Posts for July 3, 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:

Reviews of the recent Supreme Court term

OT2016 #27: "Not Respectfully" [First Monday podcast, 7/3/17]: We couldn't possibly keep it short for the last recap episode of OT16. We all know the last week of the term means all the blockbuster opinions get announced, and we're here to help you make sense of them. While you're driving to a cookout or watching fireworks in the back of a pickup truck, celebrate the good ol' US of A by listening to two glorious hours about her Supreme Court.

http://www.firstmondays.fm/episodes/2017/7/3/ot2016-27-not-respectfully

The Supreme Court Is the Last Leakproof Institution [Bloomberg, 6/27/17]: The last day of the term was full of news, as always, but none of it slipped out ahead of time.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-27/the-supreme-court-is-the-last-leakproof-institution

Breakfast Table Redux [“Amicus” podcast from Slate, 6/28/17]: Dahlia Lithwick, Mark Joseph Stern, and Pamela Karlan chew over the recently completed Court term.

http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/amicus/2017/06/the_2016_supreme_court_term_in_review_on_amicus.html

Justice Neil Gorsuch Votes 100 Percent Of The Time With Most Conservative Colleague [NPR, 7/1/17]: By now, we can probably say that Justice Anthony Kennedy is not retiring from the U. Court. The word "probably" is apt because nothing is certain about the plans of this or any other Supreme Court justice when it comes to ending his or her service on the nation's highest court.

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/01/535085491/justice-neil-gorsuch-votes-100-percent-of-the-time-with-most-conservative-collea

K-12 and the U.S. Supreme Court: Highlights of the 2016-17 Term [Mark Walsh’s “School Law Blog for Ed Week, 6/30/17]: The Court had one of its most significant terms for K-12 education in several years, even after it decided to remand to a lower court a case it had decided to hear about transgender rights in education, Gloucester County School Dist. v. G.G.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/06/30/k-12-and-the-us-supreme-court-highlights.html

The Titles of Nobility Amendment [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 7/2/17]: I was surprised to learn recently that hardly anything certain is known about the constitutional amendment proposed by Congress in 1810 that could, in theory, still be ratified by the states.

https://concurringopinions.com/archives/2017/07/the-titles-of-nobility-amendment.html

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:

The American Presidency [TOPIC 15]

“Who will check the power of the Executive?” Congressional oversight of drone strikes a 'joke,' judge says [SF Chron, 7/1/17]: America’s “democracy is broken” and congressional oversight of presidential military decisions is “a joke,” says a federal appeals court judge — not some liberal firebrand, but one of the courts’ most outspoken conservatives, former California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown.

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Congressional-oversight-of-drone-strikes-a-11261286.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)

Republicans can’t agree on where Senate Obamacare repeal stands [Politico, 7/2/17]: Congressional Republicans and Trump administration officials were at odds Sunday over how close the Senate is to a deal on an Obamacare repeal package and what the legislation should look like — an indication that the upper chamber may be further from agreement than some politicians let on.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/02/republicans-health-care-repeal-240185

Votes coming on teacher tenure, for-profit charters, other key bills [EdSource, 7/2/17]: Between now and July 21, state legislators will have to decide the fate of bills that passed one chamber of the Legislature and await action in the other. Among those are key education bills that would lengthen teacher probation periods, require more accounting for spending under the Local Control Funding Form ula, mandate a later start time for middle and high schools and further restrict student suspensions.

https://edsource.org/2017/votes-coming-on-teacher-tenure-for-profit-charters-other-key-bills/584138

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

Puzzles About Police Violence [Justia, 7/3/17]: Professor Margulies considers why it is so difficult for people to have productive conversations about police shootings. Margulies calls upon us to ask not whether an officer involved in a shooting is a monster or a hero, but instead whether tomorrow we can do better.

https://verdict.justia.com/2017/07/03/puzzles-police-violence

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: