October 10, 2012

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today Wednesday 10/10, I first went over a few points regarding the Bragg brief. I discussed the question of when a suspect has freedom to leave, and also how to incorporate, in the case brief, the loser's facts into an "even though..." phrase. We then turned to the previous handout of the Maine statute regarding use of force to defend your premises, your home, or your stuff. We went over proper citation form for a statute, and then looked in some detail over what Maine allows for those situations. The assignment for Friday 10/12 is to finish the Bragg case brief which is due Friday, and also review the previously assigned Smith case (violent sexual predator).

POS 359 FEDERALISM
In class today, Wednesday 10/10, we continued with our discussion of Ginsburg's NFIB opinion. We went over Scalia's taxonomy of Necessary and Proper powers in Raich, and saw how Ginsburg fit one category of Scalia's structure into her NFIB argument. This enabled her to justify the individual mandate even if that mandate does not regulate economic activity. We will continue with her criticism of the Roberts NFIB opinion on Friday. The assignment for Friday 10/12 is to finish work on Assignment #1.

POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Wednesday 10/10, we first listened to a clip from c-span in which Adam Liptak, NY Times Supreme Court reporter, discussed the significance of today oral argument in Fisher. Of particular interest was his discussion of how the decision might reach private, as well as public universities, and how the decision might be either broadly or narrowly applicable. We then turned to Thomas' Grutter dissent, discussing the Introduction and Part I of the opinion. We will continue with the Thomas dissent, and then go on to the Fisher Petitioner's Brief, on Friday. The assignment for Friday 10/12 is to review the remainder of the Thomas Grutter dissent, and the Fisher Petitioner's Brief.