May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

Today is the last day of 1L classes, officially.  It is not, however, the last day of 1L work.  I may be a bit radio silent for the next couple of weeks due to intense studying beyond the bounds of any studying I have done before.  The order is as follows, if you want to play along at home:

Tuesday May 1st, Property- take home, all day.

What I learned in Property this semester that I can think of right now- divisions of estates, transfer of estates, regulations of physical property, the takings clause of the 5th Amendment (or: there's a good reason Jefferson wrote "pursuit of happiness" rather than "property" after "life and liberty."), and mortgage law problems.

Friday May 4th, Criminal Justice- open book, three-ish hours. 9AM

What I learned in Criminal Justice this semester that I can think of right now- ALL the Fourth Amendment.  So much search and seizure.  Also the Sixth Amendment was there.  And you, Fifth Amendment, you were there too!  But you could only be applicable to the states because of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Well, that's how we do it now at least.

Tuesday May 8th, Constitutional Law- open book, three-ish hours, 1:30PM

What I learned in Criminal Justice this semester that I can think of right now- Alexander Hamilton was a badass, said "whatever" to the Articles of Confederation and was like "here America, have a Constitution, this is better."  John Marshall sort of screwed up his job as Secretary of State and as  a punishment got to judge the case that arose out of that as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (Marbury v. Madison)  Good for him.  The Federal Government can sort of do what it wants (implied powers) and states can't be dicks to the Federal Government for doing so (McCulloch). Habeas corpus is really very important.  No really, you can't take it away.  No, not even if you put people in Cuba and say they aren't in the U.S. so the Constitution doesn't count.  Technology and growing globalism seems to have really confused and upset everyone involved in Commerce Clause decisions.  Non-delegation of powers.

Friday, May 11th, Regulatory State- open book, three-ish hours, 9AM

What I learned in Regulatory State this semester that I can think of right now- Hey, remember non-delegation of powers?  Just kidding.  Congress can let agencies regulate ALL the things.  And we have to give the agencies extreme deference (Chevron) except when they don't give us 1,000's of pages of technical data to back up their decisions (State Farm). Cost-benefit analysis is the greatest thing ever.  Or the worst thing ever.


Keep these exams in mind if you happen to see me post something erratic or out of character either directly before or after the dates and times listed.


In other news, I found out yesterday that I was accepted into the Streetlaw: High School clinic for next year!  This means I'll be spending the next year teaching high school kids about law, which will be a lot like that time I spent teaching kids Economics, except this time I have actually had more than one course in the subject I am teaching.