September 16, 2010

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/16, I distributed one handout, the Maine statute regarding assisted suicide and the penalties for it, and we went over correct citation form for Maine statutes. I went over the history of the Maine referendum question regarding assisted suicide, and the new law in Washington. We discussed the policy and institutional power relationships involved in a federal constitutional challenge to such a state law. We then went into the exact issues raised by Chief Justice Rehnquist: whether the asserted right was "fundamental"; and (since the right to assisted suicide is not fundamental) whether the state ban on assisted suicide is rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest. We will pick up next Tuesday with a discussion of the treatment of precedent, and of how Justice Souter characterized the right asserted by the doctors. For next Tuesday, September 21, I have sent e-mails to the class changing the assignment from what I had assigned in class. Instead of reading to the end of Chapter 1, I want you to read the case of Lawrence v. Texas, pp. 82-88 of the text, and take a shot at writing out (not to hand in) the Issues as framed by Justice Kennedy (using our case brief format).