February 1, 2013

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Friday 2/1, I distributed two handouts: my version of the Glucksberg case brief, and Assignment #1, reproduced below. I discussed the assignment, going over the concepts involved in Miranda and in the Terry investigatory stop. I finished going over the opinions in the Brown v. EMA Supreme Court case. We began our discussion of the Glucksberg case brief, getting up to the Plaintiff's Cause of Action, which is where we'll pick up next Monday. The assignment for Monday 2/4 is to review the Glucksberg case brief, read and do a brief for yourself of the textbook case of Katko v. Briney, pp. 38-41, and begin work on the graded Prescott case brief


Assignment due Friday, February 8, 2013

The assignment (graded) is to do a Case Brief of the case of State v. Prescott, 2012 ME 96, 48 A3d. 218. The case can be found on the website of the Maine Supreme Court.

To access the case, go to
http://www.courts.state.me.us/opinions_orders/supreme/publishedopinions.shtml

--scroll down to “Previous years’ opinions”

--select 2012 ME 96, State of Maine v. Rachel Prescott, (7/17/12)

Brief all of the issues that you determine that the Court ruled on.

Follow the format from the Sample Briefs that I’ve distributed. Note especially that the Facts, Issues, and Holding are copied and pasted. Everything that you put into the Fact section should appear exactly in your Issue and Holding sections as well. Your Issue and Holding sections should be identical to each other, except that the issue is a question, and the Holding is the answer to that question. Your briefs will be evaluated on the format, as well as the specific content.

Please make two copies of your brief, one to hand in at the beginning of class, and the other for you to have during class for our discussion.

You may e-mail me if you have specific questions about the brief. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.

If you cannot be in class on Friday 2/8, you should still e-mail me your brief by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the brief. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you. (Generally, I do not want to accept assignments after we have discussed them in class). See the Syllabus for the class rules regarding late papers.

Remember to work by yourselves; do not collaborate.

IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your brief to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If I do not reply, then I have not received the assignment.


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Friday 2/1, we went over the Yoder case, and then Thomas (p. 112) and Lee (p. 113). We went over the conflict involved when an individual asserts that the government may not prohibit him or her from engaging in activity, and contrasted that with the conflicts involved in separation of powers questions, and federalism questions. We then went over the Smith majority opinion, in which we came to understand that we had failed to understand all along the correct question to be asking. We will continue with the concurring and dissenting Smith opinions on Monday. The additional assignment for Monday 2/4 is to read through p. 128 of the text.