September 5, 2019

POS 282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW
In class today, Thursday 9/5, I distributed one handout, the template for the case brief format that we'll be using. We went back to the Rutherford questions, and got through the concept of precedent. On the way there, we went over citation form a little more (both Maine and SCOTUS), the definition of hearsay, the role and discretion given to the trial court versus the role of the appellate court, missteps by the prosecution, and how the facts in Rutherford compared with those in the precedent cited by the Court. That is where we'll pick up next Tuesday.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/10 is to review and re-read Rutherford (over and over) and, using the Case Brief Template distributed today, try your hand at (not handed in or graded, but really try to produce) a case brief in the format given of Rutherford.




POS 484 CRIMINAL DUE PROCESS
In class today, Thursday 9/5, I distributed two handouts: an except from the Bangor rules regarding going through someone's garbage, and the SCOTUS opinions in Florida v. Jardines. I began by going through some of the concepts of Chapters 1 and 2 (that were not assigned): the organization of the federal and Maine court system; the concept of mandatory authority between the federal courts of appeal and the state supreme courts; the treatment of precedent in terms of following. distinguishing, or overruling precedent; the 14th Amendment's long strange journey; and the incorporation of the protections of due process as protections as against the states. We then began our discussion of what the term "search" means in Supreme Court precedent.We talked about Olmstead and Goldman from the text, and I also discussed Silverman v. U.S., the 1961 spike mike case. We then began our discussion of Katz v. U.S. We clarified that the first issue was whether there had been a "search" by the placement of the listening device. We saw how the police carefully structured their activities to come within the existing precedent, and then how the Court changed the question that defined whether there had been a search. We will pick up with the specifics of the the Katz test on Tuesday.
The assignment for Tuesday 9/10 is to review the previously assigned portion of the text (pp.48-67), and to read and consider the effect of the Bangor ordinance on the Greenwood analysis. In addition, as time permits, read the majority opinion in Jardines.