Posts for August 16, 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 (5^th ed.) student textbook.

Bay Area school districts scramble amid teacher shortage [SF Chron, 8/15/15]:  There are new computers in the classrooms, and the stockroom shelves are laden with books, boxes of pencils and stacks of paper, but many Bay Area schools will be missing a key part of the educational process when students start arriving this week: teachers.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Bay-Area-school-districts-scramble-amid-teacher-6446569.php?t=cb39a9ac8cf294ee0d&cmpid=twitter-premium

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

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Scalia? [Jost on Justice blog, 8/16/15]: Justice Scalia went so far in the final days of last term as to prompt about how to deal with the spotlight-grabbing behavior.

http://jostonjustice.blogspot.com/2015/08/how-do-you-solve-problem-like-scalia.html

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

Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)

Gas, tobacco taxes to be debated in California Legislature [CC Times, 8/15/15]: When lawmakers return from summer break on Monday, they'll have less than a month to solve two huge problems that have vexed the Legislature for decades -- fixing California's crumbling roads and paying for health care for the poor.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28647084/gas-tobacco-taxes-be-debated-california-legislature?source=rss

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

US government challenges Idaho ordinance that criminalizes sleeping in public by the homeless [Jurist, 8/15/15]: Last week the US Department of Justice challenged the constitutionality of a Boise, Idaho city ordinance that criminalizes sleeping in public places by the homeless. The federal government's argument relies on the fact that everyone needs to sleep and by criminalizing the act of sleeping the law criminalizes homelessness itself.

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/08/federal-government-challenges-idaho-law-for-criminalizing-homeless.php

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

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

Colorado appeals court rules religious beliefs not grounds for refusing service to same-sex couples [Jurist, 8/14/15]: The baker, Jack Phillips, refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, claiming that creating the cake would violate his rights to free speech and religious freedom. 

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/08/colorado-appeals-court-rules-that-baker-who-refused-gay-wedding-cake-cannot-cite-religious-beliefs--.php