Posts for September 9, 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.

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:

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:

 

Republicans Swear This Shutdown Will Be Different [The Atlantic Wire, 9/9/15]:  Conservatives in Congress are mounting what will likely be a futile fight to defund Planned Parenthood, even if it means shutting down the entire federal government. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/conservatives-embark-on-another-futile-fight/404242/

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

 

The insane logic of sexting prosecutions [The Week, 9/9/15]: erica is notorious for its brutal treatment of minors in the criminal justice system. Who can forget Lionel Tate, the 13-year-old sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a 6-year-old when he was 12, with what he said were wrestling moves he'd seen on television? (Years later, his sentence was overturned on appeal, and he was released on parole.) New ground has recently been broken in the incarceration of American teens, however. Several children have been charged as adults for possessing child pornography — of themselves.

http://theweek.com/articles/575396/insane-logic-sexting-prosecutions

 

Is Southern California the New Deep South? [Slate, 9/8/15]: Los Angeles County has sentenced more people to death than five Southern states combined.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/09/southern_california_sentences_more_people_to_death_than_texas_georgia_south.html

After Aurora and Denver verdicts, Colorado mulls death penalty again [Denver Post, 9/8/15]: High-profile murder trials jump start death penalty debate in Colorado.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28766141/after-aurora-and-denver-verdicts-colorado-mulls-death

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:

Kentucky clerk who opposed gay marriages released from jail [Reuters, 9/8/15]: U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her release after six days in jail, saying she "shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/us-usa-gaymarriage-kentucky-idUSKCN0R81V420150908

 

International Law, Citizenship and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]

Mass Deportation May Sound Unlikely, But It’s Happened Before [KQED, 9/8/15]: During the 1930s and into the 1940s, up to 2 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were deported or expelled from cities and towns across the U.S. and shipped to Mexico. According to some estimates, more than half of these people were U.S. citizens, born in the United States. 

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/09/08/mass-deportation-may-sound-unlikely-but-its-happened-before