Categories: Constitutional Law Legal History

Instructor(s)

Schwartz, David

Course Data

Room 5223
W 9:50am-11:50am

Pass/Fail: No

Course Description

This advanced constitutional law seminar explores the theory of constitutional interpretation known as “Originalism” – a family of theories unified around the core idea that proper constitutional interpretation must adhere to the Constitution’s original meaning. We will read and discuss various leading accounts of originalism by its proponents and its critics, including both theoretical discussions of originalism and its application to particular interpretive problems and constitutional debates.

The seminar is intended to be a joint, collaborative inquiry with the professor acting as a guide through the course material and issues, in contrast to a traditional lecture course in which the professor has fully digested and synthesized the subject matter. This means that seminar participants should plan to take an active role in all discussions and to lead one hour of class discussion during the semester. In addition to individual papers (described below), seminar members will contribute to a collaborative wiki and analytical bibliography, in which we compile the various arguments, objections, and replies to the various tenets and elements of the various versions of originalism, cataloguing and organizing the articles we read. Students will be expected to do some independent reading in addition to assigned readings.

Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Students must have completed, or be contemporaneously enrolled in, Constitutional Law I or II.
No pass-fail allowed

Course Requirements:
You will have the option to elect a “research paper track” or a “short paper track”:

“Research paper track” option:
(Required for students wanting to meet upper level LRW requirement)
1: Prepare for and actively participate in the discussion or activity in each class meeting;
2: Lead class discussion (presentation on reading) 1 time during the semester;
3: Write 3 article abstracts (80-word summary of a reading plus 5-10 keywords);
4: Write research paper (15 or more pp; 20 pages required for LRW requirement)(must submit draft and final versions).

“Short paper track” option:
1: Prepare for and actively participate in the discussion or activity in each class meeting;
2: Lead class discussion (presentation on reading) 1 time during the semester;
3: Write 3 article abstracts (80-word summary of a reading plus 5-10 keywords);
4: Write 2 short papers (3-5 pp each).

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