1) From the Sixth Circuit: Considering whether the county (and the country treasurer) are arms of the state or the county.
2) You should have seen the stories about the student who attempted to give a protest speech during a dinner for graduating students at the private home of dean of Berkeley Law. Lots of discussion of whether the student enjoys First Amendment protection (she almost certainly does not). Note that this assumes the dean acted under color in hosting this party at his home -- did he?
3) Media Matters sued the Texas AG in the District of the District of Columbia, claiming a First Amendment violation from the state's investigative document demand, seeking information about MM's critical reporting about Twitter. No Younger absention (at least Paxton did not raise it), probably because the demand is not part of any sort of state proceeding. Paxton challenged personal jurisdiction and standing (which we will discuss as part of Remedies; the district court denied dismissal as to both. For our purposes, the case illustrates an important general point: Litigating and vindicating constitutional rights is not all about substantive constitutional law; much of your time will be spent with the procedural rules we cover in this class, in Fed Courts, and, as here, in Civ Pro.
