Civil Liberties: Constitutional Debates
Legal Studies 116b
BrandeisUniversity
Spring, 2018
OFFICE: Brown Hall 324
Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 10-2 PM
Instructor: Mr. Breen
Course Description
This course makes a broad survey of civil liberties and their evolving role in American life. Drawing mainly onUS Supreme Court decisions, we will examine how key legal battles have shapedthe political, economic, and social development of American life—and how the Court’s opinions have, in turn been shaped by those developments. Our purpose throughout the semester will be to explore civil liberties not simply as they have been announced in the cases, but as they have been understood and fought for by concerned men and women, alteringin the process our understanding of the potential of the individual in American life.
Across this survey of cases and rights, we will see the Supreme Court wrestle with a classic political theme: what are the powers of the state, and how far can it goin restricting the scope of individual liberty? We will see how that question has arisen in Suzette Kelo’s determination to hang on to her “little pink house” in New London, in Lillian Gobitis’ refusal to salute the flag during the daily Pledge of Allegiance at her school in Minersville, PA, in the state’s lax protection of young Joshua DeShaney from his abusive father. In these and other cases dealing with economic rights, free speech, religion, discrimination, and privacy, the discussion will engage broad questions of individual rights, and how they play out in debates central to American life and culture.
In that spirit, you’ll be asked to write three extended essays on questions that will demand a creative and thoughtful discussion about the way civil liberties work, or ought to work, in an area of contemporary concern. The first essay, due on February 8th, will probably address an issue of economic rights. The second essay, due on March 8th, will address an issue of freedom of expression. And the third essay, due on or about April 19th, will likely address an issue of affirmative action. Each of the three essays will account for 20% of your final grade. The Final Exam will account for 25% of the grade, and the remaining 15% will be assigned to attendance and class participation.
Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Required Texts
Hobson, The Great Yazoo Lands Sale
Goldstein, Flag Burning and Free Speech
Perry, The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases
Course Schedule and Readings
Jan. 11th: Introduction
The Story of Giordano Bruno
Jan. 16-23: The Constitutional Setting: The Origins of the Bill of Rights
READINGS: Marbury v. Madison
Jan. 25-30: Economic Rights and American Capitalism: the Contracts Clause
READINGS:
Charles River Bridge v. Warren
Fletcher v. Peck
Hobson, The Great Yazoo Lands Sale
Feb. 1: The Limits of the Constitution: State Action and Inaction
READINGS: DeShaney v. Winnebago County
Feb. 6-8: Economic Rights and Public Purposes: the Takings Clause
READINGS: Kelo v. City of New London
South Carolina Coastal Council v. Lucas
FIRST PAPER DUE: Feb. 8
Feb. 13-15: Freedom of Expression and Association
READINGS: Schenck v. United States
Whitney v. California
Cohen v. California
Feb. 19-23: MIDTERM RECESS
Feb. 27-March 1: Freedom of Expression (Cont.)
READINGS: Texas v. Johnson
Goldstein, Flag Burning and Free Speech
March 6-8: The (Dis)Establishment of Religion
READINGS: Lee v. Weisman
Zobrest v. CatalinaFoothillsSchool District
Gobitis v. MinersvilleSchool District
SECOND PAPER DUE: March 8
March 13-15: The Free Exercise of Religion
READINGS: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah
City of Bourne v. Flores
Employment Division v. Smith
March 20-22: The Equal Protection of the Laws: Racial Discrimination
READINGS: Brown v. Board of Education
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
March 27: Affirmative Action: Undoing the Legacy of “Separate but Equal”
READINGS: Perry, The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases
Grutter v. Bollinger
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle
March 29: The Equal Protection of the Laws: Nonracial Classifications
READINGS: Muller v. Oregon
Frontiero v. Richardon
Craig v. Boren
March 30-April 6: SPRING RECESS
April 10-12: Non-Racial Classifications (cont.)
READINGS: U.S. v. Virginia
Rodriquez v. San Antonio School District
Romer v. Evans
Obergefell v. Hodges
April 17-24: The Terror Cases
READINGS: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Boumediene v. Bush
THIRD PAPER DUE: April 19
April 26: Final Thoughts
FINAL EXAM: Date and Time TBA