September 19, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 9/19, I distributed 3 handouts: my version of the Glucksberg case brief, an excerpt from Obergefell v. Hodges about fundamental rights, and an article by Brittany Maynard about her right to death with dignity. We went over the history of the due process clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments, and the concept of rights of the individual which the Court protects against intrusions by our elected representatives. We discussed federal court organization, including panel and en banc opinions by the Courts of Appeal. We looked at the flow chart that follows from the designation of an individual right as eith fundamental or not. We then did the Venn diagrams for the relationship between what goal the government wants to achieve versus the means adopted to reach that goal ("narrowly tailored" versus "rationally related"). We got as far in the Glucksberg case brief as discussing the concepts of the Issues raised by the opinion, but will pick up with how to put that in the format of the case brief.
On Thursday 9/21 the class will watch an episode from the PBS series, The Supreme Court (attendance will be taken). The assignment for next Tuesday 9/26 is to read the 3 handouts, review the Glucksberg case and case brief, and the read in the text through p. 38 (Speelman).


POS 383 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Tuesday 9/19, I distributed one handout, an edited version of a decision from last Friday about sanctuary cities and commandeering, Chicago v. Sessions. We finished our discussion of Christie II by going over three factors looked at by the majority (prohibition v. affirmative action; expenditure of resources; and non-coercive choice). The dissent added another factor, whether the federal government was telling the states how the states must conduct their own state affairs, versus telling the states how to regulate the citizens of the state. We looked at Reno v. Condon, which did seem to point to that factor raised by the Christie II dissent.
On Thursday 9/21 the class will watch an episode from the PBS series, The Supreme Court (attendance will be taken). The assignment for next Tuesday 9/26 is to review the previous handouts, and to read today's handout of Chicago v. Sessions.