Posts for May 2, 2015
These are the posts that are accumulated in our
newsletter which goes out every 4-6 days during the school year. The posts are
organized by the major units in our Con Law (5th ed.) student 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:
Guerrilla
Warfare at the Supreme Court [Bloomberg, 5/2/15]: Is there a guerrilla war under way
against the death penalty? Justice Samuel Alito proposed the idea.
SCOTUS
chief justice is worried about eroding public faith in judges [“On the
Case,” 5/1/15]: Chief
Justice Roberts wrote the majority’s heartfelt opinion, which emphasized the
compelling public interest in preserving faith in the integrity of the
judiciary. The Supreme Court, quite controversially, has refused to permit
restrictions of the free speech rights of campaign contributors in its 2010 Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission and 2014 McCutcheon v. FEC
decisions.
Oral Argument as Performance Act [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 5/1/15]: “It seems to me… that in the high-profile cases where
same-day audio is being released, it is already the case” [that they have been
turned] into a performance rather than a genuine conversation.”
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:
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:
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:
Baltimore police officers
charged in Freddie Gray death [Jurist / CNS, 5/1/15]: The State’s Attorney for Baltimore
City on Friday charged six police
officers with crimes including murder and manslaughter over the death of
Baltimore resident Freddie Gray while he was in police custody. Baltimore state
attorney Marilyn Mosby filed
charges almost immediately upon receiving the medical examiner's report that
ruled Gray's death a homicide.
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:
Equality before the law: Showtime
for gay marriage [The
Economist, 5/2/15]: The Supreme Court ponders the biggest case of the decade.
Same-sex
marriage: Supreme Court Justices don't know much about history [LA Times, 4/29/15]: The most interesting, and
dispiriting, aspect of Tuesday's Supreme Court arguments on same-sex
marriage was the absence in the court chamber of any real understanding of
the history of marriage.
Supreme Court Clerk Remembers First Same-Sex Marriage
Case [WSJ, 5/1/15]: Michel LaFond, a law
clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, wrote memo dismissing 1972 petition.
Vergara update: State, teacher unions file briefs in tenure
ruling appeal [AP,
5/1/15]: Defense attorneys for California's powerful teachers unions say a
ruling in a landmark California teacher tenure case was flawed and should be
overturned because no evidence was presented showing the disputed statutes are
the cause of educational inequalities.
We hope that the briefs will
be shared at the Students Matter website:
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