^{Posts December 12, 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.2}

I. Introduction to Law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court [See TOPICS 1-10 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Why Government? [Justia, 12/.11/17]: Professor Margulies points out that “the market” did not create any of the benefits to which most of us have come to feel entitled to—including workers’ compensation, mortgage interest deductions, veterans’ benefits, non-discrimination laws, and many more. Rather, the federal government created these things, and the government continues to play a critical and beneficial role in everyone’s lives, despite widespread sentiment that “government is bad.” Margulies looks specifically to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is the primary reason affordable housing exists, albeit in lesser numbers than is currently needed, and points out that this and other critical services are at risk in the GOP tax bill.

https://verdict.justia.com/2017/12/11/why-government

 Senate poised to confirm Trump judicial nominee labeled 'not qualified' [The Hill, 12/11/17]:  The Senate is poised to confirm a judicial pick rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association (ABA). 

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/364363-senate-poised-to-confirm-trump-judicial-nominee-labeled-not

California's chief justice has had her own #MeToo moments [LA TIMES, 12/11/17]: California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said Monday that she has had her own #MeToo moments during her legal career, being addressed as “sugar and honey and dear” and one of the “girls.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sexual-harassment-courts-20171211-story.html

II. Defining the Political System: Federalism and Checks and Balances [See TOPICS 11-15 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

New gun restrictions are coming to California in 2018 [SAC BEE, 12/11/17]: California’s more than 6 million gun owners are going to see new restrictions in 2018 stemming from sweeping regulations lawmakers and voters have approved over the past two years. But due to pending court challenges, shifting deadlines and contradictions in the laws, many gun owners say they’re unsure about new rules regulating where they can buy ammunition, what classifies as an assault rifle and whether it’s still legal to own high-capacity ammunition magazines.

^{http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/article189213039.html}

SF court cool to Trump administration attempt to quash youths' climate suit [SF Chron / SJ Merc, 12/11/17[:A federal appeals court in San Francisco gave a chilly response Monday to the Trump administration’s argument to scuttle a far-reaching lawsuit by 21 young people who say their rights are at risk from the government’s inaction on climate change.

https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/SF-court-cool-to-Trump-administration-attempt-to-12422697.php

http://ww.mercurynews.com/2017/12/11/kids-lawsuit-against-trump-administration-over-climate-change-goes-to-san-francisco-court/

^{The American Presidency [TOPIC 15_}

The Fourth Circuit Travel Ban Argument: Framing the Challengers' Case for the Supreme Court [Lawfare blog, 12/12/17]\: The substance and tone of the Dec. 8 Fourth Circuit en banc argument in International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) v. Trump differed substantially from the Dec. 6 Ninth Circuit argument in Hawaii’s challenge to the travel ban (EO-3). The Ninth Circuit panel in Hawaii v. Trump assessed the government’s un-cabined claim of authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f) against what Hawaii’s lawyer, Neal Katyal, called the “finely reticulated” scheme of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

^{https://www.lawfareblog.com/fourth-circuit-travel-ban-argument-framing-challengers-case-supreme-court}

III.  The Political System: Voting and Campaigns [See TOPICS 16-20 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Supervisor London Breed becomes acting San Francisco mayor upon Ed Lee’s death [SF CHRON, 12/12/17[: London Breed, a native San Franciscan who was raised by her grandmother in the city’s housing projects, became acting mayor of San Francisco early Tuesday morning. She is San Francisco’s first black female mayor.

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Supervisor-London-Breed-becomes-SF-mayor-upon-Ed-12423909.php

Is the Supreme Court finally ready to tackle partisan gerrymandering? Signs suggest yes ^{[Professor Hasen in his Election Law blogm, 12/11/17]:} getting into the business of policing the worst partisan gerrymanders? Signs from last week suggest that it well might. At the very beginning of its term back in October, the court heard oral arguments in Gill vs. Whitford, a case challenging Wisconsin’s plan for drawing districts for its state Assembly. Republican legislators drew the lines to give them a great advantage in these elections. Even when Democrats won more than majority of votes cast in the Assembly elections, Republicans controlled about 60% of the seats.

^{http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-hasen-gerrymandering-maryland-20171211-story.html}

^{Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)}

Stalled Bill To Help California Schools Fight Fake News To Be Revived [CPR, 12/11/17]: Three bills aimed at fighting fake news stalled in the California Legislature this past year. At least one could resurface in the year ahead. Democratic State Sen. Bill Dodd said he plans to revive his bill, SB 135, in January or introduce a similar one.

^{http://www.capradio.org/articles/2017/12/11/stalled-bill-to-help-california-schools-fight-fake-news-to-be-revived/}

IV. Cminal 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] Some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Suspect Evidence Informed a Momentous Supreme Court Decision on Criminal Sentencing [Pro Publica,m 12/11/17[: The U.S. Sentencing Commission helped send more people to prison for longer terms; It's a shame it was created to address a nonexistent crisis; Here's how the Supreme Court got misled.

^{https://www.propublica.org/article/suspect-evidence-momentous-supreme-court-decision-criminal-sentencing}

V. 1^st Amendment (Speech, Religion, Press and Assembly) [See TOPICS 29-33 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] 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] Some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Liberty and Equality Sometimes Require Tragic Choices, Just Not in Masterpiece Cakeshop [Justia, 12/12/17]: Professor Dorf explains why the Masterpiece Cakeshop case before the US Supreme Court—in which the Court will decide whether a baker may refuse to serve a gay couple based on his religious beliefs—does not present a difficult choice between liberty and equality. Rather, Dorf points out, the baker’s free speech claim in this case should be relatively easy to reject because a cake without an articulate message on it does not constitute the “speech” of the person who made it.

https://verdict.justia.com/2017/12/12/liberty-equality-sometimes-require-tragic-choices-just-not-masterpiece-cakeshop

Supreme Court turns down case that raised issue of LGBT worker protections [LA Times / Wash Post, 12/11/17]: The he Supreme Court has put off for a year or more a ruling on whether gays and lesbians are protected from job discrimination under the federal civil rights law. The justices without comment or dissent declined to hear a Georgia woman’s suit that alleged she was pushed out of her job as a hospital security guard because she is a lesbian.

^{http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-gays-bias-20171211-story.html}

^{https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-turns-down-case-that-raised-issue-of-gay-worker-protections/2017/12/11/2789e740-dea0-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.6b6dca2a6615}

Is the Judiciary Ready to Handle Harassment Charges? ]NY Magazine, 12/11/17]: For the better part of his esteemed career, Alex Kozinski, one of the top appellate judges in the nation, has been his own public-relations machine, fielding press inquiries and interviews with journalists, unlike any of his peers in the federal judiciary, who never talk to the press. But when the Los Angeles Times reached the longtime Ronald Reagan appointee this past week for comment on allegations in another paper that he’d been sexually improper with at least six women who had worked with him, Kozinski’s nonchalance with reporters may have gotten the best of him. “If this is all they are able to dredge up after 35 years, I am not too worried,” he told the Times.

^{lnternational  Law http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/is-the-judiciary-ready-to-handle-harassment-charges.html}