September 26, 2013

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/26, I distributed one handout, the Maine statute criminalizing assisted suicide. We finished going over the Glucksberg case, covering the battles over the characterization of the right asserted, the historical record, the treatment of precedent, the legitimacy of the state's asserted interests, and Souter's concurrence. I also discussed the three basic institutional battlegrounds that we will regularly confront: individual rights versus government regulation, the separation of powers, and federalism. Finally, we went over proper citation form for statutes. The assignment for Tuesday October 1 is to read pp. 32-36 of the text, and to write up a practice case brief for yourselves of Smith v. Idaho (not handed in or graded).

POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
IN class today, Thursday 9/26, I distributed three handouts: my version of the outline of Alito's dissent in Jardines; Assignment #1 (reproduced below); and the case on which the assignment is based, Maryland v. King. If you were not in class and need the text of the case, it can be found at the website of the Supreme Court (supremecourt.gov); scroll down the list on the right to R-50, Md. v. King, 6/3/13. We began class by going over the requirements of the assignment, and the basic question posed by the King case (not whether there was a search, or whether the search fell within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement, but rather whether the warrantless search was reasonable). We then turned to the definition of probable caused in Illinois v. Gates, examining the decision first just in terms of how the Aguilar-Spinelli flow chart was changed, and then in terms of the power of the reviewing court to substitute its judgment on the existence of probable cause for that of the issuing magistrate. Finally we quickly reviewed some of the exceptions to the warrant requirement listed in the text. The assignment for Tuesday 10/1 is to begin work on the King outline.

Assignment due Thursday October 3, 2013

The assignment is to do an outline of Maryland v. King (distributed to the class 9/26).

Follow the format from the Sample Outlines that I’ve distributed. Your outlines will be evaluated on the format, as well as the specific content. Note that the basic format is Title (for the Roman numerals); and then Question and Answer for the other elements. Add elements to the outline as necessary in order to cover the points raised by the Justices and italicize those added elements. Outline both the majority and the dissenting opinions.

The assignment will be graded on both the structure and the content of your outline. The outline will also be graded on how well you write English, and how clearly you organize your thoughts. I like short clear sentences better than long complicated ones. I like correct grammar.

Please make two copies of your outline, 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 assignment. 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 Thursday 10/3, you should still e-mail me your assignment by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the outline. 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.

The work should be entirely your own, with no collaboration or plagiarism. See the syllabus regarding plagiarism and collaboration.


IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your assignment 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.