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).