December 5, 2017

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 12/5, after doing evaluations, we talked about the timing for Exam #2 on 12/14, which we decided would be from 12:15-1:30. We then talked about the VL case brief due Thursday, discussing which things are facts, and which are just conclusions. We then dove into the world of subject-matter jurisdiction. We differentiated the federal court view of subject-matter jurisdiction from that of Georgia and Maine. In the federal sphere, I talked about the case of Bowles v. Russell, and then we went over today's assigned case of Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services. In Maine, I talked about the Law Court case of Landmark Realty v. Leasure.
The assignment for Thursday 12/7 is to finish your VL case brief, due at the beginning of Thursday's class, and to read in the text pp. 129-136, including Swoboda v. Hero Decks.


POS 383 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
In class today, Tuesday 12/5, after doing evaluations, we went over the US Term Limits v. Thorton, and then Baker v. Carr. On Thursday, I will talk about the 2004 case of Vieth v. Jubelirer, which discussed the justiciability of partisan gerrymandering cases. Then we will discuss the current gerrymandering case of Gill v. Whitford.
The assignment for Thursday 12/7 is to read and listen to the oral argument (10/3) in Gill. You can either access them from supremecourt.gov at oral arguments, or at oyez.org/cases/2017/16-1161.