Posts for November 9, 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:
Trump's victory has enormous consequences for the Supreme
Court [Wash Post / Bloomberg, 11/8/16]: In
the short term, Republican Donald Trump’s victory means that at some point next
year, the nine-member court will be restored to full capacity, once again with
a majority of Republican-appointed justices.
Access this blog's earlier coverage of President-elect Donald J. Trump's lists of
potential Supreme Court justices [Howard Bashman’s ’How Arrpealing’ Blog,
11/9/16]:
What Donald Trump's
'ultra-conservative' Supreme Court will look like [NY Daily News, 11/8/16]:
Donald Trump has pledged to appoint what some
have called "ultra-conservative" constitutionalists to
fill vacancies on the Supreme Court.
Here are 5 Supreme Court judicial lessons that Trump
and Clinton won't tell you about
[McClatchy DC, 11/8/16]: Here, then, are five takeaways from one pre-election
morning in the life of the Supreme 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:
California voters approve gun-control measure [AP,
11/8/16]: Voters approved Proposition 63, banning large-capacity ammunition
magazines, requiring background checks for ammunition sales and speeding the
seizure of firearms from owners who are no longer allowed to own them.
California, Nevada, Washington voters approve gun control
measures [Jurist, 11/8/16]: Gun control
ballot measures were approved by voters Tuesday in California, Nevada and
Washington while failing in Maine. California's Proposition 63 would require individuals to obtain a permit before
purchasing ammunition. It would also eliminate several exemptions to the
state's large-capacity magazine ban and increase penalties for possessing them.
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:
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa
Mea Maxima Culpa [Sabato’s Crystal Ball, 11/9/16]: Well, what can we say --
we blew it. We thought the signs pointed to Hillary Clinton winning the White
House. We thought that even if she lost Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, her
Midwestern “firewall” of states that not only had voted for Barack Obama twice,
but hadn’t voted for a Republican since the 1980s, would hold for her. It
didn’t -- Trump blew a hole in what we dubbed “Fortress Obama.” Remarkably,
this all happened while Clinton was winning Virginia by a larger margin than
Obama did in 2012 and almost certainly winning the national popular vote.
The USC/L.A. Times poll saw what other surveys missed: A
wave of Trump support [LA Times, 11/9/16]: For most of the last four
months, the USC/L.A. Times Daybreak tracking poll has been the great outlier of
the 2016 campaign -- consistently showing a better result for Donald Trump than
other surveys did.
How did everyone get it so wrong? [Politico,
11/9/16]: Everybody was wrong. Again. When Election Day dawned, almost all the
pollsters, analytics nerds and political insiders in the country had Hillary
Clinton waltzing into the White House.
Donald Trump Is Elected
President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment [NY Times, 11/9/16]: Donald John Trump was elected the 45th president of
the United States on Tuesday in a stunning culmination of an explosive, populist
and polarizing campaign that took relentless aim at the institutions and
long-held ideals of American democracy.
Inside the Loss Clinton Saw Coming [Politico,
11/9/16]: Publicly they seemed confident, but in private her team admitted her
chances were 'always fragile.'
"We have some news. It’s not good.” Hillary Clinton’s
communications director Jennifer Palmieri filled the candidate in as the plane
landed in Iowa, with campaign manager Robby Mook in the huddle.
States' Supreme Court Election Results a Mixed Bag [Governing.com, 11/9/16]: Judicial elections weren't a
clear sweep for either party.
Kamala Harris makes history as California's first black
and Asian U.S. Senator [Politico, 11/9/16]: California voters elected
Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, to the U.S.
Senate on Tuesday, tearing down a color barrier that has stood for as long as
California statehood.
More on Faithless Electors [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 11/9/16]: “Let’s hope that the election does not yield any weird
problems or results, but before the vote is complete let me explore one or two
issues about the Electoral College.”
In a First, Maine
Electoral College Votes Will Be Split [CNS, 11/9/16]: For the first time since adopting an alternative
method of distributing its allotted electoral votes in 1972, Maine has split
its four electoral votes among two candidates.
Legislation and the Legislative
Process (TOPIC 20)
California Legislature will have to pass bills under new
transparency rules set by Proposition 54 [LA Times, 11/9/16]:
California voters have approved a significant change of the rules in how
proposed laws are approved by the Legislature, overwhelmingly supporting a new
mandate for public review of legislation before any final vote.
GOP's Senate
Victory Sets Stage for Trump High Court, Agenda [Bloomberg News
/ The Hill / , 11/8/16]: Republicans
shocked Democrats by keeping control of the Senate, setting the stage for
President-elect Donald Trump to enact a broad conservative agenda and ensure a
Republican Supreme Court for a generation. That’s provided he can work with a GOP
establishment he spent most of the campaign attacking.
Republicans, Buoyed by
Trump's Performance, Keep Control of Senate [NY Times, 11/9/16]: Republicans maintained control of the Senate on
Tuesday, fending off numerous Democratic challengers who polls showed were
leading going into Election Day, as incumbents were pulled along by Donald J.
Trump’s unanticipated strength in several key battleground 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
Law and Order Trumps
Reform [The Marshall Project, 11/9/16]: There’s
a new sheriff in town.
Californians vote to legalize recreational use of
marijuana in the state [Politico / East Bay Times, 11/9/16]: Voters on
Tuesday approved Proposition 64, making California the most populous state in
the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Californians
reaffirming death penalty in early returns [AP, 11/8/16]: California appears poised for a
historic change to its death penalty system – but not the one that opponents of
capital punishment have spent decades pushing for. An initiative that aims to
speed up the state’s byzantine execution process led late Tuesday, while a
rival effort to abolish the death penalty trailed by even more than a similar
measure did four years ago.
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:
Facebook-Threat
Conviction Upheld, Even After Reversal [CNS,
11/8/16]: Dissecting free-speech precedent, the Third Circuit upheld the
conviction of man who posted rap lyrics on Facebook threatening to murder his
wife, shoot up a school and bomb the police.
Georgia High Court
Invalidates Law Prohibiting the Insulting of School Officials [Newseum,
11/7/16]: A Georgia law prohibiting any non-student from upbraiding, insulting,
or abusing a public school official in the presence of a minor infringes on too
much protected speech, the Georgia Supreme Court.
Read West v. State:
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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