Welcome to Constitutional Law. This class will cover a wide range of topics in constitutional law, including our constitutional structure, the scope of federal powers, the separation of powers, the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, individual liberty, federalism, the First Amendment speech and religion clauses, the Supreme Court, and many other topics. We will be using “Constitutional Law: Cases in Context” by Barnett and Katz (Second Edition, Aspen Casebook Series) and the 2016 Supplement (Barnett, Katz, and Blackman).
You can find the syllabus here. Your assignment for the first day of class on 1/12/17:
Class 1 – 1/12/17
Our Founding Documents
- The Origins of the Constitution (3-4)
- The Declaration of Independence (4- 8)
- Read the Declaration of Independence (National Archives)
- The Articles of Confederation (21-22)
- Read the Articles of Confederation (xlix – liv)
- Drafting and Ratifying the Constitution (22-25)
- Read the Constitution of the United States (xxxi – xl).
- The Origins of the Bill of Rights and Anti-Federalist Complaints (36)
- Read the Amendments to the Constitution (xl-xlvii)
Note: Read these documents in their entirety. They’re not long. And no one should graduate law school without reading them at least once.
Here is the playlist for the lectures from Spring 2016:
The lectures for this semester will appear on this playlist: