Current News & Opinion | Class Video
Resources
1. Findlaw Supreme Court Databases (excellent sources for full text supreme court opinions)
2. Oyez Database (excellent source for case summaries, oral arguments that can be downloaded as mp3 or full transcript, Court news and many other topics)
3. Website for Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association
4. Scotus Blog Good blog on all things Surpreme Court, statistics, calendars, newsy articles as well as some not so good national editorial writers on the Court.
Current News & Opinion(Highlights)
| Articles and Highlights For Gov 320K Spring 2019(most recent article is highest numbered one)11. Here are two articles that relate to the issue of big government in different ways. David Mamet is a well know writer and play right known for such works as Glengarry Glen Ross and Wag The Dog. He has written a recent best seller entitled “The Secret Knowledge: The Dismantling of American Culture” where is comes out of the closet as a Hollywood conservative who is no longer afraid, for professional reasons, to let his political views be widely know. In this linked article he talks about gun control in light of his view of the Constitution and big government. (click here) This Fox News piece is about environmental crimes also gives some context to the notion of big government. (click here) |
15. Another example of trying to get your eye off the ball (click here)
14. NPR takes a look at the rise in the number of formerly employed workers now on disability (click here)
13. Another Missouri v. Holland problem. Colorado and Washington state pot laws violate U.N. Treaty. (click here)
12. One of the great “walkbacks” of all time in the middle of this article on a Washington state gun control bill. (click here)
11. What is your reaction to and thoughts about the following article entitled “10 Ways Liberal Education Fails Students” (click here)
10. In many of the cases covered this semester we will see directly or indirectly instances of “crony capitalism”. The first Folsom book talks about this extensively. A major Chicago newspaper has some words about crony capitalism in the recent bill not raising taxes on the middle class. The bill passed at the 11th hour and unread by most Senators and probably most members of the House has some interesting gems in it. Here is an excerpt from that column (click here) Is there some hypocrisy in Washington based on what is in this bill? Is the following an aspect of “crony capitalism” (click here)
9. Property rights 2013 (click here)
8. Undeniable proof of global warming (click here) Even more evidence (click here)
7. Is it people or things that are responsible for bad happening. Some background on recent shooters (click here). I have been able to verify for sure via web research some of the instances mentioned in this article
6. College students, self esteem and actual performance. Data from annual surveys (click here)
5. Minimum wage for interns? Self-defeating liberal policy? (click here)
4. Directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, assumptions about economics and our economic system play a role in Supreme Court decisions. Here are one economists data on what is happening in our system currently. Toward the end of the semester this data will probably come in handy. Also look at this data in articles in light of articles 18 and 21 below from previous semesters.(click here) (click here)
3. “Why Are Some People Prone To Obey” (click here) Toward the end this article includes one of my favorite passages from the great journalist Walter Lippman, a man who could look and see when everyone else had blinders.
2. This New York Times op ed has created lots of discussion. It is entitled, “Let’s Give Up The Constitution” (click here) Here is an answer to Professor Seidman (click here) Here is Richard Epstein’s answer. (click here)
1. Jeff Jacoby on whether people are truly good. (click here) This is one of the questions that has to be answered if you are going to construct a workable democratic society. What might Federalist 10 suggest in answering this question. Another aspect of the same discussion with regard to the Newtown, Conn killings. You have to work a little to tease out the conceptual relationships with what Jacob is talking about. (click here)
Articles From Previous Semesters Numbers from 35 down to 1
35. Washington Post Harvard Poll on how Americans think the Constitution should be interpreted(click here)34. New Yorker gets into Constitutional Act with an interesting article entitled: The Commandments: The Constitution and Its Worshipers(click here)33. Another case of expert scientific fraud(click here) Some thing such fraud should be prosecuted(click here)32. Is there something behaviorally different between those who think the government should redistribute income and those who don’t, or in other words those for limited government versus those for expansive government?(click here)31. The rocky course of defending Obamacare(click here)30. John Fund on FCC takeover of internet with is net neutrality decree(click here)29. Social Contract and Constitutional Republics(click here)28. New York Times and its own exploitation of eminent domain(click here)27. The Hooverville that wasn’t. Takes the foreign press, the Economist Magazine to uncover another American media scam (click here) 26. Justice Ginzburg interview including comments on foreign law.(click here) 25. Good piece on lawful and unlawful combatants Will be relevant to Hamdi and other cases at end of course.(click here) 24. In case you thought Obama and his administration were about something other than $$$, note this article from The Politico. In good Clintonian fashion the info is released on a weekend to get minimal coverage.
Note also who the people are and who they aren’t. As always, follow the money. (click here) So much for change and hope!!Perhaps, the only institution in Washington where you do not need to follow the money is the Supreme Court. 23. George Will on possible unconstitutionality of Bailout Bill(click here)22. Karl Rove on Obama campaign for his budget including getting even with recalcitrant Democrats. Similar activities of Roosevelt shown in class videos(click here) 21. Discussion among public law and law Professors about constitutionality of 90% tax on AIG bonuses. I have taken out contact info and left in some of the names. (click here) 20. Finally the explanation as to main stream media sounded the same on montage’s played in class about Bush, Geitner and so on.(click here) 19. Fewer jobs under stimulus because of Davis Bacon Act, similar to Roosevelt era. High paying jobs for favored union members, unemployment for the average Joes. Consider in light of NLRB v. Jones Laughlin(click here) 18. Law Professor Ronald Rotunda on the unconstitutionality of the recent stimulus bill. He discusses the bill’s attempts to override state sovereignty in a way it has never been done before.(click here) Another law professor thinks South Carolina should take the money and the Governor bypass provision is probably unconstitutional. He title his article, “Even Economic Fools Have Constitutional Rights”(click here) 17. The limits of Court labels. Recent Washington Post article about whether Roberts Court is pro-business. Read this carefully as we do more and more classification of cases, e.g. uphold/strikedown, activist/restraint, conservative/liberal etc. (Click here) 16. How a media outlet that takes their job seriously operates(click here) An example of how the drive-by media fails. This story was not covered eventhough the turnout exceeded most anti-Israel and other liberal activities and demonstrations that do get covered(click here) Nouriel Roubini aka Dr. Doom favors bank nationalization in the short run. This article about him makes some points at the end about the failure of the media to adequately cover the economy in the past 8 years(click here) 15. Professor John Yoo defends administration memo and positions on approaches to handling post 9-11 domestic terror attack scenarios by radical muslims. (click here) 14.Here is a summary of the various cases that are testing or have tried to test Obama’s citizenship(click here). The “political question” doctrine generally keeps these cases out of the various courts so far. 14. What ‘s In The Stimulus Pork Package?(click here)13. Fox News: Obama and Roberts Faceoff On Judicial Cases (click here) 12. Do government stimulus packages work? For one view (click here) For a law professor’s review of a book that punches holes in the Roosevelt recovery myth (click here) 11. “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana. This is one reason why this course has considerable historical content. See fine piece by Amir Taheri, long time T.V.news commentator, Iranian born journalist, and author, on Obama’s “pathetic” speech and erroneous comments in his Al Arabiya T.V. talk about state of U.S.-Muslim relations 20 and 30 years ago. (click here) 10. George Will on Judicial Activism, Natural Law and California Proposition Against Gay Marriage(click here) 9. What Justices won’t say in public eventhough they are now appearing on major media much more often than in the past (Click here) 8. Interesting perspective on Justice Thomas and I pretty much agree with it. (Click here) 8. Rush Limbaugh comments on Bears Saints concerning most people do not know how much more they have to give–In case you missed Dr. Sager’s similar comments on the 1st Day of Class (click here) 7. Joel Grossman: Important Concepts About Marbury(click here) 6. Jefferson on Marbury(click here) 5. Are conservatives demented? And is the campus diverse? 2 articles (Click here) 4. Making a federal case out of everything. (click here} 4. This is an interesting article on taxes and the ownership society with context being provided by theories of protecting property rights which in turn relate to Fletcher, Dartmouth College and Charles River Bridge(click here)3. Why Dr. Sager should not be teaching. An unliberal view by someone who claims to be a liberal along with some further student comments(click here) 2. This brief article about changes may provide some historical perspective on many of the cases we read. As we move though the semester see how many cases can be reasonably related to something in this article.(click here)
1.Obama removes “creator from Declaration of Independence(click here)