November 14, 2019

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 11/14, we spent most of the class period clarifying aspects of the Betton case brief due next Thursday. We worked through all of the segments of the brief up to the Issues, Facts, and Holding. I also specified that if you are unable to come to class when the brief is due next Thursday, and you need to submit your brief to me by email, I want you to attach it as a pdf or a Word document, and not in Google docs.
We also went over the 2 bases of federal trial court jurisdiction (federal question and diversity) by way of explaining why Betton was eligible to be heard in the federal court system.
The assignment for Tuesday 11/19 is to continue work on your Betton case brief (due at the beginning of class on 11/21) and to review the textbook through NFIB v. Sebelius, previously assigned.


POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Thursday 11/14, we began with a little more inquiry into qualified immunity. We talked about the handout of recent Circuit Court cases that granted qualified immunity to police, even though there was a determination that the police had in fact used excessive force. I also discussed the recent case of Betton v. Belue, in which the 4th Circuit found both excessive force, and that the prohibition on the use of such force in those circumstances was clearly established. I also discussed the two bases of federal trial court jurisdiction, federal question and diversity. We then moved onto confessions. We walked through the 5 protections of the 5th Amendment, and then came back to the protection of against being compelled to be a witness against yourself in a criminal case. We saw how the interpretation of that protection was not limited to the actual text of the 5th Amendment, but was also not unlimited. We saw in Connelly how the exercise of free will was not the test for what is compelled, and we saw in Schmerber how simply forcing a suspect to give up incriminating evidence was also not the test.
The assignment for Tuesday 11/19 is to read in the text through p. 317, including Miranda and J.D.B.