February 12, 2015

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 2/12, we finished our discussion of Lawrence v. Texas. We went over the way do a brief of the case. We also discussed how Kennedy analyzed the right asserted, and the historical background, and finally whether the right asserted was "fundamental" or not. We talked about stages in law regarding homosexuals, looking at criminalization, then discrimination in employment and housing , and then same sex marriage. The assignment for Tuesday 2/17 is to read in the text pp. 33-38, and to do a case brief of the Speelman case (not handed in or graded).



POS 383 AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Thursday 2/12, I distributed three handouts: my version of the Printz outline, an article about Alabama's same-sex marriage situation, and Assignment #1 (reproduced below). We went over the requirements of the assignment. In the Alabama same-sex marriage case, we talked about the reasons given by Judge Moore for why Alabama judges should ignore the federal judge's order, and the way in which Judge Moore seems to be violating the U.S. Constitution. We started going through the Printz case and its outline, getting up to Scalia's argument about why New York is not distinguishable on the basis of basis of "policy-making" functions. We will pick up at that point on Tuesday. The assignment for Tuesday 2/17 is to read in the text South Dakota v. Dole (text pp. 539-543) and to begin work on your graded NFIB outline, assigned below.

ASSIGNMENT #1 due Thursday, February 19, 2015

The assignment is to do an outline of part of NFIB v. Sebelius. The case is found on pp. 543-550 of the text. I only want you to outline that part of the case dealing with Medicaid expansion. Thus, for Roberts’ opinion, start your outline at the top left of p. 546 (“The states also contend that the Medicaid expansion…”). Do all of Ginsburg’s opinion. And for the joint dissent, start at the bottom left of p. 549 (“We now consider respondents’ second challenge…”). Your outline should include all three opinions.

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.

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 2/19, 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. Do not show your paper to anyone. Do not look at anyone else’s paper. 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 you do not get a reply, then I have not received the assignment.