Homework Assignment Wk 2 MBA 524

· Answer: Chapter 5 - Case 5.1 Questions 1-3.

· 1. What was missing that the Court indicated was needed in order to find that the mandate was constitutional?

· 2. What was the purpose of the court’s discussion of a healthy diet?

· 3. What sources does the court rely on for constitutional interpretation?

· Discuss: Ethical issues p. 159.

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson was charged with murder in June 1994 in the double homicide of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Because Mr. Simpson was charged with a capital crime, he was incarcerated upon being charged. California’s version of the Son of Sam law prevents profits from crimes only after there has been a conviction. Mr. Simpson authored a book, I Want to Tell You, while he was incarcerated and his nine-month trial in progress. Mr. Simpson also signed autographs and sports memorabilia and sold them from the Los Angeles County jail. Mr. Simpson’s cottage industry from jail netted him in excess of $3 million. Could a law that passes constiutional muster be implemented to prevent crime-related profits like those Mr. Simpson was able to obtain?

Mr. Simpson was acquitted of the murders. Following his acquittal, prosecutors in the case, Christopher Darden, Marcia Clark, and Hank Goldberg, signed multi-mil- lion-dollar book contracts to write about their experiences during the trial. Alan Dershowitz, the late Johnnie Cochran, and Robert Shapiro, members of the Simpson defense team, signed six-figure contracts to write books about the trial from the defense perspective. Daniel Petrocelli, the lawyer who represented the Goldmans in their civil suit against Mr. Simpson, also wrote a book, Triumph of Justice: The Final Judgment on the Simpson Saga.

In 2007, a book by Mr. Simpson, If I Did It, was released by the Goldman family. The Goldmans had acquired the rights to the Simpson book because of their $33 million judgment against Mr. Simpson following the civil case for wrongful death. They were assigned the rights to the book’s royalties as a means of collecting the judgment. Upon its release, the book soared to number 1 on Amazon.com even as Mr. Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas for his alleged role in a robbery of sports paraphernalia.

Is it moral to profit from a crime and a trial? Are these book contracts a form of making money from the deaths of two people? Many publishers refused to pub- lish If I Did It, and networks refused to air interviews with Mr. Simpson about the book. Would you have declined the book for publication or to air an interview that would have brought in ad revenues?

· Answer: Chapter 5- Case 5.6 Questions 1-3.

· 1. What is different between this case and a case in which property is taken for constructing a freeway?

· 2. What is the concern of the dissent about the decision?

· 3. Why does the majority state that the courts should be reluctant to get involved in local government eminent domain activities?

· Answer: Chapter 6 - Questions 5, 7.

5. Rhonda Kallman founded a company that produces Moonshot 69, a caffeinated beer. Each bottle of beer contains about twice as much caffeine as a can of Pepsi. In 2011, Ms. Kallman, along with three other manufacturers, was served with a cease-and-desist notice from the FDA to remove the caffeine from her beer or stop selling the product. Ms. Kallman has said that what the FDA is doing is like Prohibition 2010 and that it has no authority to regulate the sale or production of alcohol. She also indicates that Moonshot 69 is not an energy drink like those that are subject to FDA regulation. She says that agencies should regulate and not ban products. What information could you share with Ms. Kallman that would help determine what the FDA is trying to accomplish?

7. Hooked on Phonics is a reading program that departs from the current educational reading philosophy of “whole-language learning.” The program emphasizes the more traditional reading process of having children sound out letters and combinations of letters. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a false advertising complaint against Gateway Educational Products, Inc., the owner of the Hooked on Phonics program. The FTC claimed that Gateway’s television claims that those with reading disabilities would be helped “quickly and easily” and that Hooked on Phonics could “teach reading in a home setting without additional assistance” were misleading. Gateway does not feel the claims are false, but it does not want to have bad publicity. What advice can you give Gateway on handling the FTC charges?