February 7, 2014

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Friday 2/7, I distributed one handout, my version of the Perdomo case brief. We went over the remainder of that case, and noted especially the different nature of the "facts" for the 2nd issue than we had seen for the 1st issue. We then turned our attention to the assigned case, Johndro. I went over the proper citation for the case. We also discussed the 4th Amendment. On Monday we will discuss a few other aspects of Johndro that I think could use some explanation, and also discuss any questions that you might have about the briefing of the case. The additional assignment for Monday 2/10 is work on your Johndro brief, and to read and prepare to discuss through p. 36 of the text (Smith v. Idaho).


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Friday 2/7, I first talked about a recent Maine Bar Overseers opinion. That lawyer ethics opinion asked the state and federal authorities to look into the apparent violation by U.S. Cellular of federal law by providing to private litigants the contents of cell phone texts that the litigants had subpoenaed. We then plunged back into the Dennis case, going over Vinson's view of the clear and present danger test. We also looked at his treatment of the Learned Hand test. We then went over the concurrences and dissents in the case, including the concurrence by Jackson that the text did not give. I gave my view of the accuracy of the text's comments on the Dennis opinions. We began our discussion of the Brandenburg opinion, comparing the arguments of the parties to the precedents that we've studied. We will pick up on Monday with the text and test of Brandenburg. The assignment for Monday 2/10 is to read through p.229 of the text.


POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Friday 2/7, we went over some issues covered by the questioning in the beginning part of the McCullen oral argument. We looked at attack question, and at questions promoting a more robust defense. Along the way, we also discussed, in the context of proving "intent", the concepts of actus reus, mens rea, and strict liability. The assignment for Monday 2/10 is to finish work on the McCullen paper, due at the beginning of Monday's class.