Assignment # 2- Legal Research Worksheet

1. Go to Concordias Library website and find Lexis Nexus. Log on using your username and
password. Also, use http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/ to correctly cite cases in your writing.
In 2010, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in that Californias Proposition 8 violated the 14th
Amendment to the United States Constitution. Your assignment is to do some legal research to
find relevant information regarding the cases and statues related to the issue of same sex
marriage.
a. How does the California State Constitution define marriage? Cut and paste the
constitutional wording and the citation.
b. Proposition 8 was also challenged in the California Supreme Court in 2010 (In
California, The California State Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in issues related
to state constitutional referendums). Cite the case that the California Supreme Court
heard. Cut and paste the Lexus description of how the California Supreme Court ruled.
c. How is marriage defined in the Federal Statutes? Cut and paste the federal statute(s)
and cite the relevant statute.
d. What are the statutory requirements to be married in Texas? Cite law and paste relevant
statutes.
e. Cut and paste the legal description and citations of Federal District Court cases in
California that challenged Proposition 8s constitutionality?
f. What are the fundamental U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to homosexuality?
g. What are the fundamental U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to the recognition of
marriages by states?
2. Your friend is a tenant in an apartment in Oklahoma City and is a Student at Oklahoma City
Community College. In the middle of the semester he has to quickly quit school (therefore
abandoning his apartment) to take care of urgent family business. He returns 20 days later to find
that all of his possessions have been disposed of. The landlord claims that because of his nonpayment of rent, the apartment was emptied for a new tenant and all of his possessions were
thrown away or sold. Your friend wishes to be compensated for his lost property. Was the
landlord legally correct in his disposal of the tenants possessions? Why/why not? Find a
Oklahoma statute to substantiate your argument. Cite the statute and provision as well as a brief
description of what the law says.
3. Look up the Texas Supreme Court case City of Dallas v. Stewart (2011). What are the facts of
the case? What was the district court asked to decide in this case? What did the Texas court of
civil appeals decide? What did the Texas Supreme Court decide? Was there a dissent? What are
some of the lines of precedent (stare decisis) that were used in this particular case?
Continued on Next Page>>>>>

4. Go to the Texas Statutes website at www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us and search the Texas Civil
Remedies and Practice Code to solve the problem below.
a. Where in the Texas Constitution does it articulate limits on how much someone can
recover in medical malpractice lawsuits? What are the limits?
b. Is it ever legitimate for authorities of the state of Texas to suspend the right of habeas
corpus? Provide the section of the Texas constitution that identifies this concept.
c. Your friend, who lives in Texas, has opened his land up for use by local dove hunters.
One of the hunters was walking in the field, tripped over a rock, and has sued your friend
for damages. Essentially the plaintiff is suing based on the claim that the land owner had
a duty of care to those who used the land and therefore, your friend has a liable for
damages. Your friend wants to know whether or not the plaintiff has a legitimate claim.
What statue would you refer to regarding this issue to advise your friend? (Hint: it is
under Tort law) Does the plaintiff have a case under Texas law? Cite the statute(s) that
you are basing your assumptions on.
5. Go to the U.S. Supreme Courts website at www.supremecourt.gov and answers the question
below.
a. Look up the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that dealt with Arizonas Campaign Finance
Law in 2011. What is the name of the case? What were the facts in the controversy? Who
wrote the majority opinion? Who wrote the dissenting opinion? Where did the case
originate before being granted certiorari by the Supreme Court? From looking at the
opinion, state what you think the significance of the case was.
b. What is the gist of an article written in the Cato Supreme Court Review (A Law
review article) titled Dont Feed the Alligators regarding campaign finance laws? Does
the author think the ruling in the Arizona case is consistent with the precedent established
in Buckley v. Valeo?
6. Go to the Thomas website to research the questions below at http://thomas.loc.gov/
a. Which U.S. House Member Represents the zip code 78726? Who are Texas U.S.
Senators?
b. Find the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 that was passed through Congress in 2007.
What exactly did the act accomplish? How many representatives from Texas voted
against it? How many Representatives from Texas voted? Did it have any cosponsors
from Texas? How did the Rep. from 78726 vote? How about Texass two U.S. Senators?
c. Find some testimony from Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling regarding the
legislation. Why did he support/reject the legislation? Provide a brief synopsis of the crux
of his argument.