April 18, 2016

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Monday 4/18, I handed back the Warren case briefs, as well as the Comment Key. We then finished our discussion of Butler. We reviewed the fact that the way Miranda and Harris came out (statements excluded for the case in chief, but admissible for impeachment) made sense to none of the Justices who sat for both cases. I talked about the different varieties of dictum (facts not presented; even though...; even if...). We also discussed the policies behind the view that unMirandized statements should or should not be admissible for purposes of impeachment. We then went through the Dempsey case, and the question of retroactive v. prospective application of a new court decision. We reviewed the four U.S. Supreme Court cases (two civil and two criminal) regarding individual assessment v. automatic retroactive application. We talked about why Montana was free to decide this issue for itself (even though it had been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court), and what its decision was. I then talked to the class about Strunk v. Strunk (p. 110 - not a case that I had assigned) in which the Court was faced with the question of what to do when there was no precedent on which to rely. I then gave a brief introduction to the concept of conflict of law rules. The assignment for Wednesday 4/20 is to read pp. 113 - 116 (Hubbard v. Greeson) and also pp. 144 - 146 (Land v. Yamaha).


POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Monday 4/18, we went through the Powell case. We started with the textbook's description of the point at which the right to counsel attaches, and the exact issue with which the Court was presented in Powell. We looked at Alabama law regarding the appointment of counsel in capital cases. We examined what the court found to be the constitutional problems even though the defendants were represented at trial. We then looked at the dissent, which disagreed about the factual conclusions drawn by the Court, and the role of the federal courts and federal constitution into an area previously governed by the states. We then looked at the cases leading up to Gideon v. Wainwright. The assignment for Wednesday 4/20 is to read and prepare to discuss through p. 551 of the text. Also on Wednesday, I plan to distribute Assignment #2, which will be due 4/29.