November 16. 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 11/16, we began our study of Chapter 3 of the text by going over the difference between the power of state governments (the police power) versus the power of the federal Congress (the enumerated powers of Article I). We talked about the 9th and 10th Amendments, the 9th saying that the listing of rights in the Bill of Rights was not exclusive, and the 10th saying that the listing of the powers of Congress is exclusive. We went through the opinions in NFIB v. Sebelius, discussing Roberts' textual argument, his argument regarding precedent, and his argument regarding the nature of the federal power. We also looked at the Ginsburg dissent, and the "joint Dissent" (which didn't dissent). We then talked about federal supremacy, and I went over the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case of Rowe v. N. H. Motor Transport.
The assignment for Tuesday 11/21 is read in the text pp. 100-113, including the Butler, Dempsey, and Strunk cases.


POS 383 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Thursday 11/16, we began by going over Clinton v. Jones. We discussed, among other questions, the significance of the opening sentence of that opinion, which talked about actions by Clinton before his term began. I also talked about two current cases against President Trump, by Plaintiffs Zervos and Nwanguma, and how the Supreme Court cases instruct how those civil cases should proceed. Then we went over the Grossman case. I also talked about the pardon of Sheriff Arpaio, and discussed two ways in which lawyers are trying to distinguish the holding in Grossman.
The assignment for Tuesday 11/21 is to finish your PHH outline, due at the beginning of class on Tuesday. In addition read in the text pp. 303-316 (Korematsu and Youngstown).