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POL
201 Phone: 364-8341 Email: jknippenberg@facstaff.oglethorpe.edu One of the unique aspects of American politics is the role the Constitution plays in everyday political discourse. More often than not, claims about the rights of individuals, the duties and functions of offices and institutions, and the intentions of the Founders find their way into our political debates. Everyone, moreover, acknowledges the political significance of decisions handed down by the Supreme Court, supposedly the final arbiter of the meaning of the Constitution. All of this is no accident. Those who wrote the Constitution intended for it to provide a standard for judging the relationship of the various parts of our government to one another and of the government as a whole to us. Having said this, two questions remain. What are the standards embodied in the Constitution? And how are these standards to be applied in American political life? Most courses in constitutional law implicitly answer both these questions in roughly the same way: in adjudicating particular disputes under the Constitution, the Supreme Court authoritatively states its meaning and applies its standards. Thus most constitutional law courses consist in a consideration of a series of Supreme Court decisions and almost nothing else. The premise of this course will be somewhat different. We will focus primarily on the Constitution and only secondarily on what the Court has said about it. There are two reasons for this focus. First, some parts of the Constitution are not controversial and some disputes under the Constitution are not easily justiciable. Supreme Court decisions tend to leave these provisions out of account, thereby affording us only a partial view of the document. Second, it is not clear that the Supreme Court's rulings are, or ought to be, infallibly determinative of the meaning of the Constitution. (In this connection, we need only consider Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson.) Were the Court infallible and incontrovertible, it would be, not one of three putatively co-equal branches of government, but the ultimate ruling power. A constitutional political system need not, however, be a judicial tyranny. With such considerations in mind, we as citizens will exercise our "constitutional right" to think about the Constitution, deriving guidance from whatever sources seem helpful to us. TEXTS: Please purchase the following books: Rossum
and Tarr, American Constitutional Law, 5th ed. You may
find full texts of Supreme Court decisions at one or more of the following
websites: ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING: Three case
briefs…………………………………………….30%
total *Note that you must submit one brief no later than Tuesday, October 10 ACADEMIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS: In accordance with Oglethorpe's Honor Code, all the work you hand in must be pledged: "I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid in completing this assignment." For the purposes of this course, "unauthorized aid" consists in plagiarism, i.e., representing someone else's words or research as your own. If in completing an assignment you rely on secondary sources, be sure to cite them properly. Unless I announce otherwise, you may discuss any assignment with your colleagues, but the work you submit must be your own. Attendance is mandatory. I reserve the right to give the grade "FA" to students who regularly miss class. I am happy to help you plan your academic schedule and so will grant extensions on assignments to those who request them one week in advance. Unless, however, you have a medical excuse, I will penalize late papers two points per weekday up to a total of ten points. I will not accept papers more than five weekdays overdue. If for some reason you have to take an "Incomplete" in this course, you must arrange it with me before the end of the semester. We must agree to a contract containing a schedule for the completion of the course requirements. You may find the grading scale, as well as a statement of the policy governing the S/U option in the 1998 - 2000 Oglethorpe University Bulletin. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF READINGS I. Constitutionalism
(9/5) III. The
Function of the Supreme Court (9/12) IV. The
Supremacy of the Constitution (9/14) VI. The
Executive Branch (9/21) VII. War
and Foreign Affairs (9/26) VIII. Federalism
and National Power (9/28) IX. Rights
in General (10/3) X. Substantive
Due Process Before the Switch (10/5, 10/10) XI. Freedom
of Speech, Press, and Association (10/12 - 19) XII. Freedom
of Religion (10/24 - 11/2) XIII. Equal
Protection and Discrimination (11/7 - 21) XIV. Privacy
(11/28 - 12/5)
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