Constitutional Law

This course will expose students to a cutting-edge critical approach that challenges the long-held beliefs that emotion is the enemy of reason and that thinking and feeling are opposite experiences. While conventional law tends to rely upon and perpetuate such beliefs, many disciplines that study decision-making or respond to human problems, including psychology, medicine, sociology, and education, have made what's called "an affective turn," revealing emotions' vital role in shaping and responding to people's experiences.

This in-person course examines how constitutional principles such as due process, equal protection, and separation of powers shape and constrain U.S. immigration law and enforcement. Students analyze key Supreme Court decisions and apply doctrinal knowledge in practice-based exercises, such as simulations and legal writing assignments.

This course will explore a variety of topics related to sexuality and the law. This course is intended as a survey of some of the major legal issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity law, including the right to engage in sexual conduct and the right to be free from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The course will discuss discrimination in a variety of contexts, including discrimination in health care and educational settings. The course will also explore different approaches to same-sex relationships, including the right to marry.

Education Law: K-12 Students and Civil Rights is a seminar courses focusing on constitutional and statutory sources of law designed to protect the individual liberty, equality, and equity interests of K-12 students in both public and private U.S. educational environments. Students must complete and present a 30-page original work of publishable quality on the related topic of their choosing, with the direction, guidance, and supervision of the instructor.

In addition to the federal constitution, each state has its own constitution.  State courts do not interpret their state constitutions identically to their federal counterpart, and in many cases in exactly the opposite way.  State Constitutional Law explores the distinctive doctrines involving state constitutions developed by both state and federal courts.  Topics considered include: constitutional amendment and revision, individual rights, federalism, and the separation of powers.

This course examines the means by which the political process, particularly the conducting of elections, is regulated in the United States.

Gambling law is a relatively unique body of law. Historically, gambling has been both prohibited and criminalized on the one hand and legalized and regulated on the other hand. Gambling law addresses the legalized and regulated aspect of gambling; the course would only lightly touch on the prohibited and criminalized aspect of gambling. This course will provide an overview of public policy issues involving legalized gambling.

This seminar will introduce students to Critical Race Theory, which is an academic project with potential political and legal implications. The project is to expose the interaction of race and law, in particular, the ways in which law has helped to create and define "race." It also exposes how racial subordination and privilege was a crucual context for the creation of many seemingly neutral legal concepts, such as property and liberty. Critical Race Theory will be contrasted to alternative academic-political perspectives on law, such as liberalism and traditionalism.

Among other things, the success of Indian gaming and the controversy surrounding the adoption of Indian children have brought new attention to the unique status of Indians and Indian tribes in the American legal system. This course examines the tension between tribal sovereignty and the and the traditional legal and political notions underlying the American federal system.

This course provides a study of the institution of judicial review, the limitations on federal judicial power and the constitutional roles of the legislative and executive branches. Due process and individual rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are also reviewed.