Mar 28, 2024  
Catalogue 2021-2022 
    
Catalogue 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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POLI 243 - Constitutional Law

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course examines the art of constitutional analysis through the prism of a multifaceted exploration of the central thematic concerns of the Critical Race Theory Movement, as it has developed in the legal academy. It engages an array of perspectives on constitutional interpretation. In so doing, we examine, among other things, a number of Supreme Court opinions that focus on the intersection of issues of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation.

Topic for 2021/22b: This course is modeled very closely after the kind of constitutional law course that first-year law students take in the United States. As such, the starting point for conversations are the cases themselves. However, from there we discuss larger policy issues beyond the recognition of legal doctrine, including asking what factors affect case outcomes, what consequences come from cases, and how political actors outside the legal system react to constitutional cases. Some of the issues that are addressed in this course include racial and sexual segregation, the source and logic of American-style judicial review, powers of Congress, powers of the Presidency, powers of states, religious claims, substantive and procedural due process, sovereign and qualified immunity, abortion, and LGBT discrimination. Matthew Reid Krell.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS



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