November 26, 2012

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today. Monday 11/26, I distributed two handouts: an addendum to Assignment #2 (copied below) and the Maine statutes regarding adoption and birth certificates. We went through the Finstuen case and I also talked about a more recent case that dealt with the same subject, Adar v. Smith. We began looking at the Maine adoption statute regarding adoption by unmarried couples. We will pick up with the Maine birth certificate statute on Wednesday. The assignment for Wednesday 11/28 is to work on the assigned case brief (as amended), read and prepare to discuss the Maine statute distributed today, and review the Cheap Escape case (previously assigned).


Assignment #2 Addendum

In the Quirion case brief, in the Issues, Facts, and Holding sections, I want you to include not only the Facts that support the winning side, but also those Facts that tell what the losing side’s Facts were. Do this with a parenthetical that starts the loser’s Facts with the phrase “even though…”

Here’s an example of the format that I’m asking for (as an Issue):

Under the rules for briefing cases in POS 282, [under what law]

does the Fact section have to include the losing side’s Facts [legal question]

when [transition to Facts]

the 11/26 Addendum made that format mandatory [key Facts for winning side]

(even though the original assignment said nothing about that requirement)? [losing side’s Facts]

Remember that the Legal Question is (usually) copied from the Appellant’s Contention, the Facts you’ve put into the Issue are copied and pasted into the Facts segment, and the Holding is copied and pasted from the Issue, simply changing the question into a statement.

POS 359 FEDERALISM
In class today. Monday 11/26, I first handed back the Commerce Clause papers, and we briefly went over them. I also distributed an article concerning the regulation of fracking. We then started our discussion of federalism and the economy, talking about the Robertson article. We went over the ways in which both corporations and individuals are dependent on government to provide a structure that enables there to be economic activity as we know it, as well as to mitigate some results of that economic system. The assignment for Wednesday 11/28 is to review the Robertson article, and also to read the fracking article.

POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Monday 11/26, we started going through the oral argument and systematically identifying the issues raised in that argument. We identified a dozen issues up through p. 16 of the argument. The assignment for Wednesday 11/26 is to continue going through the remainder of the oral argument and identifying the issues raised by the Justices and the advocates.