Sunday, November 8, 2015

Posts for November 8, 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.

Why some LAUSD teachers are balking at a new approach to discipline problems [LA Times, 11/7/15]: In a South Los Angeles classroom, a boy hassles a girl. The teacher moves him to the back of the room, where he scowls, makes a paper airplane and repeatedly throws it against the wall. Two other boys wander around the class and then nearly come to blows.

Cellphone videos pose new challenges for school administrators [Sac Bee, 11/6/15]: A decade ago, before cellphones could record video and share it instantly, there was relatively little worry over how students might use devices on campus.

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:

9th Circuit addresses senility among federal judges head on [AP, 11/7/15]: Now 84, federal appellate court Judge William Canby made the difficult decision a few years ago to mostly stop hearing cases after a 30-year career. He was sharp and healthy, but didn't want to risk mental decline that would lead him to make mistakes, he said. 

Argument preview: New woe for class-action lawsuits? [SCOTUS blog, 11/7/15]: Lawyers who have groups of clients pursuing common grievances — often against big corporations — have known for years that their cases are an endangered species in the Supreme Court.  In decision after decision, a majority of the Court has shown deepening skepticism about lawsuits technically known as “class actions.”

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:

A Republican Can Kill Obamacare. Will He? [Bloomberg View, 11/5/15]: Ever since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have worked to sabotage the law and have done their best Yosemite Sam imitations to show the folks back home how furious they are at that varmint Barack Obama who signed it. Democrats have operated on the theory that Sam's six-shooter fires only blanks. If offered a genuine opportunity to repeal health insurance coverage for millions of Americans, would Republicans go through with it?

The Little Sisters of the Poor Get Their Day at the Supreme Court [Slate, 11/6/15]: Is opting out of part of the Affordable Care Act a religious burden?

Supreme Court grants cert. in birth control mandate challenge [Jurist, CNS, 11/7/15]: The  Court on Friday granted certiorari in seven cases where petitioners, religious non-profit institutions, challenge aspects of the birth control mandate under the health care reform laws in the US. 

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:

Defining 'One Person, One Vote': The Supreme Court Returns to the Political Thicket [Huff Post, 11/6/15]: Presumably no one would disagree with Earl Warren's statements in Reynolds v. Sims (1964) that "[l]egislators represent people, not trees or acres" and "[c]itizens, not history or economic interests, cast votes." Now, there’s Evenwel v. Abbott.
See the SCOTUS blog on Evenwel:

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:

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:

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