Posts for February
8, 2016
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:
Tribes Don't
Get a Pass on Federal Law [Bloomberg View, 2/7/16]: Can a payday lender’s contract require all borrowers’
disputes be subject to an arbitration process in which decisions are exempt
from federal law? In a decision announced this week with
potential consequences for millions of contracts signed every day, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has said no.
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:
Voter ID Laws Found to
Lower Minority Turnout [Jost on Justice, 2/7/16]: The
Supreme Court gave states a green light to enact voter ID laws in a fractured
decision in 2008 that upheld an Indiana law adopted eight years earlier.
Significantly, the Indiana law had been on hold pending the results of the
legal challenge. So the court had no actual evidence on the impact of the law
on individual voters or overall voter turnout.
Trump: I didn’t lose Iowa [The Hill, 2/7/16]:
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Sunday said he wouldn’t
characterize his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses a “loss,” arguing
that he still did very well and would have come in first if primary rival Ted
Cruz hadn’t taken votes from Ben 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
The Nobility of Good
Lawyers With Bad Clients [The Atlantic, 2/7/16]: The armed standoff in Burns, Oregon, is a perfect case study for why all
defendants need excellent representation—and why the current criminal-justice
state is no panacea.
The Most Promising Reform [Justia, 2/8/16]: Professor Margulies reflects on the
devastating toll solitary confinement can take on those who are already part of
a vulnerable demographic, as witnessed during his time as a criminal defense
and human rights attorney. The story Margulies describes offers compelling
support for criminal justice reform as it currently exists in the United
States.
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:
Indictment of anti-abortion duo raises 1st Amendment
issues [FAN, 2/4/16]: A Texas grand jury
investigating Planned Parenthood shifted its focus to two anti-abortion
activists indicting them for tampering with a government record. Are there 1st
Amendment issues here? Who are considered “journalists”?
Anti-Abortion Video
Release Blocked [Trial Insider, 2/7/16]: A
federal judge has denied an effort by anti-abortionists to release secret
videos made of abortion providers, noting claims that the abortion groups
were illegally selling fetal tissue was baseless.
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:
Laws written by men to protect women deserve scrutiny,
Supreme Court told
[Wash Post, 2/7/16]: History holds a lesson for the Supreme Court, the
brief warns: Be skeptical of laws protecting women that are written by men. The
nation’s past is littered with such statutes, say the historians who filed the
friend-of-the-court brief, and the motives were suspect.
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