January 31, 2012

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 1/31, we continued with, and finished up, our discussion of the Glucksberg case. Along the way, we discussed such concepts as following v. distinguishing precedent, the judiciary deferring to the legislative branch, the levels of burden of proof (preponderance, clear and convincing, beyond a reasonable doubt) and the consequence of being a fundamental interest (narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling interest v. rationally related to a legitimate interest). The assignment for Thursday, 2/2 is to review the Smith case from the text and your case brief of that case (as previously assigned).

POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Tuesday 1/31, I distributed one handout, an article about a plan to reduce the current lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court to an 18 year term. We discussed the possible implications of the Hosanna-Tabor decision to the current controversy regarding the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers cover preventive care, versus the Catholic Church's opposition to providing coverage for contraception. We then began a discussion of the recent 4th Amendment case, U.S. v. Jones. The assignment for Thursday 2/2 is to finish your Hosanna-Tabor paper, which is due at the beginning of class on Thursday.