will return on Tuesday. We finished discussing Chapter 5 of the text. The assignment for Tuesday 11/20 is to read Chapter 6 of the text.

November 13, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 11/13, we went over the service of process case, Dorsey v. Gregg, and the Libby discovery sanctions case. We also went over the Maine Rule of Civil Procedure regarding service of process, and the rule regarding civil juries in Maine. The assignment for Thursday 11/15 is to finish the case brief of Cody v. Atkins that was assigned last Thursday, as well as reading and preparing to discuss the remainder of Chapter 5 of the text.

November 8, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 11/8,I distributed 2 handouts. One was the briefing assignment that will be due next Thursday, 11/15, and the other consisted of excerpts from the
Maine Rules of Civil Procedure and Maine Rules of Evidence that
corresponds with some of the textbook cases. I discussed the briefing
assignment of the Cody case on page 215 of the text, and went over the
key concepts of what I'll be looking for in the case brief. We then
went over the Land case at the end of chapter 4, and the Salmon case at
the beginning of Chapter 5. The assignment for Tuesday 11/13 is to read
and prepare to discuss the rest of chapter 5 (as well as starting work
on the case brief, so that you don't leave it for the last minute).

November 6, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 11/6, I began by discussing 2 cases, one from the Maine Supreme Court and a more recent one from the U.S. Supreme Court, that dealt with subject matter jurisdiction and claims-processing rules. In the textbook, we went over cases through the Gebbia v. WalMart case. On Thursday we will finish Chapter 4, and move right on to Chapter 5. The assignment for Thursday 11/8 is to read and prepare to discuss Chapter 5. Also on Thursday I plan to assign a paper that will be due the following Thursday, 11/15.

November 1, 2007

POS 282--Introduction to American Law

In class today Thursday, 11/1, I began with an explanation of the unique Maine court system. We started going through Chapter 4 of the text, discussing through the Bohlander case on page 162. The assignment for Tuesday 11/6 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 4.