POSC 3210: Civil Rights & Liberties

The course is an intensive survey of the Supreme Court’s doctrine in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties.  Topics include substantive due process, the equal protection clause, free speech, the establishment of religion and the free exercise thereof, and the rights of the accused.  No prior knowledge of the Supreme Court is required.

Spring 2019

Required Text

O’Brien, David M. 2017. Constitutional Law and Politics, Volume 2: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Tenth Edition. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. (CL&P)

Syllabus

            1/15    Introduction

           

I. The Fourteenth Amendment

      A. The Due Process Clause

1/18    Nationalizing the Bill of Rights – CL&P: 307-321 (essay); CL&P: pp. 330-333 (Palko v. Connecticut)

1/22    Second Amendment – CL&P: 357-376 (McDonald v. City of Chicago)

1/25    Right to Privacy — CL&P: 1224-1227 (essay); Blackboard (Poe v. Ullman, Harlan, J., dissenting); 341-352 (Griswold v. Connecticut)

1/29    Gay Rights & Right to Die — CL&P: 1288-1292 (essay); 1307-1313 (Cruzan by Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health); 1546-1570 (Obergefell v. Hodges)

B. The Equal Protection Clause

2/1      Race Discrimination — CL&P: pp. 1434-1442 (essay); 1443-1450 (California v. Bakke); 1492-1496 (Fisher v. University of Texas)

2/5      Gender Discrimination — CL&P: pp. 1496-1498 (essay); 1506-1510 (Craig v. Boren); 1510-1513 (Michael M. v. Superior Court); 1514-1525 (U.S. v. Virginia)

2/8      Disability & Sexual Orientation Discrimination — Blackboard (City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center); CL&P: 1525-1527 (essay); 1528-1538 (Romer v. Evans)

II. Free Speech

A.    Ad Hoc Balancing

2/15    Political Speech: CL&P: pp. 408-425 (essay); 426-428 (Schenck v. United States); 428-433 (Gitlow v. NY); 433-443 (Dennis v. United States); 443-447 (Brandenburg v. Ohio)

B.    Definitional Balancing

2/22    Obscenity and Pornography — CL&P: 447-460 (essay); 468-472 (Miller v. California); Blackboard (Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton); 476-482 (City of Erie v. Pap’s A.M.)

           

2/26    Offensive Speech — CL&P: 495-503 (essay); 504-507 (Cohen v. California); 508-513 (FCC v. Pacifica Foundation); Blackboard (Snyder v. Phelps)

           

3/1      Regulating New Media — CL&P: 482-490 (Reno v. ACLU); 490-503 (Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition); 540-545 (Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association)

3/5      Midterm Exam

III. Religion Clauses

A.    The Establishment Clause

3/8      Public Funding of Religion – CL&P: 698-708 (essay); 730-735 (Lemon v. Kurtzman); 753-759 (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris)

3/12    School/Public Prayer — CL&P: 735-742 (Wallace v. Jaffree); 742-749 (Lee v. Weisman); 773-787 (Town of Greece, New York v. Galloway)

3/15    Government-Sponsored Displays — CL&P: 759-765 (Van Orden v. Perry); 766-773 (McCreary v. ACLU of Kentucky)

B. The Free Exercise Clause

3/26    Foundational Principles — CL&P: 787-794 (essay); 808-815 (Oregon v. Smith); 815-821 (Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah)

3/29    Modern Controversies — Blackboard (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby; Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission)

IV. The Rights of the Accused

      A. The Fourth Amendment

4/2      Foundational Principles — CL&P: 938-944 (essay); 945-949 (Olmstead v. U.S.); 950-954 (Katz v. U.S.); 955-957 (California v. Ciraolo)

4/5      Modern Surveillance Techniques — CL&P: 958-963 (Kyllo v. United States); 963-977, omitting text box (United States v. Jones); Blackboard (Carpenter v. US)

4/9      Warrantless Searches — CL&P: 858-868 (essay); 842-844 (Chimel v. California); 868-873 (Terry v. Ohio); 881-885 (Minnesota v. Dickerson); 925-929 (Vernonia v. Acton); 933-937 (Safford v. Redding)

4/12    The Exclusionary Rule — CL&P: 978-982 (essay); 983-991 (Mapp v. Ohio); 991-996 (Nix v. Williams); 1005-1010 (Herring v. United States)

      B. The Fifth Amendment

4/16    No Class

            4/23    Moot Court 1: O’Hare Special Collections Room, Walsh Library (4^th Floor)

            4/26    Moot Court 2: O’Hare Special Collections Room, Walsh Library (4^th Floor)

      C. The Eighth Amendment

4/30    Capital Punishment — CL&P: 1169-1182 (essay); 1209-1214 (Atkins v. Virginia); 1214-1220 (Roper v. Simmons); Blackboard (Kennedy v. Louisiana; Bucklew v. Precythe )

                        FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, May 14^th @ 1:30-3:30

COURSE POLICIES

Participation. Participation is a major component of this course (20%). Students will not receive a satisfactory participation grade by attending class and sitting quietly: regular, thoughtful participation is required. Effective participation requires reading the cases closely and reflecting on them critically.

Attendance: Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory, unless an absence is excused in advance. An unexcused absence will result in a reduction of your participation grade.

Exams. There will be one midterm exam (20%) and a final (30%), which include short-answer, essay, and multiple choice questions. The final exam is not cumulative, covering post-midterm material. Exams will not be rescheduled except under extraordinary circumstances, and not unless arranged in advance. Legitimate excuses may include medical conditions (with appropriate documentation), family emergencies (with a dean’s excuse), or direct conflicts with other exams. You may not reschedule assignments because you feel tired, stressed, or overworked, so budget your time carefully.

Moot Court. The moot court simulation (30%) will occur in class on 4/23 and 4/26. The assignment has two parts: (1) an in-class oral argument simulation, and (2) an 8-10 page paper. You will assume one of two roles—attorney or justice—and written assignments vary depending on your role. Papers are due on the day of the simulation, with no extensions permitted except under extraordinary circumstances. Each student participates in just one moot court, although your attendance is required at both.

Academic Integrity. Under no circumstances will cheating or plagiarism be tolerated. Plagiarism includes (but is not limited to) copying all or part of another student’s work, copying (or closely paraphrasing) all or part of another source without proper attribution (including internet sources), and incorrectly attributing sources. To enforce the University’s standards for academic integrity, all students are required to submit a copy of written assignments to Blackboard’s SafeAssign.

Disability Services. If you are a student with a documented disability and require academic accommodations, please register with the Office of Disability Services for Students (ODS) to request accommodations for your courses. Please contact the main ODS number at (718) 817-0655 to arrange services. Accommodations are not retroactive, so you need to register with ODS prior to receiving them. Please see me after class or during office hours if you have questions or would like to submit your academic accommodation letter to me if you have previously registered for accommodations.

Preferred Name/Pronoun Policy. The Department of Political Science affirms as part of our mission that we value and accord respect to all of our students. Therefore, as a matter of policy, instructors in our department are asked to call students by their preferred names and preferred pronouns. Please let your instructor know your preferred name and preferred pronouns in person or over email.

BRIEFING CASES

Your success in this course depends on your ability to read, process, and memorize the holdings of a large number of cases. The best way of accomplishing this goal is by regularly briefing cases. There is no correct way to do it (your casebook includes suggestions on pages 1673-1676), but some basic guidelines are provided below. For each case you read, prepare a flashcard with the following information:

1. Name of the case
2. Brief statement of the facts
3. What is the legal question presented?
4. What did the Court rule?
5. What legal principle did the Court rely upon to reach this ruling?
6. What reasons did the majority opinion give for relying on this principle instead of alternatives?
7. Were there any important concurrences/dissents? What were their arguments?
8. How does the case relate to others that we have read that day/week/month?

NOTE: When briefing cases, points e, f, and h are the most important and will be the focus of exam questions and our classroom discussions. Be sure that for each case, you can describe the legal principle, the reasons for it, and how the case contributes to the development of the law. These points are far more important than the factual background of the case (point b).