Silence and Justice

LJST 32, Spring 2009

Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 11:00-11:50
Converse Hall, Room 209

Ethan H. MacAdam
201 Clark House
Office hours: Monday & Wednesday, 9:10-10:40, and by appointment
Office phone: (413) 542-5369
E-mail:
Mailbox: LJST Dept. Office, 208 Clark House (AC# 2261)

What is the role of silencein matters of justice? When considered in the verbally and textually based contexts oflegal processes, silence seems an odd phenomenon on which to focus, and yet the silences of the court and itsvariousactors form one of the most crucial aspects oflegal proceedings and their legacies; in larger and more general contexts, silence — what is not, what is not said, what cannot be said, what is silenced, etc. — conditionssome of our most important instincts about the justnessofhuman conduct, bothin history and inthe present moment. Is silence a force for or against justice, or is it somehow indifferent? If the answer to this question changes with context, then what sort of concept is silence taken as a whole (is there indeed such a concept)? How do deliberate, voluntary, coerced, unintentional, or emergent silences differ on practical and moral levels? In this course, we will examine answers to these questions among others, both in case law and legal theory, and in critical perspectives drawn from philosophy, literature and political science.

Required text:

course packet (available for purchase from Ms. Megan Estes-Ryan in the
LJST department office); all other texts are on electronic reserve (see course site)

Course requirements: Two papers (6-8 pgs. each), a discussion-leading exercise, and a take-home final examination.

Attendance: There is no attendance policy for this course; if you do miss class, though, please make yourself responsible for catching up (through classmates, etc.) on what we did during that session. Generally, you will have the option of checking this course’s online site (i.e., in the CMS interface), where you can read/download most announcements, hand-outs, etc. (please be sure to examine all areas when looking for materials you may have missed). Occasionally, I may also post additional announcements or other items not mentioned in class, so it’s a good idea to check the course site once or twice a week even if you have been attending consistently.

Grading:

Two papers: 35% each

Discussion-leading exercise: 10%

Take-home final exam: 20%

Syllabus:

(p) - in course packet

(e) - on electronic reserve (see course site)

Jan. 26:Introduction

Jan. 28:Franz Kafka, The Trial (excerpt) (p)

Jan 30:Marianne Constable, “Prologue: Signs of Silence” (handout)

Feb. 2:Shane Weller, “Nothing to Be Said” (e)

Feb. 4:Peter Tiersma, “The Language of Silence” (e)

Feb. 6:Tiersma, “The Language of Silence”

Feb. 9:Louis Seidman, “Introduction: The Strangest Right,” “Some Useful Dichotomies” (p)

Feb. 11:Federal Rules of Evidence (e)

Feb. 13:Federal Rules of Evidence

consults begin for self-made topics

Feb. 16:Stefan Krieger, “A Time to Keep Silent and a Time to Speak: The Functions of Silence in the Lawyering Process Federal Rules of Evidence” (e)

Feb. 18:Krieger, “A Time to Keep Silent and a Time to Speak”

Feb. 20:Fifth Amendment (e)

first paper topics distributed

Feb. 23:Bram v. United States (e)

Feb. 25:Miranda v. Arizona (e)

Feb. 27:Miranda v. Arizona (e)

March 2:Doyle v. Ohio (e)

FIRST PAPER DUE

March 4:Jenkins v. Anderson (e)

March 6:David Romantz, “‘You Have the Right to Remain Silent’:A Case for the Use of Silence as Substantive Proof of the Criminal Defendant’s Guilt” (e)

March 9:Constable, “Brave New Words: The Miranda Warning as Speech Act” (p)

March 11:Seidman, “Silence and Self-Incrimination: ‘Fuck This Shit’” (p)

March 13:Seidman, “Silence and Intimacy in the Station House” (p)

spring break!

March 23:Brewer v. Williams (e)

March 25:Chavez v. Martinez (e)

March 27:Alan Dershowitz, “What is the Right Against Self-Incrimination?” “The Supreme Court’s Recent Decision” (p)

March 30:Dershowitz, “Lim The Limits of Textual Analysis in Constitutional Interpretation”, “The Case for a Vibrant Privilege in the PreventiveState” (p)

April 1:In re: grand jury subpoena, Judith Miller (e)

April 3:Near v.Minnesota (e)

April 6:Texas v. Johnson (e)

April 8:Constable, “Flags, Words, Laws, and Things” (p)

April 10:Roth v. United States (e)

consults begin for self-made topics

April 13Catherine MacKinnon, “Equality and Speech” (p)

April 15:Beauharnais v.Illinois (e)

April 17:Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (U.K.) (e)

second paper topics assigned

April 20:Seidman, “Free Speech and Free Silence” (p)

April 22:Wendy Brown, “Freedom’s Silences” (p)

April 24:West Virginia v. Barnette (e)

April 27:Elaine Scarry, “Introduction” (from The Body in Pain) (p)

SECOND PAPER DUE

April 29:Seidman, “Torture’s Truth” (p)

May 1:Robert Faurisson, “The ‘Problem of the Gas Chambers’” (e)

May 4: Pierre Vidal-Naquet, "History, Myth, and the Holocaust” (p)

May 6: Jean-François Lyotard, “Result” (p)

May 8: review