September 7, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/7, we finished our discussion of Blier by going over the case brief format for all of the segments of the brief. I talked about two additional aspects of Blier: the deference given by appellate courts to the findings of fact made by trial courts, and the use of authority by a court to demonstrate that's it's not just making up stuff. We went over some concepts from the assigned textbook reading, the most important of which was the concept of "common law" as law made by judges in the absence of enacted law. The additional concept that I wanted to discuss from the introductory sect was equitable versus legal remedies.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/12 is to read through p. 21 of the text. Write up a case brief of Miller (majority opinion) following the format of the case brief template and the Blier case (not handed in or graded).


POS 383 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/7, I distributed one handout, the en banc opinion of the Third Circuit in the Christie v. NCAA case. I went over some introductory material to the case, as well as going over the organization of the federal court system, and panel and en banc decisions of the courts of appeal. We then finished our discussion of New York v. U.S., trying to identify the exact line at which federal action becomes unconstitutional commandeering. We will pick up with the Printz case on Tuesday.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/12 is to review Printz (previously assigned) and read today's handout.