Friday, April 8, 2016

Posts for April 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:

Sotomayor, in Santa Fe, discusses court qualifications, her childhood [Santa Fe New Mexican, 4/7/16]: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wouldn’t discuss the current vacancy on the nation’s highest court during her talk at St. John’s College on Wednesday evening. But in response to a student’s question, she did say that U.S. law has become too complicated for anyone without extensive legal experience to step into the job.

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:

ACLU and Planned Parenthood suing Indiana over abortion ban [Jurist, 4/8/16]: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood of Indiana filed suit against the state of Indiana on Thursday, challenging the constitutionality of a recently-signed abortion law that would prevent abortions sought due to genetic abnormalities. 

The American Presidency [TOPIC 15]

Obama returns home to push for 'ideal' Supreme Court nominee [Chicago Sun-Times, 4/7/16]: President Obama took his push to get the U.S. Senate to grant a hearing to his Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland back home to Chicago on Thursday, where he warned about the dangers of partisanship seeping into the country’s judicial system.

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:

Should Voters’ Hands in the Vice Presidential Selection Process Be Tied? [Justia, 4/8/16]: Professor Amar explains how voters’ hands are tied when it comes to electing a vice president. Amar calls into question this widespread practice and considers whether we might improve the democratic process by changing it.

Schwarzenegger voters are Trump voters, California poll says [AP, 4/7/16]:  The poll also reported that many of Trump’s California supporters are the same voters who backed action star Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ran in the state’s historic recall election for governor in 2003. “Voters who say they voted for Schwarzenegger in 2003 prefer Trump over Cruz nearly three to one,” DiCamillo said.

Trump has more than math to worry about in Cleveland [Politico, 4/7/16]: Every aspect of the Republican National Convention is a potential tripwire that motivated anti-Trump forces could deploy to waylay the mogul — from major processes to invalidate whole slates of delegates to minor inconveniences, like seating arrangements for delegates inside the arena, which could complicate negotiations if the convention becomes a free-for-all.

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:

Student Press Freedom Bills Progressing in Maryland, Illinois [SPLC, 4/8/16]:

Free-Speech Case Against Fresno State Revived [CNS, 4/7/16]: Fresno State University must face First Amendment claims for disciplining a politically outspoken student who confronted two professors about a poem published in the student newspaper that contained controversial lines about the United States, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday. 

Louisiana Senate committee declines to vote for repeal of creationism law declared unconstitutional in 1987 [NSBA Legal Clips, 4/4/16]: The Louisiana Senate Education Committee voted, 4-2, against repealing an unconstitutional and unenforceable state law that requires public schools to give balanced treatment in science classes and textbooks to evolution and creationism. The law also prohibits teaching evolution as a proven scientific fact.

Judge rules putting cross on LA County seal unconstitutional [AP, 4/7/16]: Los Angeles County's decision to put a cross to its county seal for the first time in a decade was unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled.

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:

Transgender restroom bill killed by Tennessee House committee is revived in House, advances in Senate [NSBA Legal Clips, 4/1/16]: Even though the Tennessee House Education Administration and Planning Committee killed the bill seeking to require students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth, on the next day state Rep. Jim Coley made a motion to force the committee to reconsider its action. Coley’s motion succeeded on a voice vote of the committee and the bill has been given new life in the House and advanced in the Senate.

http://legalclips.nsba.org/2016/04/01/transgender-restroom-bill-killed-by-tennessee-house-committee-is-revived-in-house-advances-in-senate/


N.H. Supreme Court Backs School Counselor on Abortion Advice to Student [School Law Blog / New Hampshire Union-Leader / AP, 4/8/16]: A school district must reinstate a counselor who clashed with her principal over a student's desire to terminate her pregnancy, the New Hampshire high court rules.

Read Appeal of Farmington School District at:

http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2016/2016030farmingtonschooldistrict.pdf

 




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