February 5, 2016

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Friday 2/5, I distributed one handout, my version of the Miller v. Alabama case brief. We finished going over that brief, both its substance and its format. We talked about the issue not decided, whether the 8th Amendment requires a categorical bar on life without parole for juveniles. I went over the ultimate sentence for both Miller and Jackson. We discussed Breyer's concurring opinion, and started Roberts' dissenting opinion and his method of determining what is "unusual". On Monday we will finish the dissenting opinions, including the concept of the "evolving standards of decency". We'll look at the Maine sentencing statute. We'll also go over a recent U.S. Supreme Court case regarding retroactive application of the Miller decision. The assignment for Monday 2/8 is to review the remaining Miller opinions and the two handouts (Miller case brief and Maine statutes), and, in addition, read through p. 34 of the text (Washington v. Glucksberg).


POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Friday 2/5, I distributed one handout, my version of the Jones outline. I started with a brief discussion of the 1961 case of Silverman v. U.S., a case that illustrated the nature of the technical trespass rules against which Katz rebelled. We reviewed how Katz changed the definition of a "search" from the prior questions of physical intrusion on protected spaces to the reasonable expectation of privacy. We then looked at the three opinions in Jones, Scalia's, Sotomayor's and Alito's, and the unusual lineup of Justices. We went over the revival of the physical intrusion test by Scalia, the application of the privacy test by Alito, and Sotomayor's strategic decision to join Scalia. We looked at what constituted the "search" for Scalia, and for Alito. I started going over the points of Sotomayor's opinion that were not covered in the textbook, including the concepts of what we mean by privacy when we share otherwise secret information with entities like banks, phone companies and ISPs. We will pick up next week with more discussion of the definition of a "search" including the recent dog-sniff case of Florida v. Jardines. The assignment for Monday 2/8 is to review Jones, and today's handout, and, in addition, to read and outline (for yourselves) Illinois v. Gates (through p. 479 of the text).