Sunday, July 12, 2015

Posts for July 12, 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:

Equal Constitutional Status [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 7/10/15]: “I want to pick up on a line of thought in the comment thread to one of my prior posts on separation of powers. What do we mean when we say that the three branches are equal?”

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:

Lochner won’t go away: The 110 year-old case that still inspires Supreme Court debates [George Will in the Wash Post, 7/11/15]: Today's most interesting debate about governance concerns a 110-year-old Supreme Court decision. Two participants in this debate are the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. The latter is trouncing the former.

The American Presidency [TOPIC 15]

Appeal for Obama's Immigration Reform Draws Massive Crowds [CNS, 7/10/15]: With occasional interruptions by protesters' cheers and the brass-band second line marching outside, the Fifth Circuit met today to consider President Barack Obama's program to defer the deportation of certain undocumented immigrants.

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:

Illegal immigration: Presidential candidates scramble to craft new messages [LA Daily News, 7/11/15]: To understand the challenge that both Democrats and Republicans face in appealing to the increasingly important Latino vote in the 2016 race for the White House, consider Jose Garcia. He wants Donald Trump to know he's dead wrong about Mexican immigrants bringing a wave of crime to the United States. 

Memo to Hillary: 'You're Still the Problem' [Nat Journ., 7/11/15]:  Old friends wonder what happened to the Clinton "we once knew."

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

 

Nine Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Parole [The Marshall Project, 7/10/15]: For example: Most states don’t require board members to have any experience with the criminal justice system.

 

Troubling Question: How Do Bill Cosby’s Attorneys Get Away With It? [Justia, 7/10/15]: John Dean laments the willingness—even enthusiasm—of Bill Cosby’s legal defense team to engage in ethically questionable tactics with respect to Cosby’s victims, including using the media to defame the victims.

https://verdict.justia.com/2015/07/10/troubling-question-how-do-bill-cosbys-attorneys-get-away-with-it

See also, “How to investigate parole records in your state,” [The Marshall Project, 7/10/15]: Help us localize your national story on parole.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/07/10/how-to-investigate-parole-release-rates-in-your-state

 

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:

Survey: Americans sya it’s OK to take down ‘that flag’ [Newseum, 7/9/15]: The Confederate battle flag is coming down in South Carolina, on store shelves and on license plates, and for most Americans, that’s just fine, even if we differ over its meaning. And therein is the real change. http://www.newseuminstitute.org/2015/07/09/survey-americans-say-its-ok-to-take-down-that-flag/

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:

School Pays Millions to End Anti-Semitism Suit [CNS, 7/10/15]: An upstate New York school district can resolve allegations that it tolerated a shocking climate of anti-Jewish hatred by paying $4.48 million to the victims and instituting sweeping reforms, a federal judge ruled.

Obergefell and Equal Marriage: A Few Points for a Long Debate [Jurist, 7/8/15]: The holding of Obergefell is very simple. Under the Constitution same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry as opposite-sex couples do. Nevertheless, the opinion of the court presents a lot of issues that will be open to discussion for a long time. I would like to comment on the most important topics that the decision presents.

http://jurist.org/forum/2015/07/Amaury-Reyes-Equal-Marriage.php

 

With Watered Down Analysis, Eleventh Circuit Holds Florida Can Evaluate Teachers Based on Their Students' Scores In Someone Else's Course [EdLaw Profs Blog, 7/10/15]: Earlier this week, in Cook v. Bennett, the Eleventh Circuit held that Florida's teacher evaluation system was constitutional.  Florida statute required schools to evaluate teachers based on their students' standardized test scores, relying on what is called a value added method of statistical analysis. 

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/education_law/2015/07/eleventh-circuit-upholds-florida-teacher-evaluation-system-waters-down-due-process-analysis.html




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