Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Posts for March 18, 2015
These are the posts that are accumulated in our newsletter which goes out every 4-6 days. The posts are organized by the major units in our Con Law (5th ed.) textbook

I. Introduction to Law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court [See TOPICS 1-10 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

  

II. Defining the Political System: Federalism and Checks and Balances [See TOPICS 11-15 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

State approves sweeping restrictions on water use [SF Chron, 3/18/15]: California officials approved new water restrictions Tuesday, limiting households to just two days of outdoor watering in some parts of the state while requiring restaurants to serve water only upon request and hotels to get guest approval before washing the linens.
California Targets Wrong Water Wasters [East Bay Express, 3/18/15]: As the state's water supply plummets to scary levels, officials are going after people who overwater their lawns. That's a good idea. But they're not the worst culprits. 

The American Presidency [TOPIC 15]

Obama Can't Ignore Court on Obamacare [Bloomberg, 3/17/15: Could the Barack Obama administration really ignore an adverse Supreme Court judgment in the King v. Burwell health-care litigation, as a University of Chicago law professor has proposed? Of course not. 


  





III. The Political System: Voting and Campaigns [See TOPICS 16-20 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Freedberg: Schools have key role to play in youth voting [EdSource, 3/17/15]: In the shadows of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the appallingly low turnout of youth voters in last November’s elections should raise an alarm about the future of our democracy. 


IV. Criminal Law and Procedure (4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments) [See TOPICS 21-28 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:


Most death penalty sentences are overturned. Here's why that matters [“Money Cage” in Wash Post, 3/18/15]: If a person is given a death sentence, what is his or her chance of actually being executed? Based on a review of every death sentence in the United States since 1973, the beginning of the modern era of the death penalty, we have found that the most likely outcome isn’t being executed or even remaining on death row as an appeal makes its way through the courts. In fact, the most common circumstance is that the death sentence will be overturned. Here is why that matters.

V. 1st Amendment (Speech, Religion, Press and Assembly) [See TOPICS 29-33 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:


VI. 14th Amendment, Discrimination, Privacy, Working, Citizenship & Immigration [See TOPICS 34-41 in the 5th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Constitutional Challenge to Teacher Tenure Survives Motion to Dismiss in New York [EdLaw Profs Blog, 3/18/15]: Almost immediately after the trial court in Vergara v. State held that California's tenure and last-in-first-out statutes violated students right to education under the California Constitution, litigants filed a similar claim against New York, Davids v. New York.

“Right to Work” Battle May Be Coming to California [PERB Blog, 3/17/15]: The reality is that such legislation has no chance of being enacted in California any time soon. However, that doesn’t mean the “right to work” battle is a non-issue in California; to the contrary, I think it will be a significant issue in the coming years because of challenges spawned by the Harris v. Quinn decision.

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