March 31, 2015

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 3/31, we first went over the Maine law regarding mandated reporting of child abuse. We then discussed the case of Glassford v. BrickKicker. Following that, I talked about two recent U.S. Supreme Court cases that involved arbitration clauses that barred class actions: AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, and American Express v. Italian Colors. The assignment for Thursday 4/2 is to read and prepare to discuss through the end of Chapter 2 of the text (including Caperton v. Massey Coal.


POS 383 AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Tuesday 3/31, I began with a case study of what happens when a chief executive decides that the law he is charged with faithfully executing is, in fact, unconstitutional. We looked at how that situation played out on one day in 2013, in the two cases of U.S. v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry. We went through the line-item veto case, Clinton v. N.Y. In terms of the Appointment power, I began with a history of the Saturday Night Massacre, and why Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. We then went through the majority decision in Morrison v. Olson, in which AAG Olson challenged the constitutionality of that Act. We left off at Scalia's dissent, which is where we'll pick up on Thursday. The additional assignment for Thursday 42 is to read through p. 227 of the text.