February 8, 2011

POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Tuesday 2/8, I returned the Snyder papers, and we discussed them. I told the class about the opening of the Graton Constitutional Law Essay contest, and we discussed the possible application to the WBC Epic. We went over the context of the Kentucky v.King case, and the kind of issues that are at stake in the case.
The assignment for Thursday 2/10 is to read the opinion of the Kentucky Supreme Court in the case of King v. Commonwealth of Kentucky (as the case was called in the Kentucky Supreme Court). Go to the Fogler library site
http://library.umaine.edu/
Select Indexes & Databases
In “databases a-z” go to “L” and select LexisNexis Academic
The dialogue box for “Easy Search” should appear. In “Look up a Legal Case” /”By Citation” enter the citation: 302 S.W. 3d 649
This should bring up the Opinion for you.
(Remember to use periods in “S.W.3d”)

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 2/8, I distributed three handouts: the comment key to the Lyman brief, my sample brief of the Glucksberg decision, and an alternate version of Glucksberg issues, together with the Maine statute regarding assisted suicide. I handed back the class's Lyman case briefs, and we went over my comments to the brief. We also discussed the difference between a subjective and an objective test (in determining whether the distress was so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it). We then got back to our discussion of Glucksberg. I went over the two bases of federal trial court jurisdiction. We got as far in Glucksberg as the ways in which the majority distinguished the Cruzan and Casey cases. We will continue with Glucksberg on Thursday. The additional reading for Thursday 2/10 is to read in the text pp. 82-88, Lawrence v. Texas.