Posts for July 18, 2017
These are the posts
that are accumulated in our weekly newsletter which goes out throughout the
school year. The posts are organized by the major units in our Constitutional Law (5th ed.) student textbook.
San Diego Students Can't Duck AP Test Redo [CNS,
7/16/17]: More than 500 Advanced Placement students in San Diego must retake
their tests, a federal court judge ruled late Friday, after finding the College
Board was correct in invalidating more than 800 tests because students sat too
close together.
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:
The Vermont Ratification
Convention [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 6/18/17]: “Here’s
something that I didn’t know until yesterday: Vermont held a convention to
ratify the Constitution. Vermont was an independent country (in other words, it
was not part of the Union under the Articles of Confederation). In 1791,
delegates were elected for a convention and they voted by a large margin to
ratify. (Shortly afterward, Vermont was admitted as a state in time to also
ratify what became the Bill of Rights.) I’m going to read the records,
though at first glance it seems like the focus was mostly on whether Vermont
should stay independent rather than on what the Constitution said.:
Gorsuch Faces Telling
Moment With 15-Year-Old’s Essay on Korematsu
[CNS, 7/18/17]: During an awards ceremony
Monday at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in San Francisco, new Supreme
Court Justice Neil Gorsuch heard a 15-year-old student winner of a
civics contest compare President Trump’s travel ban to what is widely
regarded as a shameful moment in American legal history when Japanese-Americans
were forced into internment camps.
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:
Imperial Beach, two counties sue fossil fuel companies for money to deal with sea level rise [SD Union-Trib / SJ Merc / Marin I-J / CNS, 7/17/17]: Several coastal municipalities in California on Monday filed lawsuits against more than three dozen oil and coal corporations for what they said are billions of dollars in property damage costs associated with climate change.
The
American Presidency [TOPIC 15]
Trump blindsided by implosion of GOP health care bill [Politico,
7/18/17]: While the president
strategized with Republican lawmakers at the White House over steak, two
senators were finalizing their statements tanking the current proposal.
10 Steps to Impeach the President [Nation of Change, 7/15/17]: This isn’t to say Trump
couldn’t or won’t be impeached. Only that it’s a long and drawn-out
process. Usually I don’t post their stuff, but this is a good summary of the
process.
Judge Fast-Tracks Demand for Legal
Basis of Syria Strikes [CNS, 7/17/17]: A federal judge ordered the State, Justice and
Defense Departments to speed up their responses to a government watchdog’s
requests for records on the legal justification for the Trump administration’s
missile strike on Syria in April.
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:
Don't Let Our Democracy Collapse
[Richard Hasen in the NY Times Sunday Review, 7/15/17]: The strength and integrity of the American electoral process are under
tremendous strain, but the worst may be yet to come.
Trump wants to legalize politics in the pulpit. The GOP
House is quietly helping [McClatchy, 7/17/17]: The religious right,
with a big boost from President Donald Trump, is close to effectively ending a
63-year-old law banning churches from endorsing or opposing political
candidates.
PolitiFact California's Top 10 fact checks [PolitiFactCA,
7/14/17]: In the first half of 2017,
PolitiFact California’s most popular fact-checks and articles, in terms of
pageviews, ranged from a Pants On Fire claim that state lawmakers legalized
child prostitution to a Mostly True statement about the extremely slim odds of
being killed by a refugee in a terror attack.
Legislation and the Legislative
Process (TOPIC 20)
Plan C’ on Obamacare, Repeal Now and Replace Later, Has
Collapsed [NY Times, 7/18/17]: With their bill to repeal and replace
the Affordable Care Act in tatters, Senate leaders on Tuesday pushed to vote on
a different measure that would repeal major parts of President Barack Obama’s
health law without a replacement — but that plan appeared also to
collapse.
How the White House and Republicans underestimated
Obamacare repeal [Politico, 7/17/17]: The longer Republican efforts to
repeal Obamacare flounder, the clearer it becomes that President Donald Trump’s
team and many in Congress dramatically underestimated the challenge of rolling
back former President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.
Who Would Be the Senate Majority Leader? [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions,
7/17/17]: “I’m working on the galley proofs of my Bill of Rights
book–the last stage before publication. This puts me in the mood to daydream
about far-fetched legal scenarios.”
House budget blueprint boosts military, cuts food stamps [AP,
7/18/17]: House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a budget that proposes
trillions of dollars in cuts to the social safety net and other domestic
programs while sharply boosting military spending, a blueprint that elicited
criticism from conservatives and moderates.
Brown, lawmakers celebrate bipartisan cap-and-trade victory [AP,
7/18/17]: California's signature initiative to fight global warming will get
another decade of life after lawmakers from both parties joined Gov. Jerry
Brown in extending the law credited with reducing the state's carbon footprint.
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:
Full
4th Circuit Invalidates Legislator-led Prayer, Could Lead to Supreme
Court Review [Newseum, 7/18/17]: The 4th and 5th Circuits
disagree on whether legislator-led prayers before public meetings violate the
Establishment Clause. The case in Lund v. Rowan County.
Seattle’s New Public
Campaign Funding Plan Meets Conservative Pushback [Newseum, 7/17/17]: Seattle’s
“Democracy Voucher” program aims to empower voters and encourage campaign
participation. Despite initial success, it faces accusations that it violates
freedoms of speech.
Russia Supreme Court upholds ban on Jehovah's Witnesses [Jurist,
7/18/17]: The Russian Supreme Court on Monday
upheld its ruling ordering the disbanding of the Jehovah's Witnesses. In
denying an appeal by the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Supreme Court affirmed that
their previous ruling will remain in place and unchanged.
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:
The Compromise That
Secured a Constitutional Right To Education
[EdLaw Profs blog, 7/17/17]: In his forthcoming article in the Stanford Law
Review, “The Constitutional Compromise to Guarantee Education,” he argues that,
contrary to popular belief, our federal constitution does protect a right to
education.
The troubling politics of
the Texas Supreme Court's reversal on same-sex benefits [Facing South, 7/14/17]: Last month, the Texas Supreme Court voted unanimously
to overturn a lower court ruling guaranteeing benefits to the spouses of gay
and lesbian public employees. The case will likely be the latest in a group of
marriage equality cases to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, following Arkansas' Pavan
v. Smith and Colorado's Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil
Rights Commission.
Fifth Circuit Ruling
Threatens LGBT Rights & Religious Freedom [“Take Care” blog, 6/17/17]: The poster wrote
about a challenge to Mississippi's
HB 1523, a most unusual anti-LGBT "religious freedom" law. As he
explained, although it is decorated with the rhetoric of religious
accommodation, HB 1523 not only eviscerates LGBT rights, but also shreds
religious liberty.
Woman suing Planet
Fitness appeals to Michigan Supreme Court
[Midland (Michigan) Daily
News, 7/16/17]: A local woman's lawsuit claiming sexual harassment and
retaliation against a Midland gym where she encountered a transgender woman has
been appealed to the state's highest court, the Michigan Supreme Court.
Massachusetts top court: woman fired for using medical
marijuana can sue for discrimination [Jurist,
7/18/17]: The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Monday held that a
woman who was fired from her job for testing positive for medically prescribed
marijuana could sue her former employer for handicap discrimination. The
employee in this case was prescribed medical marijuana to combat the low
appetite that she experienced due to Crohn's Disease.
CA to begin anti-discrimination testing of Airbnb hosts [KPCC,
7/17/17]: State regulators plan soon to test hosts on Airbnb to prevent
discriminatory practices, picking audit targets using information provided by
the online homesharing platform.
School Chief to Defend Ending Ethnic Studies [CNS,
7/16/17]: A federal trial considering whether an Arizona law that shuttered a
popular Mexican-American studies program in Tucson was enacted with
discriminatory intent resumes this week and will include testimony from the man
behind the behind the effort to end the program.
International Law, Citizenship
and Immigration [TOPIC 40-42]
UN report condemns
increase in civilian deaths in Afghanistan [Jurist, 7/17/17]: The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released
a report Monday condemning an increase in civilian deaths in Afghanistan during
the first half of 2017. Although there was an overall decrease in civilian
casualties in the first six months of 2017, there was an increase in injuries
and deaths from improvised explosive devices (IED).
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