January 29, 2019

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Tuesday 1/29, we finished putting the Doe case into English. We looked at the various issues decided by the Court, and we looked as well at how the Court suggested to DHHS (in footnote #9) how they should fix their problem. Along the way, we also discussed the concept of dictum. We began the process of putting the case into the format of the case brief template that I had distributed last Thursday, and got as far as the Plaintiff's Cause of Action. We will pick up with the Trial Court Defense on Thursday.
The assignment for Thursday 1/31 is to continue the process of putting Doe into the case brief format. Also, read in the text through p. 15.


POS 359 THE CURRENT SUPREME COURT TERM
In class today, Tuesday 1/29, I distributed one handout, the Ginsburg/Thomas concurrence in Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle in which they invited the issue was raised by Gamble. We started our journey through the Gamble oral argument. We talked about the original meaning "chain" tied to Chaiten in terms of the temptation to limit his argument to state/federal governments and thus avoiding foreign country complications. We looked at three types of questions asked during oral argument: hostile, lifeline, and actual questions. We got to Alito's question on p. 10, and I asked the class to think about the best answer to give to that question.
The assignment for Thursday 1/31 is to review the Gamble oral argument. Read it, and read it again. Look for how and where each piece of Chaiten's argument from his brief is attacked during the oral argument.