Posts for May 1, 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 (5^th ed.) student textbook.

I. Introduction to Law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court [See TOPICS 1-10 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Deflategate To The Supreme Court? Nina Totenberg Weighs In [WBUR-FM, 4/30/16]: “I’m going to tell you a dirty little secret,” says Nina Totenberg, who’s been covering the Supreme Court for NPR since the ’70s. “As far as I know, there is only one really avid football fan on the United States Supreme Court.”

http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2016/04/30/deflategate-supreme-court-npr-brady

II. Defining the Political System: Federalism and Checks and Balances [See TOPICS 11-15 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

III. The Political System: Voting and Campaigns [See TOPICS 16-20 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

GOP race shifts California's political fault lines [AP, 4/30/16]: The Republican Party in California has been riven for decades between those who want to tack to the ideological center to expand its diminishing appeal and those who want it to enforce conservative purity. But the prospect of Donald Trump clinching the nomination in the Golden State has scrambled the party's political fault lines in advance of its pivotal June primary, forging unexpected alliances that blur those longstanding divisions. 

http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/04/30/60156/gop-race-shifts-california-s-political-fault-lines/

State GOP convention marks end to very bad week for Ted Cruz [SF Chron, 4/30/16]: White House hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz looked into the sea of 600 key activists at the California Republican convention Saturday and said, “I have to say, this has been a remarkable week.” That depends how one defines “remarkable.”

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Cruz-makes-pitch-to-California-Republicans-at-7385884.php?t=74c2c241557d4f3860&cmpid=twitter-premium

IV. Criminal Law and Procedure (4^th, 5^th, 6^th, and 8^th amendments) [See TOPICS 21-28 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit

Sexual Assault Ruling in Oklahoma Spurs Calls to Change State Laws [NY Times / Oklahoma Watch, 4/29/16]: Outraged activists and prosecutors in Oklahoma called for changes to a state law on forced oral sex after a court rejected the prosecution of a teenage boy in Tulsa because his 16-year-old accuser had been intoxicated to the point of unconsciousness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/oklahoma-court-ruling-in-rape-case-spurs-calls-to-change-state-laws.html?_r=0

http://oklahomawatch.org/2016/04/23/appeals-court-sodomy-law-doesnt-apply-to-cases-with-unconscious-victims/

Louisiana prisoner freed after serving 41 years unconstitutional sentence [Jurist, 4/30/16]: Gary Tyler was released from Louisiana's notorious Angola prison on Saturday after serving 41 years of an unconstitutional life sentence for the death of a white high school student resulting from a racially charged confrontation. 

http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2016/04/lousiana-prisoner-freed-after-serving-41-year-unconstitutional-sentence.php

V. 1^st Amendment (Speech, Religion, Press and Assembly) [See TOPICS 29-33 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

VI. 14^th Amendment, Discrimination, Privacy, Working, Citizenship & Immigration [See TOPICS 34-41 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit: