Week of January 13 assignment for UIC students only:

Turn in hard copy at start of class on Thursday, January 15

First read Kerr's "How to read a legal opinon" (readings page).

Then, from the 1966 decision of the US Supreme Court in Hoffa v. US available from URL
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=385&invol=293,
read the intro material (from the start to the beginning of Section I) and Section I of the decision, and the dissent of Warren.

Based on your reading, write a 500-word summary in the style of a newspaper reporter explaining the Court’s decision to the general public. Be sure to include the vote of the Court on the case. (The US Supreme Court has nine members.) Do not look at other sources of information about the specific case Hoffa v. US. The point of the assignment is to put you in the position of the newspaper reporter on the day the Court releases its decision, when there are not yet any secondary sources.

General background: Jimmy Hoffa was the president of the Teamsters’ union from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Many felt that the Teamsters’ union was deeply connected with organized crime.

Incidentally, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975, and was never seen again.