February 15, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Wednesday 2/15, I distributed one handout, some hypotheticals altering the facts of the Speelman case. We began today by going over the schedule before Spring Break (this being Week 5 of the 7 weeks before Break). I plan to give Exam #1 on Wednesday March 1, but I'm putting off the first graded case brief until after Spring Break. We went through the Obergefell excerpt that I handed out last week, comparing the Kennedy opinion with the Roberts dissent in terms of both the treatment of Glucksberg as precedent, and the deference owed to the legislative branches. We reviewed following, distinguishing, or overruling precedent. We then started through the Speelman case brief, getting to the first issue of whether the notice sent to Speelman's home was reasonably calculated to reach her. We will continue with the rest of the Speelman case on Friday.
The assignment for Friday 2/17 is to continue work on your Speelman case brief (not handed in or graded) and to prepare to discuss today's Speelman hypotheticals handout.


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Wednesday 2/15, we began by going over the schedule before Spring Break (this being Week 5 of the 7 weeks before Break). I plan to give Exam #1 on Wednesday March 1. Also on the schedule, Cas Mudde will be speaking to our class on Friday 2/17. He specializes in how liberal democracies can defend themselves against political extremism without undermining their own core values, which certainly fits right into our exploration of the rules of free speech. We then went over the remainder of the Chaplinsky case, examining how the categories of unprotected speech have altered shape since the opinion. We went through the Cohen case, looking at how Harlan rejected all of the state's arguments about why California should be able to criminalize the words on Cohen's jacket.
The plan for Friday 2/17 is to have Cas Mudde speak, but the next assignment is to read and outline for yourselves (not handed in or graded) the abortion protest case of McCullen v. Coakley (p. 241-247).