Fall 2006

GOV 312L • Issues and Policies in American Government

Course Description

Fulfills second half of legislative requirement for 6 hours of American government. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. May be taken for credit only once. This course explores how the Supreme Court has coped with legal indeterminacy in the U.S. Constitution -- the lack of knowledge of what a legal rule means and of how judges and others should apply it -- over two centuries in six major areas: property, privacy, equal protection, expression, religion, and (briefly) the separation of powers.

Grading Policy

Four in-class essays, weighted equally, constitute 80% of the grade, and quality of class-participation constitutes 20%.

Texts

Gerald Gunther and Kathleen Sullivan, eds.: Constitutional Law, fifteenth edition (2004)

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