Posts for December 7, 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:
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:
Texas Backs Down on Syrian Refugees [CNS, 12/7/15]: Texas
dropped its demand to prohibit Syrian refugees from entering the state after
federal officials responded with information about three Syrian families, state
officials said.
The
American Presidency
[TOPIC 15]
Analysis: Obama offers
reassurance, little policy in speech [AP,
12/7/15]: There were no new policy prescriptions, no fresh military strategies
and no timelines. When President Barack Obama seized the spotlight for a rare
prime time address Sunday night, he came with one major message: It's going to
be OK.
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:
U.S. Supreme Court to
hear key voting rights case [SJ
Merc, 12/5/15]: The high court on Tuesday will hear arguments in a case out of
Texas that threatens to upend the way states draw their political districts
based on census-driven overall population numbers -- and which could alter
political influence in states such as California, where mushrooming Latino
populations in urban areas, including illegal immigrants and other noncitizens,
play a key part in shaping political maps.
Latino Clout Turns on Supreme Court
View of One-Person-One-Vote [Bloomberg View, 12/7/15]: It turns out the idea of "one person, one vote" isn’t as
simple as it sounds.
Donald Trump’s Campaign Financing Dodge [Justia, 12/7/15]:
Professor Rotunda critiques Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as falsely
claiming to be self-financing. Rotunda explains what Trump is actually doing
with the political donations to his campaign, and why it is not self-financing
at all.
Trump: Islamic terrorism
will get solved when Obama ‘gets the hell out’ [Politico, 12/6/15]: Republican presidential
front-runner Donald Trump says the country’s “tremendous problem” with radical
Islamic terrorism will get solved once President Barack Obama “gets the hell
out” of office.
Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)
Congress unlikely to
change gun laws despite high-profile attacks [SF Chron, 12/6/15]: Despite two high-profile mass shootings in
recent days — the San Bernardino massacre by a couple authorities say committed
a terrorist act and a lone gunman’s attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in
Colorado — Congress is not likely to come any closer to addressing gun violence
than it has after similar past acts of violence in the U.S.
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
Why Has
The Death Penalty Grown Increasingly Rare? [NPR, 12/7/15]: The last execution scheduled in the
U.S. for the year is set for Tuesday in Georgia. But capital punishment has
gown rare in America, to the point of near extinction.
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:
Up Next at the Supreme Court: A
Challenge to Equality for All Americans [New Republic / Reuters, 12/7/15]: A legal mastermind
seeks to gut affirmative action and voting rights by rewriting the Fourteenth
Amendment.
A
conservative quandary in affirmative action case Fisher vs. Texas [LA
Times, 12/6/15]: Many
amicus briefs have been filed in the case by conservative groups siding with
the plaintiff and asking the court to end any and all use of race in university
admissions across the country. But if the court takes conservative
jurisprudence seriously, then Texas, not the plaintiff, should rightly prevail.
Scholarship on Teacher Tenure Lawsuits [EdLawProfs blog, 12/7/15]: Teacher tenure
lawsuits that allege that tenure prevents school districts from
firing ineffective teachers are summarized here.
International Law, Citizenship and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]
Indian
law faces challenge as sex assault case heads to high court [Santa Fe
New Mexican, 12/5/15]: New
Mexico tribal leaders say the decision in a long-running Indian law case that
will be heard Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court could impair their ability to
govern themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment