October 7, 2014

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 10/7, I distributed three handouts: the case brief assignment (copied below), the Johnson case that you'll be briefing, and some hypotheticals giving variations from the Speelman decision. I went over the requirements of the assignment, and also gave a brief introduction to the issues raised in Johnson. We then went back through Speelman, finishing up the issues that the Court addressed and how they were resolved. We also went over the hypotheticals, which were basically a way of testing the scope of the holding that we wrote in the Speelman case brief. On Thursday, we will begin by going over any questions that you have about the Johnson assignment. We will then take up the Katko case, previously assigned. The assignmnet for Thursday 10/9 is to review Katko, and to begin work on the Johnson case brief assignment.

Assignment due Thursday October 16th, 2014

The assignment (graded) is to do a Case Brief of the case of State v, Johnson, 2014 ME 83, _____ A.3d____.

Brief all of the issues that you determine that the Court ruled on. Remember that the purpose of the brief is to be useful. Check your holdings to make sure that they give the most useful rules possible. Mere conclusory facts just tell us who won and who lost, but not what circumstances determine the winner and loser.

Follow the format from the Sample Briefs that I’ve distributed. Note especially that, after the “Issue” is composed, the “Facts” 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 Thursday 10/16, 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. Do not show your work to anyone else; do not look at anyone else’s work.

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 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Tuesday 10/7, I distributed three handouts: my version of the Navarette outline, and two articles about current U.S. Supreme Court cases. I collected your Navarette outlines and we went over them. I plan to grade them and return them on Thursday. In our discussion, we also went over the levels of persuasion, from beyond a reasonable doubt all the way down to suspicionless, and we went over mental states of actions, from intent all the way down to strict liability. The assignment for Thursday 10/9 is to read the two handouts about current Supreme Court cases, and to read in the textbook through the Gant case (pp. 480-488).