March 26, 2009

POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Thursday 3/26, I went over a Supreme Court decision from yesterday, Puckett v. U.S., which dealt with what happens when the government backs out of a plea agreement with a criminal defendant, but the defendant's attorney fails to properly object to the prosecutor's behavior. We also started a discussion of the recent FDA preemption case, Wyeth v. Levine, about a woman's efforts to recover damages after an improper shot led to amputation of her arm. On Tuesday, March 31, we will have a guest speaker in the class. She is Julie Saad of the federal Office of Personnel Management, and she'll be talking to our class about federal careers and internships. She'll be giving a large Universit-wide talk in Minsky Hall at 3:30 on Monday, but then she'll come talk just to our class on Tuesday morning. Also, your Caperton papers are due on Tuesday.

CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 3/26, we went over some more concepts of Chapter 6 of the text, as well as the Maine FOAA statute. I also talked about three Maine Supreme Court cases, Blethen v. Portland School Committee, Blethen v. State of Maine, and Gannett v. University of Maine. On Tuesday 3/31, we will have our second exam. It will cover all material from where we left off at the last exam up to the end of Chapter 6. Please remember to bring sharp #2 pencils.