1L Exam Prep and Motivation Thread Forum

[solotee]

Crim law exam in less than a week. Exam prep begins now.

[geekrocker37]

Crim law exam in less than a week. Exam prep begins now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QwyEoFyV3s

MPC FTW

[BarbellDreams]

I am fully convinced I don't know anything about Con Law except Commerce Clause and Spending Power...and I somehow doubt our final will be on either of those. Seriously, some of the stuff people say in class makes me think I either skipped class all semester or we speak different languages.

[solotee]

I am fully convinced I don't know anything about Con Law except Commerce Clause and Spending Power...and I somehow doubt our final will be on either of those. Seriously, some of the stuff people say in class makes me think I either skipped class all semester or we speak different languages.

+10000

[Grizz]

I am fully convinced I don't know anything about Con Law except Commerce Clause and Spending Power...and I somehow doubt our final will be on either of those. Seriously, some of the stuff people say in class makes me think I either skipped class all semester or we speak different languages.

Read Chemerinsky. That book is saving my ass. The supplement is better than his own lectures at saying the stuff he's trying to say sometimes.

[09042014]

Fuck it.

This seems to be the prevailing feeling among most here.

I feel like I want to go kick ass on exams. But I don't know what Actus Reus is, and I went to the movies last night. FAIL.

[Pretzel_Logic]

Also, I have a weird compulsion with cutting my outlines down to be shorter and shorter...is this bad?

No, mine aren't that long to start with and I chopped most of them down to attack outlines in the day or two before the exams. Made me make sure I actually knew WTF was going on when everything turns into shorthand, especially for closed-book exams.

Also, took an amazing nap right after class and been outlining Ks ever since...I'm finishing this sucker TONIGHT

[traehekat]

taking today to basically read everything i need to know about the executive power with the chemerinsky hb. i've neglected conlaw so much this semester because our prof basically lays everything out pretty clearly in powerpoints and then after we finish a section she actually hands us an "outline" of the material from that section.

i figure everyone else is doing AT LEAST what i've been doing so far, so i better start doing something a little more (like actually reading...) if i want to salvage a decent grade.

update: after a few hours of studying, i got in my car to head back home for lunch only to find it would not start. had it taken in to the shop, where it was determined i needed a new fuel pump. 5 hours and $950 later, i don't know shit about the executive power.

needless to say, today has not gone as planned.

[Always Credited]

taking today to basically read everything i need to know about the executive power with the chemerinsky hb. i've neglected conlaw so much this semester because our prof basically lays everything out pretty clearly in powerpoints and then after we finish a section she actually hands us an "outline" of the material from that section.

i figure everyone else is doing AT LEAST what i've been doing so far, so i better start doing something a little more (like actually reading...) if i want to salvage a decent grade.

update: after a few hours of studying, i got in my car to head back home for lunch only to find it would not start. had it taken in to the shop, where it was determined i needed a new fuel pump. 5 hours and $950 later, i don't know shit about the executive power.

needless to say, today has not gone as planned.

Executive Power:

President has all his sweet enumerated powers.

When acting domestically, President must generally act either with enumerated powers or pursuant to an express or implied Congressional authorization, but where there is no such authorization on point, constitutionality likely depends more on practicality - go functionalist. When the president takes measure incompatible with the express or implied will of Congress, such measures will only be allowed if the Congressional will is unconstitutional or outside of Congress' territory. Thomas, however, believes that the president nevertheless has inherent powers even domestically such that the president can act even against express Congressional will.
Statutes may be interpreted broadly/narrowly as justices see fit to possibly show implied Congressional assent.

When acting as to foreign affairs, President has much more latitude. The two classes (domestic+foreign) are different "both in respect to their origin and nature", and President may have certain inherent powers when acting in the foreign domain. President can unilaterally rescind treaties, because SCOTUS has found this issue to be nonjusticiable political question. Executive agreements are a-OK, and are binding law under the Supremacy Clause - finds certain statutes giving implied Congressional assent, and history backs them up.

War Time. American citizens apprehended in foreign countries and held as enemy combatants must be accorded due process and a meaningful factual hearing. Detention of such people was found to be authorized via the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed after 9/11. Scalia argues that the only way to hold American citizens w/o due process is to suspend writs of habeas corpus, and even if Congress passed a statute that OK'd this, it would be unconstitutional so searching for Congressional assent is bullshit. Souter and Ginny argue that the permission granted in the AUMF wasn't express enough. As to military tribunals, they can't be used to try enemy combatants under any current legislation or military law (nor are warrantless wiretaps OK under these statutes).
Breakdown:
indefinitely detain US cits captured abroad - not OK
indefinitely detain US cits capped at home - not OK
try foreign enemy combatants by military tribunal without court martial rights - not OK
conduct warrantless wiretapping of US cits - not OK
torture alleged enemy combatants - not OK

Thomas - agrees with the principle of inherent powers pushed by Bush administration, president has primary authority on all matters foreign policy and can even ignore direct congressional statutes limiting this authority
Souter - President cant act contrary to a congressional statute such as the NDA, but even if no statute is on point, president STILL cannot act. Congress must pass laws directly authorizing the president to take action.
Scalia/Stevens - Rejects inherent constitutional authority to act in the face of statutes that say otherwise. Scalia believes in the concept of the "unitary executive", but remember: the idea that the president controls the entire pie of executive power is analytically different than the size of the pie that the president controls.

Delegated Power
SCOTUS is cool with Congress delegating power to executive agencies so long as the statute creating the agency provides an "intelligible principle" to guide the agency's/executive official's exercise of discretion. Anything less than an "intelligible principle" will be unconstitutional under the NonDelegation Doctrine - the idea that Congress cant give away its legislative authority.
Legislative Veto is unconstitutional, see Chada.
Line Item Veto is unconstitutional, see Clinton.

Appointment/Removal
President can appoint, with advice and consent of senate, Superior Officers of the US, and Congress can vest in the President AND the Judiciary the power to appoint Inferior Officers. AG can ask for a Special Prosecutor, adversarial to the president, to be appointed by the Judiciary.
The President may remove executive officials unless removal is limited by statute. Congress, by statute, can limit removal if it is an office where independence from the president would be desirable, AND if the statute does not prohibit removal, but only limits removal to instances where "good cause" is shown.

Privilege
Need for evidence at a criminal trial outweighs executive privilege
President or Ex President may NOT be sued for money damages for conduct while in office
President MAY be sued for acts that allegedly occurred prior to taking office

[traehekat]

taking today to basically read everything i need to know about the executive power with the chemerinsky hb. i've neglected conlaw so much this semester because our prof basically lays everything out pretty clearly in powerpoints and then after we finish a section she actually hands us an "outline" of the material from that section.

i figure everyone else is doing AT LEAST what i've been doing so far, so i better start doing something a little more (like actually reading...) if i want to salvage a decent grade.

update: after a few hours of studying, i got in my car to head back home for lunch only to find it would not start. had it taken in to the shop, where it was determined i needed a new fuel pump. 5 hours and $950 later, i don't know shit about the executive power.

needless to say, today has not gone as planned.

Executive Power:...

haha well shoot, thanks!

[Always Credited]

hope it helps mang

[snowpeach06]

I was just gonna come in stating my confusion about Executive powers even after reading Chemerinsky. Gracias!

[BarbellDreams]

Outlines:

Property: Done.
Crim pro: Done.
Civ Pro: Done.
Con Law: *crickets*

[snowpeach06]

My outline:
Civ Pro: Mostly done. Probably another 2-3 hours
Con Law: I need to do equal protection and Due Process. So, most of the topics are done, but this is still like 1/2 the class
Property: I have a random jumble of things that are sort of like an outline but not.
IP: Yeah... nothing.
Original goal for today: finish Con Law and Civ Pro. I'll be thrilled to just finish con law though. I think I can, I think I can...

[Stanford4Me]

I finally got in my stride. I'm only about 1/3 done with Torts and 2/5 done with Admin. Nothing for Corporations. Luckily, Corporations has a) daily notes typed by the TA, and b) powerpoint slides provided by the professor. My goal is to be up to date in all three classes by the end of this week. NBA Finals are not helping at all.

[kalvano]

Finally getting around to outlining stuff. Mainly focusing on Contracts and Property, since those are my 3-credit courses.

Glad to see that, as I review stuff, I recall a lot of it.

[snowpeach06]

Le sigh: i'm all over the place. Probably time for a dinner break. Going to get food/eating/watching tv while i eat and then more until I finish and have my concentration back is such a waste of time. But, otherwise I'm useless.

[traehekat]

NBA playoffs not going to be good for outlining...

Civ Pro: Almost done
Crim Law: Almost done
Con Law: 2/3 done
Evidence: lol...

edit: alright, no more basketball for today (eh, maybe catch 2nd half of hawks/magic). off to do some con law.

[swc65]

Also, I have a weird compulsion with cutting my outlines down to be shorter and shorter...is this bad?

No, mine aren't that long to start with and I chopped most of them down to attack outlines in the day or two before the exams. Made me make sure I actually knew WTF was going on when everything turns into shorthand, especially for closed-book exams.

Also, took an amazing nap right after class and been outlining Ks ever since...I'm finishing this sucker TONIGHT

i think getting the outlines down to bare minimum helps a lot. it highlights the concepts that are really important and most broadly applicable. I think the heavily rule based classes (like CivPro) might be somewhat of an exception to this.

[BarbellDreams]

NBA playoffs not going to be good for outlining...

Civ Pro: Almost done
Crim Law: Almost done
Con Law: 2/3 done
Evidence: lol...

edit: alright, no more basketball for today (eh, maybe catch 2nd half of hawks/magic). off to do some con law.

NBA + NHL playoffs are just murder. I somehow only allowed myself to watch the Bulls/Pacers 4th quarter because it was intriguing that Pacers were actually up but other than that I am sticking to my guns. finals should be over by the time the first round of the playoffs is over.

[traehekat]

NBA playoffs not going to be good for outlining...

Civ Pro: Almost done
Crim Law: Almost done
Con Law: 2/3 done
Evidence: lol...

edit: alright, no more basketball for today (eh, maybe catch 2nd half of hawks/magic). off to do some con law.

NBA + NHL playoffs are just murder. I somehow only allowed myself to watch the Bulls/Pacers 4th quarter because it was intriguing that Pacers were actually up but other than that I am sticking to my guns. finals should be over by the time the first round of the playoffs is over.

well luckily that was the best quarter to watch drooooooseee

[mths]

Fuck it.

This seems to be the prevailing feeling among most here.

I feel like I want to go kick ass on exams. But I don't know what Actus Reus is, and I went to the movies last night. FAIL.

Question was: Why is DF awesome?

[Pretzel_Logic]

NBA playoffs not going to be good for outlining...

Civ Pro: Almost done
Crim Law: Almost done
Con Law: 2/3 done
Evidence: lol...

edit: alright, no more basketball for today (eh, maybe catch 2nd half of hawks/magic). off to do some con law.

NBA + NHL playoffs are just murder. I somehow only allowed myself to watch the Bulls/Pacers 4th quarter because it was intriguing that Pacers were actually up but other than that I am sticking to my guns. finals should be over by the time the first round of the playoffs is over.

I blame the NCAA tournament for me having only one outline finished. And also oral arguments. And the Masters. And I'm a procrastinator.

But I have one done...always look at the bright side of life, amirite?

On to con law, I'm going to /self now

[los blancos]

Outlining Crim is like bashing head into brick wall

[swc65]

Outlining Crim is like bashing head into brick wall

So is Law and Econ- and the library closed at 8 tonight!! WTF Ive never been there on a Saturday so was totally surprise.