For Tuesday

Tuesday audio. Happy MLK Day and Inauguration Day. FWIW, this is the second time that an Inauguration has aligned with MLK Day (since it became a national holiday in 1986). The first was Bill Clinton's Second Inauguration in 1997. It will not happen again until 2081.

We will finish Chapter 2 with VDARE and the Hate Speech Act Puzzle in § 2.05[3]; what postures can the property owner assert his First Amendment arguments? That will finish Under Color. Reaction Papers will be due on Tuesday, January 28.

We move Chapter 3 and Panel II. Read § 3.01 and Part B of Chapter 3; take the time to prep the statutory provisions assigned.

What is the difference between a right, a right of action, and a jurisdictional grant? What express rights of action has Congress provided for civil rights statutes? Absent an express right of action, where can parties and courts look for a right of action to enforce a statute? How does the Spending Clause operate? How does the analyses for implied right, Ex parte Young, and § 1983 overlap and how do they diverge? Absent private civil litigation (which requires a right of action), how do civil rights statutes get enforced?

Argument Cases

Here. Confer with your co-justice as to who will serve as chief and your opposing counsel to decide who represents which party. The first party listed is petitioner--the losing party in the court of appeals.

You may write your reaction paper on any case you are not assigned to judge or argue.

For Tuesday

Monday audio. Argument assignments will be posted shortly.

Prep the rest of Chapter 2. Please do the work in advance of figuring out the Puzzles, particularly the ones in § 2.03[6]--identify the appropriate test, the requirements of that test, and the facts that work for both sides. You should not be flipping through to figure out the facts during class.

Quick final word on Lindke: The Court somewhat conflated the officials' First Amendment protected activities of posting to the site and the conduct triggering the lawsuit of blocking people from the site. The former triggers action under color and thus the limits on the latter. That is, the content of the page dictates whether the person managing it is under color and thus whether the person managing it can block citizens. To be clear: We genuinely do not know whether President Trump II can block people on Twitter.

For Monday

Tuesday audio.

I believe the class is now final but I am waiting until the end of the week. I will post final panels by Monday. I also expect to get the argument cases to you by Monday. 

You should now see how you need to prepare to discuss the Puzzles. Given the class size, I hope to get everyone involved every day.

Review the reading and puzzles for the rest of Chapter 2, including Lindke. This will carry us through most the two days next week.

Final Panels

We appear to have our final numbers--14. Panel # 1 (Under Color) obviously is ongoing and remains unchanged. After the jump are the new-and-final Panels ## 2-8. Ignore whatever you had previously.

For Tuesday

Monday audio. Panel # 1 (Thomas, Assaf, Andrew, Julian, Yohance, Madeline) is on for tomorrow. And tell your friends.

Review the Syllabus, Assessments, and Panels; I will take questions at the beginning of class. In particular: Arguments are on the schedule for Friday, May 9 (day after exams end). We could do them on Thursday, May 8 (last day of exams) if it will not interfere with anyone's other exams and assignments.

For tomorrow, prep §§ 2.01 and 2.02. In addition, read Lindke v. Freed in place of the material on p.30.

    • What do § 242 and § 1983 do? How are they similar and how are they different?

    • What is the core or obvious meaning of "under color?" How did the Court expand that core in Classic, Screws, and Monroe?

    • Prep the puzzles in § 2.02[6]. Prep Davison (Puzzle # 2) in light of the Court's decision in Lindke. Is there a way that Wilson and Gomez can come out differently?

Welcome to Civil Rights

Welcome to Civil Rights and the FIU Civil Rights Blog. Below are several posts you must read and follow prior to our first class meeting on Monday, January 6.

All classes will be recorded and posted to the Civil Rights Blog. 

To read the blog, go to http://fiucivilrights.blogspot.com; posts can be read going down from most recent to least recent. For complete information on the purposes and uses of the blog, see Syllabus and Semester Assessments.

 

Panels will be assigned and posted the week prior to class, once I have a better sense of enrollment.

 

And, to put you in the mood for the course:

Course Materials and Week One Assignments

Review Syllabus and Semester Assessments; both contain complete details about the course, assignments, pedagogical approach, course rules, and grading methods. You should bring the Syllabus with you to every class. We will discuss this at the beginning of the second class, on Tuesday, January 7.

 

Technology and Class Conduct: 

Use of laptops, tablets, book readers, smart phones, and similar devices during class is absolutely prohibited, unless you have received permission or accommodation in advance.

 

The use of ChatGPT and other generative AI, LLM, or similar programs for written assignments is prohibited and will be deemed a violation of FIU and College of Law academic policies.

 

 

Plagiarism Policy

 

Just don't. 

Required Course Materials: 

Howard M. Wasserman, Understanding Civil Rights Litigation (Carolina Academic Press) (3d ed. 2023)

     Appendix A: Constitution of the United States
     Appendix B: Emancipation Proclamation

     Appendix C: United States Code and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (selected provisions) 

Civil Rights Blog (Supplemental Materials) 

Blog (additional puzzles, cases, stories, and information may be posted as the semester goes along).

Note on Reading and Class Discussions

All reading will be in Understanding Civil Rights Litigation, supplemented by a handful of cases. We will spend more class time on the Puzzles from each chapter and  less time working through the doctrine, especially on the problem-intensive sections. This is the trade-off: There is less reading in this class and the reading is more straightforward than parsing cases yourself. But you must learn the doctrinal and theoretical basics (including the facts and details of key cases listed on the syllabus) through the short and straight-forward reading in preparing for class; you must understand the basic rules, standards, and ideas on a broad level, then apply that to our discussion of the Puzzles and problems. 

 

Assignments for the first week of class, Monday, January 6-Tuesday January 7. You can read that entire Chapter 2 if you want to get ahead:

Good Writing and Talking Procedure

You will write three 1000-word essays. And you will talk  about the law throughout the semester, in class and during arguments. Although I do not care about formal bluebooking in writing, I care about your writing and analysis. And I care about how you talk and write about courts and procedure, that you do so properly and not with the (inaccurate) informality you often see.

After the jump are tips on both. I expect you to  these (it will improve your papers), especially as to how you cite rules and statutes and how you talk about courts.

Supplemental Materials

After the jump, some additional cases, statutory provisions, legislation, and other sources; they are indicated as (Blog) on the Syllabus. When assigned, please print and have them with you in class, especially statutory provisions.