Course Objectives

The main purpose of this course is to introduce you to classical and contemporary theories of civil rights and civil liberties and to examine the role of the Supreme Court in defining the fundamental rights and liberties of citizens in the United States such as affirmative action, religion in schools, freedom of speech, pornography and abortion. In our system of separated powers, it is the duty of the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter in balancing the rights of the individual against the common good. We will examine the inherent tension in supporting individual rights when such individual rights conflict with the will of the democratic majority. By the end of the course, rather than having memorized dozens of Supreme Court cases (though we will be reading many of them), you should be able to think critically about the logical foundations of the cases and the historical development of the justification for including civil rights and liberties in a constitution.

By the end of the semester you should have:

· investigated the theoretical foundations of civil rights and liberties, and the historical development of their application in the United States.

· developed a deeper understanding of the intersection between law and politics.

· improved your critical thinking skills.

· engaged in several critical analyses of important theoretical assumptions, claims, and arguments in particular aspects of civil rights or civil liberties.

Course Requirements

You are required to come to every class day, prepared by the reading for discussion. We will spend a great deal of time discussing these issues in a seminar format, which means that everyone is expected to have done all the reading and each person is responsible for sharing their unique understanding of the topics. Each person’s contribution is highly valued and necessary for a successful seminar. For this reason, 25% of your grade will be composed of a combination of attendance, class participation and an oral presentation. You can miss one class without any consequences for your grade. If you have to miss more than one class for any reason, then your attendance grade will suffer, regardless of the reason for missing class. If I notice that students are not doing the reading, I will include pop quizzes as a part of that grade. In that case, pop quizzes will most often occur at the beginning of class and will consist of one or two general questions about the previous night’s reading that can be answered in five to ten sentences. I do not do pop quiz make-ups under any circumstances. There are two exams: a midterm and a final, each worth 20% of your grade and there will be one 12-15 page research paper (25%). There is an assignment due at the end of three weeks that is worth 10% of your grade. These papers, assignments and exams and their respective topics will be discussed during the course of the semester. You are expected to keep a copy of your work in case something is lost. Incompletes are strongly discouraged by the College and are only given for non-academic reasons.

The Rules

Please email me or come by my office at any time to discuss issues with the class. I am usually there and I usually answer emails from students within minutes of receiving them. I genuinely look forward to discussing issues in the class with students. I encourage you to use email or office visits for any issues related to the class. On the other hand, I do not check voice mail.

In this class, we will be dealing with a great number of sensitive issues. I encourage feedback on my teaching style and the materials, both anonymously by email and otherwise, for any reason at any time, as long as it is respectful. Along those same lines, I always encourage students to disagree with anything I say at any time, again, as long as it is respectful. I expect all students to treat each other with respect as well. If I feel that you have treated me or any other student with disrespect, I will ask you to meet me in my office. If you continue at any other time to treat me or other students with disrespect, I will ask you to leave the classroom. Potentially, this kind of behavior could result in being dropped from the class. If you have any questions about my policies, or the University’s policy regarding classroom behavior, do not hesitate to bring it up in class or talk to me about it in my office. The University’s general Code of Conduct can be found at the following website: http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/stu-affairs/code.html and its code of conduct guidelines for the classroom can be found at the following website: http://www.colorado.edu/facultyaffairs/deskref/part13.html#Classroom_Behavior_Policy_And_Procedures

Sexual Harassment

I am required by law to report to university officials any sexual harassment that I observe or that is reported to me. The university’s sexual harassment policy can be found at the following website. http://www.cusys.edu/~policies/Personnel/sexharass.html

Academic Honesty

All the work you do in this course is expected to be your own. Absolutely no cheating or plagiarism (using someone else’s words or ideas without proper citation) will be tolerated. Any time that you consult outside sources, you MUST cite those sources. If your consult outside sources without citation, even if you are not citing the sources directly, this constitutes cheating. Failure to put quotation marks around direct quotations constitutes plagiarism and will always result in an F for the class. Misattribution of sources (citing certain quotations or ideas as coming from a source other than the one that they come from) will result in a lower grade. Any cases of cheating or plagiarism will be reported to the Office of the Dean of Students. If you cheat, you will fail the course. Please review the University’s policy regarding academic integrity: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/acadinteg.html

Disabilities Accommodation

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) provides protection from illegal discrimination for qualified individuals with disabilities. Students requesting instructional accommodations due to disabilities must arrange for such accommodation. Please review the University’s services for such accommodations: http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices/index.html

Required Texts

Epstein, Lee and Thomas Walker. Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights, Liberties and Justice, 6^th ed. Congressional Quarterly.

Course Outline

Note: Page numbers are listed next to cases that you should know very well.

Week	Topics	Assignments
Week 1	Introduction to the Supreme Court; Supreme Court Decision Making
Week 2	Religious Exercise	105 – 144 (Cantwell, Sherbert, Yoder, Smith, Boerne)
Week 3	Religious Establishment: The Lemon Test	145-146; 151-167; 173-212 (Lemon, Zelman, Edwards, Abington, Weisman)
Week 4	Discussion of three page assignment	Reading on website on Blaine Amendments. Three page assignment due.
Week 5	Equal Protection: Historical Context	651-670; 675- 683 (Plessy, Sweatt, excerpts from Scott, Swann)
Week 6	Expanding Equal Protection	683- 696 (Loving, Shelley, Burton, Moose Lodge)
Week 7	Gender Discrimination	696-719 (Reed, Frontiero, Craig, Virginia)
Week 8	Other Forms of Discrimination	723-744 (Romer, Rodriguez, Saenz)
Week 9	Midterm Exam
Week 10	Privacy: The Early Years	429-458 (Griswold, Roe)
Week 11	Privacy Expanded	472-497 (Bowers, Lawrence, Cruzan)
Week 12	Freedom of Speech: Clear and Present Danger	214-248 (Schenck, Abrams, Gitlow, Dennis, Brandenburg)

Course Outline, continued

Week 13	Freedom of Speech: Contexts and Balancing I	248-272 (O’Brien, Tinker and Texas v Johnson, Chaplinsky, Cohen)
Week 14	Freedom of Speech: Contexts and Balancing I	272-288; 311-318 Hill, RAV, Wisconsin v Mitchell; Boy Scouts v Dale
Week 15	Obscenity and Libel	358- 381; 395-417 (Roth, Ferber, Ashcroft, Sullivan, Gertz, Hustler)
Week 16	Paper presentations

Final Paper Due: Monday, November 29, 2004, 5:00pm by email.

Final Exam Due: Monday, December 13, 2004, 5:00pm by email.