February 17, 2016

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Wednesday, 2/17, I distributed one handout, the Maine theft statutes that are involved in the Ayotte case. We then spent the entire class period going over the Ayotte case, in an attempt to clarify the post-conviction review process, and the issues that the Court dealt with. The assignment for Friday 2/19 is to continue working on the Ayotte case brief (due Wednesday 2/24) and to review the Obergefell handout and Lawrence v. Texas.


POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Wednesday, 2/17, I distributed three handouts: Assignment #1 (reproduced below); the Rodriguez opinion that you'll be outlining; and my version of the outline of Maryland v. King (DNA testing). We went over the requirements of the assignment, and the basic issue in Rodriguez. I then talked briefly about yesterday's opinion by a federal judge that ordered Apple to give investigators access to the encrypted i-phone used by the San Bernardino shooters. We then began talking about Maryland v. King, going back and forth between Kennedy's majority opinion and Scalia's dissent. We went over the flow chart of "reasonableness", and its relationship to a cost/benefit analysis. We talked about the state's interest in identification, both as presented by Kennedy, and as rebutted by Scalia. We got to Kennedy's comparison with fingerprinting, which is where we'll pick up on Friday. The assignment for Friday 2/19 is to read Rodriguez, read my Maryland v. King outline, and review Arizona v. Gant.

Assignment due Friday, February 26, 2016

The assignment is to do an outline of Rodriguez v. U.S. (also distributed to the class today). Outline both Ginsburg’s majority opinion, and Thomas’ opinion (just those two).

Follow the format from the Sample Outlines that I’ve distributed. Note that the basic format is Title (for the Roman numerals); and then Question and Answer for the other elements. For Ginsburg’s opinion, the only structure she provides is I. II, and III. So add sub-elements to the outline as necessary in order to cover the points raised by her (e.g. I (A) (1) (2) and (3)). Thomas provided I, II (A), (B),(C), III, and also needs sub-elements that should be added. How do you know when to add sub-elements? Ask yourself what questions the Justices are asking, and how they are answering them. For example, Ginsburg’s paragraphs 3-7 address one basic question --- what happened at the scene. Her paragraphs 8-11 address a different question --- what were the prior proceedings.
Do not outline the introductory section of the Opinions (before Roman Numeral I).

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 Friday 2/26, 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.

(The paragraph numbers on the left of the page are something I’ve added for ease of class discussion—they’re not part of the opinions.)