November 22, 2011

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 11/22, I distributed one handout, assignment #2, which is reproduced below, and which is due Thursday 12/1. We began our discussion by going over the Hubbard case, and the concept of common law choice of law rules. I added two Maine Supreme Court cases to the mix, Collins v. Trius and Flaherty v. Allstate Insurance. The case brief assignment regards choice of law rules in the context of a contract dispute. We then started our discussion of personal jurisdiction and full faith and credit by wading into the situation in the Karstetter case. We will continue with Karstetter when we reconvene after the Thanksgiving holiday. The assignment for Tuesday 11/29 is to read two additional cases in the text, Land, starting on p. 180, and Bohlander, starting on p. 162. In addition begin work on the case brief assignment.



Assignment due Thursday, December 1, 2011
The assignment (graded) is to do a Case Brief of the case of Schroeder v. Rynel,
1998 ME 259, 720 A2d. 1164. The case can be found on the website of the Maine Supreme Court.

To access the case, go to
http://www.courts.state.me.us/opinions_orders/supreme/publishedopinions.shtml

--scroll down to “1998 Opinions”

--select 1998 ME 259, Schroeder v. Rynel (12/9/98)
or you can go directly to http://www.maine.gov/COURTS/opinions_orders/supreme/opinions_1998.html

Brief all of the issues that you determine that the Court ruled on.

Follow the format from the Sample Briefs that I’ve distributed. Note especially that the Facts, Issues, and Holding are copied and pasted. Everything that you put into the Fact section should appear exactly in your Issue and Holding sections as well. Your Issue and Holding sections should be identical to each other, except that the issue is a question, and the Holding is the answer to that question. Your briefs will be evaluated on the format, as well as the specific content.

Please make two copies of your brief, one to hand in at the beginning of class, and the other for you to have during class for our discussion.

You may e-mail me if you have questions about the brief. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.

If you cannot be in class on Thursday 12/1, you should still e-mail me your brief by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the brief. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you. (Generally, I do not want to accept assignments after we have discussed them in class). See the Syllabus for the class rules regarding late papers. Remember to work by yourselves; do not collaborate.

IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your brief to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If I do not reply, then I have not received the assignment.


POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Tuesday 11/22, I handed back the Jones papers, and we briefly went over them. We started our discussion of MBZ v. Clinton, going over the Court of Appeals decision, and the two different ways in which the government can, and did, win the case. We went over four of the leading Supreme Court justiciability cases that were part of the Court of Appeals decision. We also discussed how to structure the remaining classes and assignments. Here's the plan we came up with: the assignment for Tuesday 11/29 is to read the Supreme Court oral argument in the case, as well as the "Summary of Argument" in both the Petitioner's and Respondent's briefs. We will go over that oral argument during Tuesday's class. Then on Thursday, 12/1, we will have our own oral argument ("The Return of Zivotofsky")in which some class members will get to grill others to defend their positions regarding how the case should be decided. The final paper, due the last day of class, will then basically be a "how would you decide the case" type of question, but informed by not only the Supreme Court's oral argument, but also the oral argument that we hold in class. Hopefully it will all work out, but I hope that you first work out a way to have a good Thanksgiving.