April 24, 2012

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Tuesday 4/24, the class first completed the class evaluations. Then we picked up in Chapter 4 of the text. We went over Cheap Escape and subject matter jurisdiction, and then Robey v. Hinners and personal jurisdiction. I also discussed a Maine case, Connelly v. Doucette, about personal jurisdiction. The assignment for Thursday 4/26 is to read and prepare to discuss the remainder of Chapter 4.

POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today I talked about a recent 9th Circuit case challenging the constitutionality of some of Congress' restrictions on public television broadcasting; the recent Supreme Court decision defining the term "individual" under the 1991 federal Torture Victim Protection Act; the remaining issues under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute; and then we began our discussion of tomorrow's oral argument in the Arizona v. United States immigration law case. The assignment is to continue working on the ACA opinion that was previously assigned.