November 9. 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 11/9, I distributed one handout, an article about the recent Congressional decision to scuttle a rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That rule would have outlawed clauses in consumer agreements with banks which force the consumers into individual arbitration when there are disputes. We went through the Glassford v. BrickKicker case, and put it into the format of a case brief. I then talked about three recent U.S. Supreme Court cases involving mandatory arbitration clauses: AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion (2011); DirecTV v. Imburgia (2015); and Epic Systems v. Lewis (oral argument 10/2/2017).
The assignment for Tuesday 11/14 is to read the remainder of Chapter 2 of the text, including Caperton v. Massey Coal.


POS 383 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Thursday 11/9, I distributed two handouts: assignment #2 (reproduced below) and the case you'll be outlining, the first part of the panel decision of the D.C. Circuit in PHH v. CFPB. We went over the requirements of the assignment. We then went back and finished looking at the dissenting opinions in Myers. We went through the case of Humphrey's Executor and saw how the Court there distinguished Myers. I then discussed the 5-4 2010 Supreme Court opinion of Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Oversight Accounting Board, which distinguished Humphrey's Executor. We talked about both the treatment of the "for cause" removal protections of the Board, and the Appointment of the Board in the first place.

The assignment for Tuesday 11/14 is to begin work on your PHH outline, and to read in the text and prepare to discuss pp. 238-243 (U.S. v. Nixon) and 246-251 (Nixon v. Fitzgerald).

Assignment due Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The assignment is to do an outline of Judge Kavanaugh’s majority opinion in PHH v, CFPB (also distributed to the class today). The idea is both to show the organization of the opinion, as well as to translate the opinion into simple, clear English.

Follow the format from the Sample Outlines that I’ve distributed, with the following clarification: Use Question only for the Roman numerals, and then Question and Answer for all the other elements. Both the questions and the answers should be complete sentences.

The structure should go like this:
Roman numeral; Capital Letter; Numbers; Lower Case Letter.
For example:
I. (Question)
A. (Question and Answer)
1. (Question and Answer)
2. (Question and Answer)
a. (Question and Answer)
b. (Question and Answer)
B. (Question and Answer)
II. (Question)

If there’s a (1), there should be a (2). If you’ve only got one thing to say, just say it without the further division.

Here’s my suggestion for the best way to proceed: First, figure out what the thought is for each paragraph. Second, group the paragraphs together in terms of what question they are addressing. Last, put the actual questions in, with the roman numerals questions as the final thing. In other words, work from smallest to largest.

How do you know how the opinion is structured? Ask yourself what questions the Judge is asking, and how he is answering them. For example, paragraph 20 starts the discussion of a new question, a different question from what Kavanaugh had been addressing in paragraph 19.

The assignment will be graded on both the structure and the content of your outline. The outline will also be graded on how well you write English, and how clearly you organize your thoughts. I like short clear sentences better than long complicated ones. I like correct grammar.

Please make two copies of your outline, one to hand in at the beginning of class, and the other for you to have during class for our discussion.

You may e-mail me if you have specific questions about the assignment. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.

If you cannot be in class on Tuesday 11/21, you should still e-mail me your assignment by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the outline. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you. (Generally, I do not want to accept assignments after we have discussed them in class). See the Syllabus for the class rules regarding late papers.

The work should be entirely your own, with no collaboration or plagiarism. Do not show your paper to anyone. Do not look at anyone else’s paper. Do not do any outside research. Just work from the handout itself. Do not troll the internet. See the syllabus regarding plagiarism and collaboration.


IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your assignment to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If you do not get a reply, then I have not received the assignment.