September 19, 2019

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/19, I distributed 3 handouts: an article by Brittany Maynard about assisted suicide, the summary of the new Maine Death with Dignity statute, and an excerpt from the SCOTUS same-sex case of Obergefell v. Hodges regarding the recognition of fundamental rights. We began by going over the Maine sentencing statute, including statutory citation form. I talked about the due process clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments, and the rise of substantive due process. We worked together through the case brief for Glucksberg down to the "issue", which is where we'll pick up next Tuesday.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/24 is to figure out the rest of the Glucksberg case brief (not handed in or graded), and to read today's 3 handouts.



POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Thursday 9/19, I distributed 2 handouts: the 7th Circuit opinion in Whitaker, and the 2018 SCOTUS decision in Collins v. Virginia. We used the textbook's "You Decide" feature (p. 68) to discuss the Whitaker case, and examined the 7th Circuit's opinion that I handed out. We also went over the lines of authority in both the federal court system and the Maine court system, and differentiated mandatory authority from persuasive authority. We then went through the Kyllo decision, both majority and dissent.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/24 is to read the Whitaker decision, and read all of the Collins decision. In Collins, do an outline of the majority opinion (not handed in or graded, but do actually do it).