"Studying the Constitution has some of the same intellectual delight as reading Aristotle: it opens the mind on a subject of first importance." --Prof. Michael McConnell
Richard F. Duncan: Room 220 Law,
email:rduncan2@unl.edu; phone:472-6044
General Information: This class will meet on Monday thru Thursday from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m..
email:rduncan2@unl.edu; phone:472-6044
General Information: This class will meet on Monday thru Thursday from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m..
Office Hours: I don't maintain specific office hours; I have an
open door policy and I will be in the office regularly and welcome your
visits or appointments.
Attendance Policy: Attendance is required.
Grading: Your grade for the course will be based 100% on your
score on the Final Exam. The Final Exam will be a combination of
objective (multiple choice or true-false) questions as well as a number
of short- or medium-length essay questions. The Final will be a closed
book exam. Most of the essay questions will be ones you have encountered
during the semester, whether in the blog, the assigned readings, or our
class discussion.
Books: Varat, Amar and Cohen, Constitutional Law (14th Edition)(Foundation Press) and
Paulsen, The Constituion: An Introduction (2015)
You should read the Paulsen book in its entirety. Although we won't be discussing it in class as a general rule, it is an excellent introduction and overview of the entirety of constitutional law. The final exam will cover the Paulsen book. There will be a number of objective questions based upon the book, and I might also draft a short essay question based upon the book. You should try to read 30 to 40 pages a day. At this rate you can read through the book in about 2 weeks. Chapters 1-3 will be very helpful to your understanding of the issues we will be discussing in the first few weeks of the class.
Online Materials: Professor William Linder's Exploring Constitutional Law (Link)
For Summer 2016, students should be prepared for 1 full assignment for each class. I may make a few minor adjustments to these assignments as the course progresses to include cites to recent cases. Some classes will cover two assignments.
Books: Varat, Amar and Cohen, Constitutional Law (14th Edition)(Foundation Press) and
Paulsen, The Constituion: An Introduction (2015)
You should read the Paulsen book in its entirety. Although we won't be discussing it in class as a general rule, it is an excellent introduction and overview of the entirety of constitutional law. The final exam will cover the Paulsen book. There will be a number of objective questions based upon the book, and I might also draft a short essay question based upon the book. You should try to read 30 to 40 pages a day. At this rate you can read through the book in about 2 weeks. Chapters 1-3 will be very helpful to your understanding of the issues we will be discussing in the first few weeks of the class.
Online Materials: Professor William Linder's Exploring Constitutional Law (Link)
For Summer 2016, students should be prepared for 1 full assignment for each class. I may make a few minor adjustments to these assignments as the course progresses to include cites to recent cases. Some classes will cover two assignments.
Be sure to check this blog every day for
announcements, additional required and optional reading, and discussion
of cases and issues raised in the reading. In fact, if you scroll down
you will see that I have already posted a couple of items for our first
class discussion.
First Thoughts
Consider this observation from Prof. Thomas R. Dye:
All governments, even democratic governments, are dangerous. They wield coercive power over the whole of society. They tax, penalize, punish, limit, confine, order, direct, and regulate. They seize property, restrict freedom, and even take lives, all under the claim of legitimacy.
The primary purpose of this course is to consider the many ways the
Constitution establishes, limits and checks the power of government, and
to appreciate the many ways the Constitution was designed to protect
liberty, both through structural safeguards, such as separation of
powers and federalism, as well as through specific protections of
individual liberty.
Assignments: Summer 2016 (stay one entire assignment ahead for each class)
Here is a link to the text of the Constitution of the United States
1 Casebook p. 1-43; Handout No. 1
2 Handout No.2; Obergefell (link:Obergefell v Hodges (2015)) .
3 Casebook p. 45-68
4 Casebook p. 68-85
5 Casebook p.85-127
6 Federalism and Equal Representation in the Senate and The Seventeenth Amendment: Read Suzanna Sherry, Our Unconstitutional Senate, 12 Constitutional Commentary 213-215 (1995) [available to print out at Hein Online]; Zwickie-Somin Debate on Repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment (link);Casebook p. 127-151; Wickard (link)
7 Casebook p. 151-189
8 Casebook p.189-206; South Dakota v. Dole (link); Rotunda, The Spending Clause (link)
9 Casebook p. 223-250
10 Casebook p. 407-426; p.924-929
11 Casebook p. 426-465[In class, we will focus on McDonald (p. 442-62]
12 Casebook p. 467-489: 533-541
13 Casebook p. 565-600; Handout no. 3; Whole Womens Health (link) (this is a very long opinion; just skim it); My recent article, Kermit Gosnell's Babies: Abortion, Infanticide and Looking Beyond the Masks of the Law, is available at Digital Commons
14 Casebook p.600-620; Obergefell (see link above assignment no. 2)
15 Casebook p. 635-673
16 Casebook p. 691-730
17 Casebook p. 730-742
If Time Permits:
18. Casebook p. 752-813
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