October 1, 2012

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Monday 10/1, I distributed two handouts: my version of the Katko brief, and the Maine statute regarding use of force in defense of premises. We finished our discussion of Glucksberg, going over the concepts of following, distinguishing, or overruling precedent. We also went over Justice Souter's concurrence. We then started going over the Katko brief, getting as far as the first issue that the court dealt with, and along the way discussing citation form for state courts in the West publishing regional reporters. The assignment for Wednesday 10/3 is to read over the two handouts, asking yourself what the outcome in Maine would have been of a criminal trial of the Brineys.

POS 359 FEDERALISM
In class today, Monday 10/1, we finished going over the Comstock opinions from the text. Then we started on the Roberts Necessary and Proper discussion in the Obamacare decision. I gave some background in terms of the individual mandate, guaranteed issue, and community rating. We left off with the government's argument of how the mandate, if it's not authorized by the commerce clause, could still be authorized by the Necessary and Proper clause. We will finish up the Roberts opinion on Wednesday. The additional reading for Wednesday 10/3 is to read Justice Ginsburg's dissent on the Necessary and Proper issue, which can be found at pp. 31-36 of her opinion. Please bring both excerpts (Roberts and Ginsburg) with you to class.

POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Monday 10/1, we first celebrated the first day of the new Supreme Court term by going over some of the proceedings in the Court today. We then got back to work on Grutter, concluding our discussion of the O'Connor and Ginsburg opinions. We will continue with the remainder of the Grutter opinions on Wednesday. Review those opinions, and prepare to discuss them.