October 6, 2011

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 10/6, the class handed in the Price-Rite briefs, and we spent the class period going over them. I will hand them back when we next meet on Thursday 10/13. The assignment for Thursday 10/13 is to read in the text pp. 28-46. It would be helpful to you to prepare a brief (at least the issues) of the Glucksberg and Connecticut v. Doe cases (although nothing will be passed in or graded).

POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Thursday 10/6, the class first voted on which case which we should study for our first writing assignment. The winner was Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, which will be argued on Wednesday October 12. The assignment for our next class meeting on Thursday October 13 is to read the Petitioner's Brief in that case. The brief can be accessed by going to the Supreme Court website, selecting Merits Briefs, then on-line merits briefs, and then (once you're at the ABA site) selecting Florence either through the alphabetical listing of cases or going through the October cases.
For the remainder of the class we discussed the Douglas oral argument again. I suggested four categories of questions that the Justices were asking: questions about the institutional implications of a decision (separation of powers, federalism); the practical implications of a ruling; the conformity with precedent; and the scope of the rule that should be established.