Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Posts for September 27, 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:

Californians To Decide Record-High 650 Local Ballot Measures This November [CPE, 9/26/16]: When California voters open up their November election ballots, they won't just see 17 statewide propositions. There are a record 650 local ballot measures -- including 425 tax and bond measures that seek to raise or extend local revenues. 

After A Very Bad Year, Americans Like The Supreme Court Again, Survey Finds [Huff Post,9/26/16]: A bit of good news while the court limps along with only eight members.

SCOTUS 2016 Term: By the Numbers [Bloomberg, 9/26/16]: The U.S. Supreme Court always kicks off a new term on the first Monday in October. This term that's Oct. 3. The high court's 2016 docket isn't filled with the kinds of blockbusters that court watchers have become accustomed to over the last few terms. But the cases the court has agreed to hear offer a little bit for everyone.

The Supreme Court After Scalia: There has not been a liberal majority of Justices since Nixon was President [Annals of the Law from The New Yorker, 10/3/16]: This article is a great introduction for students as you begin to study the Supreme Court.

How Clinton's or Trump's Nominees Could Affect the Balance of the Supreme Court [An interactive report from Adam Liptak and the NY Times, 9/26/16]: A new study estimates where President Obama’s pick, Judge Merrick B. Garland, and the candidates’ potential nominees, all federal appeals court judges, would fit on the ideological spectrum compared with current justices. Pair this report with the previous article for interested students as you begin to study the Court.

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:

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:

Now we wait: let’s see how the debate impacts an ever-tightening election [Sabato’s Crystal Ball, 9/27/16]: Go to Real Clear Politics and HuffPost Pollster to check out the ever-evolving poll averages for the national race and especially all the swing states.
HuffPost Pollster:

The Debate
Clinton vs. Trump: The only 30 minutes that matter [Politico, 9/26/16]: Most of the big debate moments in history came in the encounter’s opening rounds, something Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would do well to remember.
Clinton set the trap and Trump walked in [Politico, 9/27/16]: The Democrat dominated the debate. Will it matter? 
AP Fact Check: Trump, Clinton deny their own words in debate [AP, 9/26/16]: Donald Trump's habit of peddling hype and fabrication emerged unabated in the first presidential debate while Hillary Clinton played it cautiously in her statements, though not without error. They both denied making statements that they are on the record as saying.
The Politico Wrongometer [Politico, 9/26/16]: Our policy reporters truth-squad the 2016 presidential debates.
Giuliani: I'd skip next debates if I were Trump [Politico, 9/27/16]: Donald Trump should skip the next two debates unless he gets special guarantees from the moderators, former New York mayor and top Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani told reporters after the debate.
Analysis: Clinton wins 1st debate by letting Trump be Trump [SF Chron, 9/26/16]: The big question before the first one-on-one presidential debate Monday night was which Donald Trump would show up — the one who fires up large rallies with incendiary remarks or “teleprompter Trump,” the more disciplined version who hews closer to talking points crafted by his strategists.
Calbuzz: Hillary Looks Presidential – Was Donald On Drugs? [CalBuzz, 9/27/16]: The first one-on-one presidential debate came down to this: a woman president versus a whackjob who kept sniffing like a cokehead. Or maybe he just has pneumonia.

The Polls
Who will win the presidency? [538 / NY Times, 9/26/16]: Fascinating. Worth a look. A victory by Mr. Trump remains quite possible: Mrs. Clinton’s chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an N.F.L. kicker misses a 48-yard field goal.

Voter Proof-of-Citizenship Struck Down [Trial Insider, 9/26/16]: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals told Kansas, Alabama and Georgia Monday that the states cannot require proof of citizenship as an addition to the federal voter registration form. The appeals court had issued a preliminary injunction blocking the states.

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

After the debates: What you have to know about “Stop and Frisk” [The Marshall Project, 9/27/16]: A collection of articles about “Stop and Frisk.”

Law profs create 4th Amendment warning signs for lawns [ABA Journal, 9/26/16]: Two law professors found a 2013 decision, Florida v. Jardines, to have an odd application of the Fourth Amendment. “So, being law nerds, we thought we’d give people an opportunity to change any implicit license with explicit signs,” says Andrew Guthrie Ferguson who teaches at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law. Together with Stephen Henderson of the University of Oklahoma ‘s College of Law, Ferguson created actual yard signs for that very purpose.
The Jardines case can be found on page 245 of the Con Law student text.

SCOTUS considers death penalty case in which expert testified race could predict future violence [ABA Journal, 9/26/16]: On Oct. 5, the court will consider the case of Texas death row inmate Duane E. Buck, who faces procedural hurdles in challenging his own trial lawyer’s decision, during the sentencing phase, to present an expert witness who predicted the future dangerousness of the defendant based in part on the fact that Buck is African-American.
The case is Buck v. Davis:

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:

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