Posts for October 30, 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:
Judge:
Obama appointees bring no big shift to D.C. Circuit [Politico,
10/30/15]: President
Obama's installation of four new judges on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals over a period of less than a year hasn't resulted in a dramatic shift
in the outcome of cases, one of the new judges said Thursday night.
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:
Rising
tide of interstate battles could swamp Supreme Court
[Greenwire, 10/29/15]: Major
decisions about how U.S. water is allocated among states are increasingly being
made by nine lawyers who -- according to one of them -- "couldn't know
less about it."
King v. Burwell: ACA Destruction Denied, ACA Expansion Enabled [Jurist, 10/28/15]:
Professor Sanford discusses
the decisive impact of the most recent Supreme Court ACA decision on the
Marketplaces and also on state decisions regarding Medicaid expansion.
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:
Report: California, U.S.
candidates mostly white men [CC
Times, 10/29/15]: White men still dominate electoral politics in California,
though not by as wide a margin as the entire nation, a new report finds.
Trump? Carson? Rubio
steals the debate show [Politco,
10/28/15]: Donald Trump and Ben Carson may have stood at the center of the
stage at Wednesday's debate, but Marco Rubio stole the show.
GOP campaigns plot revolt
against RNC [Politico,
10/29/15]: Republican presidential campaigns are planning to gather in
Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening to plot how to alter their party’s messy
debate process — and how to remove power from the hands of the Republican
National Committee.
Special Interests Tighten Grip on
Judicial Elections [CNS,
10/30/15]: Spending by
special-interest groups in judicial races hit a record high last year,
accounting for 29 percent of all money spent, a new Brennan Center report
found.
Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)
Paul Ryan Elected House
Speaker [CNN,
10/28/15]: Rep. Paul
Ryan was officially elected as the 54th speaker of the House after he got the
votes of 236 members by the full House of Representatives.
Will the Committee on Benghazi Find a Sense of
Decency?
[Justia, 10/30/15]: John Dean
strongly critiques the House Select Committee on Benghazi for conducting itself
without decency or civility.
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
Eyewitness Testimony Is Unreliable… Or Is It? [The Marshall Project, 10/30/15]: A new study of the
data says it depends on timing.
Donorovich-Odonnell v. Harris [Cal. Appellate Blog, 10/29/15]: This blog about the
case is worth a mention as it details the difference between the criminality of
assisting in suicide and the act of suicide itself. Interesting.
What You Need to Know About the New Federal Prisoner
Release [The Marshall Project,
10/28/15]: Five reasons it is (and is not)
a big deal.
Deputy Fired for Incident with Teen in S.C. School [CNS, 10/28/15]: The
Columbia, S.C. sheriff's deputy caught on video as he three a high school
student to the ground and then dragged her across the floor and out of a
classroom has been fired.
Appeals court won't block last month of NSA phone
surveillance program [Politico,
10/29/15]: A federal appeals court panel that previously ruled the National
Security Agency's controversial phone-metadata program was illegal declined
Thursday to issue an order blocking the program in the remaining month before
it is slated to shut down.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/10/appeals-court-wont-block-last-month-of-nsa-phone-metadata-program-215344
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/10/appeals-court-wont-block-last-month-of-nsa-phone-metadata-program-215344
Class-Action Suit Against
San Francisco Seeks to End Use of Cash Bail System [KQED, 10/29/15]: A federal class-action
lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges San Francisco’s bail system is
unconstitutional.
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:
First Five: The 1st Amendment in the
21st century, banning panhandlers, Yik Yak, and Quentin Tarantino [Newseum, 10/29/15]: Scouring the
web for 1st Amendment news is our job. Enjoy First Five, your
regular dose of news.
Politics and perils of Muslim
bashing on the campaign trail [Newseum, 10/29/15]: According
to conventional presidential campaign wisdom, loose talk denigrating a
religious tradition practiced by millions of Americans would seriously damage –
if not sink – a candidate’s bid for the nomination of either major party.
Panhandling laws face challenge after
church signs ruling [AP, 10/30/15]: Cities trying to limit panhandling are facing a new
legal hurdle because of a recent Supreme Court ruling that seemingly has
nothing to do with asking for money. Federal judges in at least three states
have cited a June ruling by the high court on the size of church signs as a
reason for overturning anti-panhandling laws or sending cases disputing those
laws back to lower courts for review.
Anti-Muslim group wins appeal in Arab fest
case [Detroit News, 10/28/15]: Christian evangelists who were kicked out of an Arab-American
street festival in 2012 after carrying a pig's head and telling Dearborn
Muslims they would 'burn in hell' won their federal appeal Monday and will be
awarded damages.
No Right to Complain [Inside Higher Ed, 10/30/15]: A
federal appeals court on Thursday ruled, 2 to 1, that five psychologists who
wrote a memo criticizing the management of the counseling center at Georgia
State University lacked First Amendment protections in their grievance.
Read
the decision in Alves v. Board of Regents of the University of System of Georgia
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:
A 'Harry
Potter' Defense of Affirmative Action [Bloomberg View, 10/29/15]: The most important document in the
most important Supreme Court case of the year is the University of Texas’ brief arguing that it needs to use
affirmative action to achieve diversity in its undergraduate class.
Read the brief:
Federal Government Sides with Transgender Student in
Fight to Gain Equal Access to Restroom [EdLawProfs blog,
10/30/15]: In
September, a federal district court rejected the attempt of Gavin Grimm-a
transgender student-to gain access to the boy's restroom in his public school
in Gloucester County, Virginia.
International Law, Citizenship and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]
After
150 Years, the Chinook Indian Nation Still Fights for Federal Recognition [CNS, 10/29/15]: A
light breeze ruffled the dark hair of Chinook tribal member Roni Layman as she
pointed out the hilltop spot above the Pacific ocean where her ancestors once
lived in cedar longhouses. The spot, originally part of a vast network of
villages, has become ground zero for what the once-mighty Indian nation calls a
fight for its very existence.
How 4 Federal Lawyers
Paved the Way to Kill Osama bin Laden [NY Times,
10/28/15]: Weeks before President
Obama ordered the raid on Osama
bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers developed
rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but
inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture
him.
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