April 19, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Wednesday 4/19, I first mentioned that I plan to spend some time on Friday going over any questions that the class might have about the case you're briefing, Gaeth v. Deacon, and so it would be helpful if you have read the case and started the process of briefing it. I went over a Maine case, Collins v. Trius, in which the Maine Supreme Court adopted the Restatement of Conflict of Laws in a case about a Canadian bus that has an accident on a Maine road. Back in the text, we reviewed how the Indiana court in Hubbard adopted a two-step process for its choice of law rule that wasn't exactly the same as the Restatement. We talked about federal subject matter jurisdiction, both federal question jurisdiction and diversity jurisdiction. We talked about the Erie doctrine, and how the federal court in diversity cases acts as a state court would in the state in which the federal court sits. And we talked about the two concepts of statutes of limitations versus statutes of repose. With all that preparation under our collective belt, we then went over Land v. Yamaha, and saw how bringing the case in Indiana had very bad consequences for the plaintiffs.
The assignment for Friday 4/21 is to continue work on your Gaeth case brief (due 4/28) and to read in the text Finstuen v. Crutcher (through the end of Chapter III).


POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Wednesday 4/19, we reviewed where Sherbert left a government that burdens religion (trying to jump over the high hurdles, is where), and also compared the Wisconsin law in Yoder with the Oregon law in Pierce v. Society of Sisters (p. 99). We went through Burger's opinion in Yoder, and saw how Wisconsin's compelling interest in having kids receive a basic level of education still wasn't enough to save the Wisconsin law. We talked about White's concurrence that emphasized that other religious practices of keeping kids from getting an education would not be protected (even though the Amish were protected in this case). We will pick up with Douglas' opinion when we return to Yoder.
The assignment for Friday 4/21 is to finish work on your WWH outline, due at the beginning of class on Friday 4/21, and also to review the textbook readings previously assigned, through Employment Div. v. Smith.