November 24, 2015

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 11/24, we first finished our discussion of Hubbard v. Greeson. We saw how the Indiana court changed its choice of law rules, and how that impacted Greeson's case. We then turned to how this issue is dealt with in federal courts, in Land v. Yamaha. We first talked about which cases can go into the federal trial courts (federal question jurisdiction and diversity jurisdiction). We talked about the Erie doctrine, and what law (including conflict of law rules) federal courts use in diversity cases. We went over Indiana's Statute of Repose, and contrasted it to a Statute of Limitations. We saw how allowing Indiana conflict of law rules to apply was a bad idea for Land, and how it was even worse to be in federal court than it would have been to be in the Indiana Supreme Court. Then I talked about a Maine case, Collins v. Trius, and how the Maine Supreme Court dealt with a choice of law question involving Canadian law. Finally. I gave an introduction to the concept of Full Faith and Credit. The assignment for Tuesday 12/1 is to finish Chapter 3 of the text (Finstuen v. Crutcher (through p. 122). Also on Tuesday 12/1, I plan to distribute the assignment for our second case brief, which will be due the last day of class (12/10). I hope that you have a happy Thanksgiving.


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Tuesday 11/24, I distributed one handout, an edited version of the cert petition (since granted) in the current Supreme Court Texas abortion case (Whole Women's Health v. Cole). If you weren't in class and want the petition, please email me. I went over the basics of the Texas law that's challenged in the case. We then finished our discussion of Roe v. Wade. We looked at the points of disagreement between Blackmun and Rehnquist. We examined the trimester scheme, and the point at which the state was found to have a compelling interest in both maternal health and the potential life of the fetus. We began our discussion of Casey, looking at how the 3 person joint opinion could become the law of the land. We will continue next Tuesday with the four opinions in the case, starting with the most pro-choice (Blackmun) and working our way to the most anti-choice (Scalia). The assignment for Tuesday 12/1 is to review Casey, and then read and prepare to discuss the cert petition distributed today. I hope that you have a happy Thanksgiving.