This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.
Discussions: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
This course introduces students to the work of the Supreme Court and to the main outlines of American constitutional law, with an emphasis on the development of American ideas about civil rights. The goal of the course is to provide students with a framework for understanding the major constitutional controversies of the present day through a reading of landmark Supreme Court cases and the public debates they have generated. The principal topics are civil liberties in wartime, race relations, privacy rights, and the law of criminal procedure.
At least once during the course of the semester, students will have the opportunity to pair up in teams of two and provide an oral presentation of both sides of one particular case. In addition, I will make liberal use of the so-called "Socratic method" employed in law schools, which means that students should come prepared for each class session regardless of whether or not they have been asked to prepare oral argument for that particular class.
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Fallon, Richard H., Jr. The Dynamic Constitution: An Introduction to American Constitutional Law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780521600781.
Goldstein, Brand. Storming the Court: How A Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President – and Won. New York, NY: Scribner, 2005. ISBN: 9780743230018.
All Supreme Court cases and other required readings given by the instructor are available in the readings section. Students are required to print and bring their own copies of these Web site materials to the relevant class sessions.
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Midterm exam | 30% |
| Class participation and oral presentations | 30% |
| Final exam | 40% |
| SES # | TOPICS |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction |
| 2 | The Supreme Court in the 21st century |
| 3 | The separation of powers and judicial review (the early Supreme Court) |
| 4 | Federalism |
| 5 | The wartime Constitution (I) – the post-9/11 era |
| 6 | The wartime Constitution (II) – World War II and Korean War precedents |
| 7 | The wartime Constitution (III) – freedom of speech and belief |
| 8 | The wartime Constitution (IV) – the First Amendment |
| 9 | Religion – the free exercise and establishment clauses |
| 10 | Economic liberties and substantive due process |
| 11 | Desegregation |
| 12 | Freedom of association |
| 13 | Affirmative action |
| 14 | Gender discrimination |
| Midterm exam | |
| 15 | Criminal procedure |
| 16 | The conflict between civil liberties and civil rights (guest lecture by Harvey Silverglate, Esq.) |
| 17 | From the "war on crime" to the "war on terror" |
| 18 | Fundamental rights (I) |
| 19 | Fundamental rights (II) |
| 20 | The Eighth Amendment |
| 21 | Immigration and citizenship |
| 22 | Welfare and poverty |
| 23 | Sexual orientation |
| 24 | Marriage |
| 25 | Political participation |
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