Friday, August 19, 2016

Posts for August 19, 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:

Appeals court formally nullifies Texas abortion restrictions [AP, 8/18/16]: A federal appeals court has nullified key portions of a sweeping 2013 Texas abortion law - a legal formality that complies with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer.

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:

Regretful Trump pivots 107 days late [Politico, 8/18/16]: The Republican nominee delivers one of the most comprehensive, on-message rationales for his candidacy to date.

Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Resigns [CNS, 8/19/16]: Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigned Friday morning, days after losing almost all of his authority in staff shake-up and amid continuing controversy over alleged payments he received from pro-Russia partisans in the Ukraine.

State Dept. confirms $400 million Iran payment conditioned on hostage release [Politico, 8/18/16]: 'He lied about the hostages – openly and blatantly – just like he lied about Obamacare,' Trump says.

The Outrageously False Charges of Perjury Against Hillary Clinton [Justia, 8/19/16]: John W. Dean, former counsel to President Nixon, discusses the charges of perjury and false statements brought against Hillary Clinton by congressional Republicans led by Bob Goodlatte and Jason Chaffetz.
Supreme Court Is About To Get A Good Look At How North Carolina Messes With Voting Rules [Huff Post, 8/18/16]: The state's Republican Party is making tweaks to early voting, and the justices will know all about it.

California's Democratic voter count hits all-time high [AP, 8/18/16]: Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Thursday that 45 percent of registered voters are now registered Democrats. That's nearly 8.2 million voters and the highest number of Democrats ever recorded. Republican registration has continued to slide and now stands at 27 percent

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

Crime in Context [The Marshall Project, 8/18/16]: Violent crime is up in some places, but is it really a trend?

Obama Seeks to End Use of Private Prisons [CNS, 8/18/16]: The Justice Department said Thursday it will try to phase out private prison contracts, after an audit found they have more safety and security problems than government-run prisons.

11th Circuit panel rules that school officials and police did not violate students’ 4th Amendment rights by detaining them and then conducting breathalyzer tests before allowing them to enter the prom [NSBA Legal Clips, 8/18/16]: A great 4th Amendment class discussion can arise from these facts.
The case is Ziegler v. Martin Cnty. Sch. Dist. and can be found here:

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:

Trump, Clinton Show Value of Free, Independent Press [Newseum, 8/18/16]: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may well be the best things that have happened to a free press in a long time. 

Faith and military duty: Do they conflict? [Constitution Daily, 8/18/16]: National Constitution Center Supreme Court correspondent Lyle Denniston looks at an interesting religious freedom case headed to the Supreme Court about a Marine corporal who refused an order to remove a bible-verse sign from her office desk.

Tennessee district settles suit with ACLU over banning student’s pro-LGBT shirt [NSBA Legal Clips, 8/18/16]: he American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) has settled a free speech lawsuit with Giles County Schools (GCS) over banning a student from wearing a T-shirt with a pro-LGBT message on it. The ACLU-TN filed the lawsuit in November 2015 against the GCS’s superintendent, school board and a high school principal after Rebecca Young was prohibited from wearing a shirt that read “Some People Are Gay, Get Over It.”

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:

Court: Hobby Lobby ruling OKs some employment discrimination [Politico, 8/18/16]: A Supreme Court decision allowing some companies to opt out of portions of Obamacare for religious reasons also guarantees the right of firms to engage in religiously motivated discrimination against their employees on the basis of gender, a federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/08/hobby-lobby-supreme-court-employment-discrimination-227164
The ruling in EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. can be found at:

International Law, Citizenship and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]

Immigration: Asking Judges to Decide Who's Bisexual Is Messy [Bloomberg / Slate, 8/18/16]: There’s something very awkward about a panel of judges ruling on someone’s sexual orientation. But that still happens in immigration asylum cases -- and Wednesday, a divided appeals court rejected a Jamaican’s claim that he should not be sent home because he was bisexual and subject to harm there. 


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