January 18, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Wednesday 1/18, I distributed three handouts: the syllabus, the State v. Nunez opinion, and some questions to think about as you read Nunez. After going over the syllabus, we started a discussion of the Nunez case, and the probable cause requirement of the 4th Amendment. We discussed the Maine court system (our two trial courts, and the Maine Supreme Court); Maine citation form in terms of the order in which the parties are listed; the concept of a cause of action; and the concept of common law (law made by judges in the absence of enacted law). The assignment for Friday 1/20 is to read and re-read Nunez, using the questions handed out today as a guide to your reading.


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Wednesday 1/18, I distributed three handouts: the syllabus, and two articles about today's U.S. Supreme Court case of Lee v. Tam. After going over the syllabus, we discussed how civil liberties fits into other branches of constitutional law, such as criminal due process, federalism and separation of powers questions. We talked about government abridging freedom of speech and the Tam case of trademark and racial disparagement. We discussed two recent Supreme Court opinions on governmental speech, Pleasant City v. Summum and Walker v. Sons of Confederate Veterans. The assignment for Friday 1/20 is to read the two handouts on the Tam case, and then to read (and print off) the transcript of today's Supreme Court oral argument in Lee v. Tam. Go to supremecourt.gov, select oral argument, then argument transcripts, and then Lee v. Tam.