November 26, 2019

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 11/26, I handed back the Betton case briefs, and also handed out the Betton Comment Key. I made a few comments about the grading of the case briefs. We then started exploring the question of retroactivity. We went over why Miranda applied to the Butler case at all, even though the interrogation in Butler took place well before the Supreme Court decided Miranda. I discussed Johnson v. New Jersey, the 1966 Supreme Court case that decided the question of the retroactive application of Miranda. We went over Dempsey, and how the Montana Supreme Court made their own rule regarding retroactivity. Once we finished retroactivity, and we went over Strunk and the lack of precedent, I gave an introduction to our next subject of conflict of law rules. We discussed the relationship between personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, and conflict of law rules.
The assignment for Tuesday 12/3 is to read in the text pp. 113-116 (Hubbard v. Greeson) and pp. 144-146 (Land v. Yamaha).
Have a good Thanksgiving break.



POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Tuesday 11/26, we admired the technique of Detective Keegan in securing admissible confessions in all of these cases. We began by going over the Jones case, discussing "custody", consideration of age, and voluntariness. We then turned to Nightingale. We got up through the plurality and the Kennedy positions in terms of "Miranda in the middle", and we'll pick up next week with how the Maine Supreme Court decided what the holding of Seibert really was.
The assignment for Tuesday 12/3 is to review Nightingale, and review the previous assignment in the textbook. In addition, read the rest of Chapter 8 in the text, through p. 345 of the text.
Have a good Thanksgiving break.