March 17, 2014

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Monday 3/17, I returned the exams, and we went over them. I also distributed one handout, an article about the history of the Supreme Court's opinions in Furman, the case that preceded Gregg v. Georgia. After we went over the exams, we talked about the idea of morality and law, and we briefly discussed capital punishment in Maine and in the rest of the Western world. We will begin our discussion of Furman (the article I distributed) and Gregg (textbook) on Wednesday. The assignment for Wednesday 3/19 is to review Gregg (previously assigned) and to read the article I handed out today.


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Monday 3/17, I returned the exams, and we went over them. I then introduced the discussion about hate speech by looking at the 1952 case of Beauharnais v. Illinois, which sustained the Illinois hate speech law against a free speech attack. The assignment for Wednesday 3/19 is to review the R.A.V. case, previously assigned.


POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today. Monday 3/17, I first reminded the class of the Lozano assignment, due this Friday 3/21. I then discussed the current establishment clause case of Town of Greece v. Galloway. We first went over the 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, and the the 1983 case of Marsh v. Chambers. We talked about some potential differences between the state legislature in Marsh and the city council meeting in Town of Greece. The assignment for Wednesday 3/19 is to continue work on your Lozano paper, previously assigned.