Posts for July 2 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 (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:

Anthony Kennedy has major incentive to stay on US Supreme Court [SF Chron, 6/30/17]: Abortion will remain legal in the United States, at least for the foreseeable future. So will same-sex marriage. Housing policies that harm minorities will remain prohibited by federal civil rights laws. And the fate of President Trump’s travel ban is still in doubt. The reason is that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy — who holds a potentially deciding vote on each of those issues — did not announce his retirement at the close of the court’s 2016-17 term last week, despite widespread rumors to the contrary. 

http://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Anthony-Kennedy-has-major-incentive-to-stay-on-US-11260497.php

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:

Texas Supreme Court: states not required to provide publicly funded benefits to same-sex couples [Jurist, 7/1/17]: The Supreme Court of Texas held on Friday that the Houston's benefits policy need not extend to same-sex couples. In so holding, the Court concluded that: "The Supreme Court held in Obergefell that the Constitution requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages to the same extent that they license and recognize opposite-sex marriages, but it did not hold that states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons."

http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2017/07/texas-supreme-court-denies-benefits-to-same-sex-couples.php

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:

Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)

Obamacare could easily be fixed with a few bipartisan remedies [SF Chron, 7/1/17]: Nearly everything people most dislike about the current health care law would be made worse by the Senate Republicans’ effort to repeal it. And just about everything people like about the law would be unraveled.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Obamacare-could-easily-be-fixed-with-a-few-11261545.php

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

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: