October 19, 2012

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Friday 10/19, the class took Exam #1. I will return that test, and we will go over it, on Monday. The additional assignment for Monday 10/22 is to read pp. 65-70 of the text.

POS 359 FEDERALISM
In class today, Friday 10/19, we continued with our study of the Commerce Clause cases. We finished Knight, and the discussed Champion. We will continue with Hammer on Monday. The additional assignment for Monday 10/22 is to read and prepare to discuss pp. 295-306 of the text.

POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Friday 10/19, with continued with our discussion of the Fisher Respondent's Brief, and also discussed the Reply Brief. We talked about the insistence by Fisher that there be numerical goals for the University to set as end points, while the University said that such goals would themselves be unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the University said that it could use racial proportionality based on the state's population to decide whether there was an "under representation" problem (the start line) while Fisher said that use of such racial proportionality was itself unconstitutional. We also looked at how Fisher argued that the "infinitesimal" change created by the UT program demonstrated that it was not "necessary", while UT argued that the "modest" difference made by the racial factor was a demonstration of its constitutionality. We will continue with a discussion of how the two sides dealt with diversity within minorities on Monday. The additional reading for Monday 10/22 is to read the transcript of the oral argument in Fisher. To access the transcript, go to the Supreme Court site, select oral arguments / argument transcripts, and scroll down to 11-345, Fisher, 10/10/12. I also encourage you to listen to the oral argument audio.