October 9, 2014

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 10/9, I distributed two handouts: my version of the Katko case brief, and the Maine statute regarding use of force in defense of premises. We first went over aspects of the Johnson case brief, and I corrected my statement from last Tuesday (I had mistakenly said that there was a 4th Amendment issue raised by Johnson in the Maine Supreme Court). We discussed the search conducted by the police, and the claims made by Johnson. I went over a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court, that clarified the right under the U.S. Constitution (both 4th and 5th Amendments) for the police to demand that people identify themselves to the police. We then turned back to the textbook and the Katko case. We discussed the elements of the case brief, up to the Issues, which is where we'll pick up when we rejoin Katko. We also went over the secondary authority in the case versus the primary authority, and mandatory versus persuasive authority. There is no school next Tuesday 10/14. The assignment for Thursday 10/16 is to finish work on your Johnson case briefs, due at the beginning of class on Thursday, 10/16. In addition, review Katko, and read the Maine statutory handout. I also announced that the date for our first exam will be Thursday 10/23.


POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Thursday 10/9, I handed back the Navarette outlines, and we briefly discussed them. I also announced that the date for our first exam will be Thursday 10/23. We went over the two current Supreme Court cases about which I previously distributed handouts, Heien v. North Carolina and Rodriguez v. U.S.. As part of that discussion, we also discussed three levels of leeway given to the police: the existence of constitutional rights themselves; the use of the exclusionary rule; and the good faith immunity defense of police against suits alleging constitutional violations. We also talked about the idea of the "fruits of the poisonous tree". We then moved on to the Gant case from the text, getting up to Alito's dissent in the case, which is where we'll pick up when we next meet on Thursday 10/16. The assignment for Thursday 10/16 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 492 of the text (the Safford case) (there is no school next Tuesday 10/14).