September 6, 2018

POS 384 CIVIL LIBERTIES
In class today, Thursday 9/6, we worked together in putting headings on the outline structure of Roberts' Trinity Lutheran opinion. (we got through III (B)). Along the way, we went over the order of the listed parties in the Supreme Court caption, the structure of the federal court system, the meaning of "play in the joints", and the relationship between the free exercise clause and the establishment clause. I talked about the Reynolds case (textbook, p.99), in which the Court said that "exercise" of religion protected a person's beliefs, but not their actual practices. Next week we will pick up by finishing the outline of the Roberts opinion, and we'll look in detail at the cases cited as precedent by Roberts.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/11 is to once again read the Trinity Lutheran handout, focusing on the cases cited by the Court and the parties. Also focus on how the three concurrences had different points of view from the Roberts group.

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/6, I distributed one handout, a template for the case briefs that the class will be doing. We started applying that template to the Heffron case, getting through the first of the three issues that Heffron raised on appeal. We went over proper citation form, the parties, the plaintiff's objective, cause of action, defendant's trial court defense, prior proceedings, present proceedings, appellant's contentions on appeal, and the three parts of the first issue. We will pick up next Tuesday with the second of the issues that the Court dealt with.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/11 is to re-read Heffron. Try working out the phrasing of the second and third issues that the Court addresses using the template and today's discussion for how to do it. This assignment is not to be handed in or graded, but I do want you to write it out for yourselves.