Posts for July 1,, 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:
End of
an Era at the Supreme Court [Bloomberg View, 6/30/15]: The end of this term at the U.S.
Supreme Court felt like the culmination of an era -- or rather of two eras.
Periods in the history of the court tend to form in relation to the great,
defining political issues of the day, which eventually make their way to the
court in legal guise.
A court of one: Anthony Kennedy [LA Times / SF
Chron, 6/30/15]: Forget
the debate over whether the Supreme Court has taken a liberal
turn. It is not a liberal court or a conservative court. It's a Kennedy court.
On major constitutional and statutory questions, Justice Anthony
M. Kennedy’s views matter more than anything else.
How Liberals Pitched A Near-Perfect Game
This Supreme Court Term [ThinkProgress, 6/30/15]:
The Supreme Court’s more liberal members
did not have an absolutely perfect run in the Supreme Court term that concluded
on Monday. Indeed, the term closed with losses for the Environmental
Protection Agency and opponents of the death penalty,
both of which were decided in a partisan 5-4 vote. But, let’s face it, this was
the term where the Court’s conservatives appeared to lose their mojo.
Has the Court Turned Left? [David Cole in the NY Rev. of Books,
6/29/15]: An excellent summary of the past term. He concludes: “We cannot know
whether the Court’s liberal turn this term is an anomaly or an unconscious
attempt to mirror more closely the nation’s deepest commitments, rather than
the justices’ own conservative instincts. But two things are certain. The
term’s two most high-profile decisions would have been far more radical had
they come out the other way. And what will truly determine whether we get a
conservative or liberal Court in the future is who wins the next presidential
election and fills the Court’s next vacancies. Now more than ever, everything
hangs in that balance.”
A Fractious Majority [Slate, 6/30/15]: The Supreme
Court's conservatives increasingly disagree with one another.
Is the Supreme Court More Liberal
Than Obama? [Slate,
6/30/15]: One of the administration's closest allies was Clarence Thomas.
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:
Political Fate of
California Teachers Association Now Rests With High Court [KQED, 6/30/15]: For a union that has defeated
almost every challenger on the playing field of state politics for more than
two decades, the California Teachers Association’s most powerful opponent may
turn out to be what Justice Antonin Scalia recently described as “a committee
of nine unelected lawyers.”
Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)
Jerry Brown signs
California vaccine bill [SF
Chron, 6/30/15]: Gov. Jerry Brown on
Tuesday signed one of the strictest schoolchild vaccination laws in the
country, eliminating personal and religious belief exemptions for vaccines.
Resisting Vaccination Has
Long History [KQED, 6/30/15]: She says that the modern-day resistance
movement shares its roots and rhetoric with the social movements of the 1960s
and ’70s, including feminism, environmentalism and consumer rights. “They
encouraged people to question sources of authority, including doctors,” she
says.
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
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:
What the Supreme Court Should Have Said in the
Confederate Flag Texas License Plate
Case [Justia,
7/1/15]: Professor Amar discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision
in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., in
which the Court held that Texas could, consistent with the First Amendment,
reject a specialty license plate design application due to its prominent use of
the Confederate battle flag. Amar argues that the Court’s reasoning might lead
to problems in future disputes and offers a different rationale for reaching
the same result that would have avoided such problems
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:
Easy AA [Slate / NY Times, 6/29/15], The
Supreme Court might destroy affirmative action because this white woman's grades
weren't good enough.
Rhetoric
and Reason in Obergefell [Prwfs
Blawg, 6/28/15]: It’s
not the most important thing about Obergefell--or even the second most
important—but it’s noteworthy that rhetoric played a remarkably overt role in
the Court’s opinions, particularly in the sharp criticisms leveled by the
dissenting justices.
A few
words on Obergefell and the
countermajoritarian tendency [Volokh Conspiracy, 6/29/15]: “There’s a lot of pretty complex constitutional law in
play, and many prisms through which to view the case. But perhaps because
I’ve been re-rereading my Federalist Papers of late, in connection with some
Internet governance work I’m doing, it does seem to me that celebrations are
most definitely not called for, and that, like a lot of bad
constitutional law, this one will come back to bite us.”
Origin Story [Slate, 6/29/15]: How the 1942 case
of a one-footed chicken thief laid the foundation for marriage equality.
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