Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Posts for October 28, 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:

Justice Kennedy says officials must follow law or resign [SF Chron, 10/27/15]: The author of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide has a suggestion for Kim Davis and other county clerks who feel torn between their religious scruples and their duty to issue marriage licenses to all legally qualified couples: Follow the law or resign.

Justice Ginsburg's Warning To A Dysfunctional Nation [ThinkProgress, 10/28/15]: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been a national figure for at least half of her life. As founding director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, Ginsburg probably did more than any other litigator in the nation’s history to abolish sex discrimination and gender stereotyping.

Adam Liptak and Steven Mazie: The 10 Toughest Cases of the 2014-15 Term [Nat. Constitution Center, 10/28/15]: Streamed live on YouTube.


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:

Constitution Check: Is Obamacare headed for new trouble? [Constitution Daily / Jurist, 10/28/15]: Lyle Denniston, the National Constitution Center’s constitutional literacy adviser, looks at the two latest court challenges to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which involve two constitutional clauses.

Why Pro-Life and Pro-Animal Violence Are Immoral [Justia, 10/28/15]: Professor Colb discusses the moral status of perpetrating violence to express opposition to abortion and to animal killing and cruelty. 

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:

Money churns in Carson, Inc. [Politico, 10/27/15]: Ben Carson isn't paying senior adviser Mike Murray a salary. But the Republican presidential contender is pouring millions into companies connected to Murray, one of the dozens of operatives benefiting from a surge in grass-roots donations to Carson. 

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:

Smolla & Abrams to file First Amendment brief in Redskins trademark case [Concurring Opinions, 10/28/15]: The case is Pro-Football, Inc. v. Blackhorse, which is currently pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. As District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee described it in his opinion, this “case concerns Blackhorse Defendants’ petition to cancel the registration of six trademarks owned by PFI on the grounds that the marks consisted of matter that ‘may disparage’ a substantial composite of Native Americans and bring them into contempt or disrepute under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act at the time of their registrations (1967, 1974, 1978, and 1990).”
The District Court’s opinion can be found at:

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:

UT to Supreme Court: We Need Affirmative Action [Texas Tribune, 10/26/15]: The University of Texas at Austin needs to consider race in admissions if it wants a diverse, representative student body, the school told the U.S. Supreme Court 0n Monday in a 70-page brief filed in advance of oral arguments in the case Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin.

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


A Black Hole for Americans' Rights Abroad [Bloomberg View, 10/27/15]: Can an American detained and allegedly tortured by the FBI at black sites outside the U.S. sue for damages? A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said no last week, on the ground that the violations of the citizen’s rights took place abroad. 
Read the story about the decision at:
Read the decision in Meshal v. Higgenbotham at:


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