POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/25, we finished going the Suggs case. and began our discussion in Chapter 2 of the Gregg case. I distributed the first homework assignment, due Tuesday October 7, and is copied below. On Tuesday September 30, the class will watch the first part of the PBS series about the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. The reading assignment for Thursday October 2 is to read through the Holland case which starts on p. 79 of the text.
POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW Sol Goldman September 25, 2008
Assignment due Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The assignment is to do a Case Brief of the case of Goss v. Lopez. The case can be found on the website of our textbook.
To access the case, go to
http://college.hmco.com/pic/schubert9e
select “student companion site”
select “general resources”
select “additional cases”
select “Chapter 1”
select “Goss v. Lopez”
The Brief should be in exactly the format used in the Sample Brief Template distributed in class, and the two Case Briefs distributed (Glucksberg and Klatko).
Please make two copies of your brief, one to hand in at the beginning of class, and the other for you to have during class for our discussion.
You may e-mail me if you have questions about the brief. The more time that I have to answer our questions, the more likely it is that i can be helpful.
If you cannot be in class on Tuesday 10/7, you should still e-mail me your brief by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the brief. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you. (Generally, I do not want to accept assignments after we have discussed them in class). See the Syllabus for the class rules regarding late papers.
IMPORTANT:If you e-mail your paper to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If I do not reply, then I have not received the assignment.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/25, we continued discussing the elements of defamation. I distributed the first homework assignment, due Thursday October 2, and which is copied below. On Tuesday September 30, the class will watch an interview of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee with PBS's Jim Lehrer.
CMJ 375 Assignment #1 Sol Goldman September 25, 2008
This assignment is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, October 2, 2008
First, read in the textbook through p. 148, and read the Connaughton case on p. 68 of the casebook.
Assume that you are the assistant editor for the Maine Campus newspaper. The editor has received a Letter to the Editor, and is wondering whether the paper can get in trouble for publishing this letter. Knowing of your keen interest in and understanding of the law of defamation, the editor has asked you to write him a memo regarding the question of whether publishing this letter appears to be defamatory. The editor knows almost nothing about the law, and so you are trying to explain to him the law involved, how it applies to this letter, and any recommendations that you have about how the paper should proceed.
You should first read the letter carefully, (ignore the fact that it was in fact published) and spot which exact parts of the letter might be most problematic regarding potential defamation.
You should then address each one of the six elements of the tort of defamation (as outlined on pages 113-114). Some of the elements won’t require more than a sentence; others will need more explanation.
Your memo has the task of explaining the law (like the Milkovich case) to your editor, and analyzing what legal questions would be asked, and your analysis of how they would be answered. You do this by comparing your situation with the situation of the case that you are explaining.
You should specifically address three thorny issues:
¶ defamation by implication,
¶ the practical standard for how “malice” is shown as discussed in the Connaughton case
¶ dealing with “opinion” as discussed in the Milkovich case.
In addition to comparing your facts to those of the cases in the text and casebook, and analyzing how the similarities and any differences would affect your potential liability, you should specifically give any recommendations that you might have regarding what work the paper might do before publishing the letter. (An example: “In this case, these were the words used. In our case, these are the words used. Our case has greater potential liability because...We could reduce our exposure by...as explained by this statement in this case.”).
You can assume that the officers in question are public figures--(University of Maine Police, unlike some campus security agencies, are empowered to make arrests without calling in the local police force). Assume that the officers would claim that the allegations and implications are false and that the officers are injured in their jobs and reputations by the letter. But also assume that the editor wants to publish controversial material, doesn’t want to just play it safe, and wants to go right up to the line of what’s permissible to publish.
If there are questions that you would need to find out the answers to in order to figure out if the paper would be on the hook, you should let the editor know what the question would be , and how the answer would affect your analysis of whether the letter is ok to publish.
Work by yourself (not collaboratively); use your own language ; use short quotations where appropriate, but just snippets-your editor has little patience for legalese; and write in good English (you are a reporter, after all). The memo should be about 2-3 pages long.
You may e-mail me if you have questions about the paper. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.
Since I will not be in class on Tuesday 9/30, I will post any general clarifications on the class blog (goldmanmaine.blogspot.com) and, Even if you have been in class, you should check the blog to see if there have been any such clarifications.
If you cannot be in class on Thursday 10/2, you should still e-mail me your paper by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the paper. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you.
IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your paper to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If I do not reply, then I have not received the assignment.
If you have not received a copy of the Letter to the Editor itself you should
1) go to http://www.mainecampus.com/ 2) click the link to “Back Issues” 3) click the link to February 7, 2008 4) Under “Soap Box” click the link to “Public safety officers risk loss of students' trust with secretive Facebook accounts”
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
September 23, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/23, we began by finishing up the Katko case with a discussion of how the dissenting opinion differed from the majority. We then looked at the Maine criminal statute regarding justification for using force to defend your place, or your possessions. We went through the beginning of a case brief of the Suggs case. On Thursday, we will finish our discussion of Suggs, and then go on to Chapter 2 of the text. The assignment for Thursday 9/25 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 79 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/23, we began by finishing up the four categories of personal injury liability, and discussed from the textbook the Hitman case, the two Soldier of Fortune cases, and the Planned Parenthood case. We went over the concept of jury nullification, and the concept of summary judgement. We began our discussion of defamation by seeing how that tort differed from other torts, and then discussed the New York Times v. Sullivan case that began the process of infusing 1st Amendment law into state law defamation cases.The assignment for Thursday 9/25 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 130 of the text, and to read the Milkovich case on p. 77 of the casebook.
In class today, Tuesday 9/23, we began by finishing up the Katko case with a discussion of how the dissenting opinion differed from the majority. We then looked at the Maine criminal statute regarding justification for using force to defend your place, or your possessions. We went through the beginning of a case brief of the Suggs case. On Thursday, we will finish our discussion of Suggs, and then go on to Chapter 2 of the text. The assignment for Thursday 9/25 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 79 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/23, we began by finishing up the four categories of personal injury liability, and discussed from the textbook the Hitman case, the two Soldier of Fortune cases, and the Planned Parenthood case. We went over the concept of jury nullification, and the concept of summary judgement. We began our discussion of defamation by seeing how that tort differed from other torts, and then discussed the New York Times v. Sullivan case that began the process of infusing 1st Amendment law into state law defamation cases.The assignment for Thursday 9/25 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 130 of the text, and to read the Milkovich case on p. 77 of the casebook.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
September 18, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/18, I distributed four handouts: a sample case brief template, sample briefs of the Glucksberg and Katko cases, and the Maine statute regarding protection of premises and possessions. We went over state court citation form, and discussed some more the concept of common law in the Katko case. We went over the different types of authority cited by the Katko Court in reaching its decision, and the procedural setting of the motions that were the exact subject of the Katko decision. We then spent most of the class going over the format for a case brief. The assignment for Tuesday September 23 is to read over the 4 handouts, and also read and prepare to discuss through page 76 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/18, we continued discussing the concepts of Chapter 3 of the text, but we did not finish that Chapter. We did discuss the Pentagon Papers case, the Progressive H-bomb case, and several of the Personal Injury cases from the text and the casebook. I went over one case that was not from the text, Orozco v. Dallas Morning News. We went over state court citation form. The assignment for Tuesday September 23 is to read and prepare to discuss through page 122 of the text, and the read the NY Times v. Sullivan case starting on p. 66 of the casebook.
In class today, Thursday 9/18, I distributed four handouts: a sample case brief template, sample briefs of the Glucksberg and Katko cases, and the Maine statute regarding protection of premises and possessions. We went over state court citation form, and discussed some more the concept of common law in the Katko case. We went over the different types of authority cited by the Katko Court in reaching its decision, and the procedural setting of the motions that were the exact subject of the Katko decision. We then spent most of the class going over the format for a case brief. The assignment for Tuesday September 23 is to read over the 4 handouts, and also read and prepare to discuss through page 76 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/18, we continued discussing the concepts of Chapter 3 of the text, but we did not finish that Chapter. We did discuss the Pentagon Papers case, the Progressive H-bomb case, and several of the Personal Injury cases from the text and the casebook. I went over one case that was not from the text, Orozco v. Dallas Morning News. We went over state court citation form. The assignment for Tuesday September 23 is to read and prepare to discuss through page 122 of the text, and the read the NY Times v. Sullivan case starting on p. 66 of the casebook.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
September 16, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/16, we began by going over possible Holdings in the Glucksberg case. We also discussed the ways in which Justice Souter differed from the majority opinion, (even though he eventually reached the same conclusion about Glucksberg losing). We went over the concepts of following or distinguishing a previous court ruling. We discussed the Connecticut sex offender registry case, as well as recent Maine court cases regarding ex post facto problems with our own sex offender registry law. The assignment for Thursday 9/18 is review the remainder of Chapter One of the text, and prepare for discussion (not handed in) holdings of both the Katko case on p. 47 and the Suggs case on p. 55.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/16, we began by going over the concept of "narrow tailoring" by discussing both the underinclusive and the overinclusive aspects of the state justification used in the Bellotti case (text, p.76). We went over how corporations have grown to dominate the American economy, and how the failure to disclose has had a part in the recent financial troubles in the mortgage industry and the wider financial services world. We also discussed the status of free speech for University of Maine activities funded by the student activity fund, and the Maine Campus newspaper. On Thursday we will begin by going over the Pentagon Papers case that had been previously assigned. The assignment for Thursday 9/18 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 3 of the text, and to read the Olivia case (p. 53 of the casebook) and the Winter case (p. 55 of the casebook).
In class today, Tuesday 9/16, we began by going over possible Holdings in the Glucksberg case. We also discussed the ways in which Justice Souter differed from the majority opinion, (even though he eventually reached the same conclusion about Glucksberg losing). We went over the concepts of following or distinguishing a previous court ruling. We discussed the Connecticut sex offender registry case, as well as recent Maine court cases regarding ex post facto problems with our own sex offender registry law. The assignment for Thursday 9/18 is review the remainder of Chapter One of the text, and prepare for discussion (not handed in) holdings of both the Katko case on p. 47 and the Suggs case on p. 55.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/16, we began by going over the concept of "narrow tailoring" by discussing both the underinclusive and the overinclusive aspects of the state justification used in the Bellotti case (text, p.76). We went over how corporations have grown to dominate the American economy, and how the failure to disclose has had a part in the recent financial troubles in the mortgage industry and the wider financial services world. We also discussed the status of free speech for University of Maine activities funded by the student activity fund, and the Maine Campus newspaper. On Thursday we will begin by going over the Pentagon Papers case that had been previously assigned. The assignment for Thursday 9/18 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 3 of the text, and to read the Olivia case (p. 53 of the casebook) and the Winter case (p. 55 of the casebook).
Thursday, September 11, 2008
September 11, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/11, we started with a discussion of the Sullivan case. We went over citation form for federal court decisions. We then turned to the Glucksberg case in the text regarding substantive due process. We will finish our discussion of Glucksberg (and the Glucksberg holdings) on Tuesday. The assignment for Tuesday 9/16 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 1 of the text. Also, in Glucksberg, prepare to discuss how Justice Souter's characterization of the individual right involved differs from that of Justice Rehnquist.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/11, we started with a discussion of the concept of prior restraint as it is used in copyright law. We then discussed other suspect restrictions, getting up through the different levels of scrutiny for different classifications of speech. The assignment for Tuesday 9/16 is to read and prepare to discuss through page 93 of the text, and also to read the Pentagon Papers case (New York Times v. U.S.) on page 40 of the casebook.
In class today, Thursday 9/11, we started with a discussion of the Sullivan case. We went over citation form for federal court decisions. We then turned to the Glucksberg case in the text regarding substantive due process. We will finish our discussion of Glucksberg (and the Glucksberg holdings) on Tuesday. The assignment for Tuesday 9/16 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 1 of the text. Also, in Glucksberg, prepare to discuss how Justice Souter's characterization of the individual right involved differs from that of Justice Rehnquist.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/11, we started with a discussion of the concept of prior restraint as it is used in copyright law. We then discussed other suspect restrictions, getting up through the different levels of scrutiny for different classifications of speech. The assignment for Tuesday 9/16 is to read and prepare to discuss through page 93 of the text, and also to read the Pentagon Papers case (New York Times v. U.S.) on page 40 of the casebook.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
September 9, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday, 9/9, we went over the AAC v. Dearborn case from the text, and my sample holdings for that case. We went over the Bangor Parade Ordinance in terms of how it might comply with the 6th Circuit's standards. On Thursday, 9/11, I will (finally) get to the Sullivan v. Augusta case. The assignment for Thursday 9/11 is to read through p. 42 of the text. Also, write out and prepare to discuss (though not hand in) sample holdings for the majority decision in the Glucksberg case. Follow the format of my sample holdings from the AAC case.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday, 9/9, we went over the Bartnicki case regarding disclosure of intercepted cell phone conversations. We then went over some of the free speech concepts and justifications from Chapter 2 of the text. We discussed the Near case from 1931, and its special category of prior restraint. The assignment for Thursday 9/11 is to read the remainder of Chapter 2 of the text. Also, read from the casebook the Tornillo case starting on p. 13.
In class today, Tuesday, 9/9, we went over the AAC v. Dearborn case from the text, and my sample holdings for that case. We went over the Bangor Parade Ordinance in terms of how it might comply with the 6th Circuit's standards. On Thursday, 9/11, I will (finally) get to the Sullivan v. Augusta case. The assignment for Thursday 9/11 is to read through p. 42 of the text. Also, write out and prepare to discuss (though not hand in) sample holdings for the majority decision in the Glucksberg case. Follow the format of my sample holdings from the AAC case.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday, 9/9, we went over the Bartnicki case regarding disclosure of intercepted cell phone conversations. We then went over some of the free speech concepts and justifications from Chapter 2 of the text. We discussed the Near case from 1931, and its special category of prior restraint. The assignment for Thursday 9/11 is to read the remainder of Chapter 2 of the text. Also, read from the casebook the Tornillo case starting on p. 13.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
September 4, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/4, I distributed three handouts, the Augusta parade ordinance, the Bangor parade ordinance, and some simplified sample holding for the AAC v. Dearborn case. We went over a number of concepts from the reading in the text, including the federal and state court systems,concurrent and exclusive jurisdiction, mandatory and persuasive authority, equitable remedies, and the idea of a cause of action. The assignment for Tuesday 9/9 is to read the three handouts, and to review the AAC case, comparing that ordinance with those of Bangor and Augusta.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/4, we went over a number of concepts from the reading in the text, including the federal and state court systems,concurrent and exclusive jurisdiction, mandatory and persuasive authority, equitable remedies, federal jurisdiction, the concept of common law, and the idea of a cause of action. I went over the facts of the Bartnicki case. The assignment for Tuesday 9/9 is to read through page 57 of the textbook, and to read the first case, Near v. Minnesota, on pp. 8-13 of the casebook.
In class today, Thursday 9/4, I distributed three handouts, the Augusta parade ordinance, the Bangor parade ordinance, and some simplified sample holding for the AAC v. Dearborn case. We went over a number of concepts from the reading in the text, including the federal and state court systems,concurrent and exclusive jurisdiction, mandatory and persuasive authority, equitable remedies, and the idea of a cause of action. The assignment for Tuesday 9/9 is to read the three handouts, and to review the AAC case, comparing that ordinance with those of Bangor and Augusta.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 9/4, we went over a number of concepts from the reading in the text, including the federal and state court systems,concurrent and exclusive jurisdiction, mandatory and persuasive authority, equitable remedies, federal jurisdiction, the concept of common law, and the idea of a cause of action. I went over the facts of the Bartnicki case. The assignment for Tuesday 9/9 is to read through page 57 of the textbook, and to read the first case, Near v. Minnesota, on pp. 8-13 of the casebook.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
September 2, 2008
POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/2, I distributed 2 handouts, the syllabus and a list of legal websites. After reviewing the syllabus, we started discussing the city of Augusta's parade permit ordinance. The assignment for Thursday, 9/4 is to read through page 28 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/2, I distributed 3 handouts, the syllabus, a sheet of federal and state laws regarding disclosure of intercepted cell phone and a list of legal websites. After reviewing the syllabus, we started discussing a hypothetical situation regarding the disclosure of an intercepted cell phone conversation. The assignment for Thursday, 9/4 is to read the first chapter of the text.
In class today, Tuesday 9/2, I distributed 2 handouts, the syllabus and a list of legal websites. After reviewing the syllabus, we started discussing the city of Augusta's parade permit ordinance. The assignment for Thursday, 9/4 is to read through page 28 of the text.
CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Tuesday 9/2, I distributed 3 handouts, the syllabus, a sheet of federal and state laws regarding disclosure of intercepted cell phone and a list of legal websites. After reviewing the syllabus, we started discussing a hypothetical situation regarding the disclosure of an intercepted cell phone conversation. The assignment for Thursday, 9/4 is to read the first chapter of the text.
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