Read the excerpts of Hurtado v. California and Powell v. Alabama which you can find in the Fundamental Fairness folder on iLearn. These cases are difficult to understand, especially Hurtado, so bring a paper draft of your answers to the next class Thursday (2/14). We will spend time in class reviewing it and you can submit a final draft after class.

Read the excerpts of Hurtado v. California and Powell v. Alabama which you can find in the Fundamental Fairness folder on iLearn. These cases are difficult to understand, especially Hurtado, so bring a paper draft of your answers to the next class Thursday (2/14). We will spend time in class reviewing it and you can submit a final draft after class.

Hurtado v. California

1. What was Joseph Hurtado accused of?
2. Was he prosecuted in state or federal court?
3. Hurtado appealed his case to the California Supreme Court and lost. However, July 6, 1883, just before the superior court issued a new date for execution, his lawyer objected to the execution of the judgement. On what grounds did the lawyer rely?
4. After that Hurtado took his case to the California Supreme court (again) and lost (again). Ultimately the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. What proposition of law was the Court asked to affirm?
5. The Court looked to the previous case of Murray’s Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Company. In that case Justice Curtis arguably set out an “indispensable test of what constitutes due process of law.” What was that test?
6. Instead of using that test, the court relied on the rule of usus loquendi to define “due process”, that means looking to other appearances of the word in the document. What other part of the constitution did the Court look to for a definition of “due process”.
7. The Court also quoted the case of Missouri v. Lewis, “The Fourteenth Amendment … does not profess to secure to all persons in the United States the benefit of the same laws and the same remedies… [e]ach State prescribes its own modes of judicial proceeding.” What do you think this means?

8. What was the Court’s holding in Hurtado?

OVER→For Powell Questions

Name:

Powell v. Alabama

1. Were the defendants prosecuted in state or federal court?
2. At the arraignment who was appointed to represent the defendants?
3. Who was Mr. Roddy? What did he say to the court on the morning of the trial? Who was Mr. Moody?
4. What penalty was imposed on the defendants after the trial?
5. What was the issue before the Supreme Court?
6. Why didn’t the court follow its holding from Hurtado v. California?
7. What was the Court’s holding in Powell?

Thought Question:

Pick one of the cases and write a one or two page brief following the monster court method. Note- you may not find all the components of the case brief in every excerpt. For example, many cases won’t include dicta.