Posts for July 5, 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:
The biggest surprises of this term [Slate’s
“Supreme Court Breakfast Table, 7/3/15]: Now that the Supreme Court term has ended, there’s a natural
inclination to try to characterize it as a whole, or at least to view the
results of the past few months as a harbinger of important future trends. This
year, the consensus view appears to be that the court is unexpectedly leaning
to the left or, at a minimum, that the court proved itself to be wildly
unpredictable this term. Count me as a skeptic.
Lawrence Hurley on the Supreme Court
Term [C-SPAN’s
“Washington Journal,” 7/4/15]: Lawrence Hurley talked about Supreme Court
decisions in the 2014-15 term, and whether they signaled a shift; He also
previewed the 2015-16 term.
Why Obamacare’s Future is Secure [New Yorker, 7/3/15]: It hasn't
been quite as dramatic as Justice Owen Roberts's legendary 1937 'switch in time
that saved nine,' which flipped the Supreme Court from overturning New Deal
legislation to ruling its initiatives constitutional.
The New Divisions in the U.S.
Supreme Court [The
Atlantic, 7/4/15]: The justices this year seemed to be less likely to vote
along traditional partisan lines, but bitter battles over philosophical ideals
in recent decisions could be a sign of bigger wars to come next fall.
The
Supreme Court and the Politics of Fear [Linda Greenhouse in the NY
Times, 7/4/15]: “I
thought of Nixon last week as I watched the parade of Republican would-be
presidents outdoing one another in denouncing the “lawless” and “brazen”
Supreme Court. With its “hubris and thirst for power,” the court threatens “the
very foundations of our representative form of government,” the most Nixonian
of them all, Senator Ted Cruz of
Texas, warned.”
Poll:
Support grows for states to ignore federal courts [The Hill,
7/3/15]: More Americans believe
individual states should have a right to refuse federal court rulings, a new
poll says. The Rasmussen Reports survey
released Friday finds an increasing number of likely U.S. voters believe states
can disobey federal court rulings if their elected officials agree with them.
See the survey:
Your Questions About the Supreme
Court's Term, Answered [WSJ Law Blog, 7/1/15]: WSJ’s Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin answered
questions about the court’s just-finished term on Wednesday in a Facebook
Q&A.
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:
Abortion case: Texas leaders' underhanded tactics may face U.S. Supreme
Court scrutiny [Dallas M-N, 7/4/15]:
Politely, we could call it a ruse or a charade. But to put it in the plainest
possible terms: They’re lying. Texas public
officials have been lying, and now the U.S. Supreme Court may decide if their
lies amount to something unconstitutional.
The
American Presidency
[TOPIC 15]
The Thing President Obama Didn't Do
That Helped Bring About Marriage Equality [Slate, 7/3/15]: When the Supreme Court
handed down its decision in King
v. Burwell,
the health care case, last Thursday, there was no end of talk about how the
court had just cemented a critical part of President Barack Obama’s legacy. But
the health care decision wasn’t the only one that will rightly be considered an
important part of Obama’s legacy. The other is marriage equality—and not only
because of what the president did, but also because of what he didn’t do.
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:
Hispanic leaders want GOP
field to condemn Trump's 'idiocy' [AP
/ ABC News, 7/3/15]: Hispanic leaders
are bristling at the largely tepid response by Republican presidential
candidates to Donald Trump's characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists
and drug dealers.
Balz: Voters are shifting
to Democrats, flashing a warning for Republicans [Wash Post, 7/4/15]: The Gallup organization
reported its latest findings on party identification late last week, and the
report contained good news for the Democrats and a flashing yellow for
Republicans.
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
Amnesty International
Report on Police Use of Force [Jurist, 7/2/15]: Amnesty International last week harshly criticized the US
for not providing standards strictly limiting the use of lethal force by police
to those occasions when no other options are available and such force is
essential to save lives.
Federal Judge: My Drug War Sentences
Were 'Unfair and Disproportionate' [Atlantic, 6/29/15]: Nancy Gertner, who left the bench after
17 years, compares the damage caused by drug prohibition to the destruction of
cities in World War II.
You can view the
comments on You Tube at:
Try, Try Again: The most outrageous decision of this Supreme Court term [Slate,7/3/15]: Just before the Supreme Court closed out its term on Monday, it
condemned a man to death. Richard Jordan, who has been on Mississippi’s death
row for 38 years had asked the justices to reconsider an appeals
court’s ruling that blocked his access to the courts. Without explanation, they
declined. The justices’ refusal to
examine Jordan’s case clears the way for his execution. It may be remembered as
their most gallingly unjust decision this term.
Breyer, Ginsburg Surprise on Death
Penalty [Jost on
Justice, 7/5/15]: High drama came in the reading of the conflicting majority
and dissenting opinions in the recent Oklahoma case. And then came the genuine
surprise from the most senior liberal justices.
http://jostonjustice.blogspot.com/2015/07/breyer-ginsburg-surprise-on-death.html
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:
A Gay Couple's Love, in Life and Death,
Goes to the Supreme Court [NY Times, 7/5/15]: It’s easy to forget there are real
people behind Supreme Court rulings. Back when the court announced it would
hear six cases about same-sex marriage, I scrolled through the documents,
waiting for anything human to jump out at me. When I read that a funeral
director was a plaintiff in one, I thought, “That’s weird.”
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/a-gay-couples-love-in-life-and-death-goes-to-the-supreme-court/?_r=0
Colorado ballot measure seeks to limit gay
marriages as civil unions [Denver Post [7/4/15]: A proposed ballot initiative
filed Thursday would redefine same-sex marriages in Colorado as civil unions. A
second initiative would allow wedding-related businesses opposed to gay
marriage to hire a contractor to serve the couples.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28430496/colorado-ballot-measure-seeks-limit-gay-marriages-civil
Greenhut: High court
mulls future of forced dues [San
Diego U-T, 7/3/15]: California Republican officials are accustomed to having
their legislation killed, given their lack of clout in the Capitol. But the
recent derailment of six out of seven bills in their modest education-reform
package — and the seventh was gutted — speaks not just of their minority
status, but of the power of the state’s teachers’ unions.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/03/supreme-court-compulsory-union-dues-teachers-case/
US court: Unpaid
internships legal if they boost education [Jurist / CNS, 7/3/15]: The US Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit on Thursday ruled that
unpaid internships are legal when they are tied to the intern's education.
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/07/us-court-unpaid-internships-legal-if-they-boost-education.php
http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/02/fox-prevails-on-appeal-in-intern-class-action.htm
International Law, Citizenship and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]
A look at San Francisco's
status as a sanctuary city [SJ
Merc, 7/3/15]: What does it mean to be a sanctuary city? According to the
Federation for American Immigration Reform, sanctuary cities have policies in
place to "bar any local official, including law enforcement officials,
from asking people about their immigration status, reporting them to federal
immigration authorities, or otherwise cooperating with or assisting federal
immigration authorities."
A year on, children
caught on border struggle to stay, adapt [AP, 7/4/15]: At
1-year-old, a wide-eyed, restless Joshua Tinoco faces the prospect of
deportation to his native Honduras, one of tens of thousands of children who
arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border last year.
Nuclear negotiations with Iran move forward [Jurist, 7/4/15]: The proposed deal
would impose a decade of restrictions on the Iranian government and the Atomic Energy Organization of
Iran in exchange for the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and
Russia lifting imposed sanctions.
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