September 27, 2018

POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Thursday 9/27 we began by going over the aftermath of the Smith opinion: the federal RFRA imposing strict scrutiny, the Supreme Court striking down RFRA as it applies to the states, the Supreme Court oversight over what is "appropriate" legislation under the 14th amendment, and the passage of "mini-RFRA"s by some states.
I then gave some background on the history of gay rights cases in the Supreme Court, and Kennedy's role in them, including Romer v. Evans. I also went over the case of Newman v. Piggie Park, in which there was a parallel claim of religious objection to compliance with an anti-discrimination statute. I read an excerpt from the oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop in which Kennedy signaled his focus on hostility from the Civil Rights Commission.
We will begin our review of the outline of Kennedy's opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop on Tuesday.
The assignment for Tuesday 10/2 is to refine your outline of Kennedy's opinion, and to outline (not handed in or graded) all the concurring opinions distributed on Tuesday.


POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/27, I distributed one handout, my version of the Glucksberg case brief. We went through that case brief, and discussed the concept of fundamental rights, and low and high hurdles. I also talked about the Maine assisted suicide statute. We also went through Souter's concurrence in the judgment, in which he agreed with who wins the case, but not with Rehnquist's reasoning.
The assignment for Tuesday 10/2 is to read through p. 38 of the text. Do a case brief of the Speelman case (not handed in or graded).