Critical Race & Ethnic Studies: Const Law: Civil Rights Amer

Critical examination of the role of the judiciary in enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and other equality-related constitutional provisions. Prerequisite: POLS 1300 or POLS 1013. Cross-listed with: POLS 2370.

Prereqs enforced by the system: POLS 1300 or POLS 1013 Minimum Sophomore standing Cross-listed with POLS 2370 A. Catamount Core: D1, S1 Total combined enrollment = 41 PACE students by permission and override

This is an historically-structured inquiry into the constitutional politics of equality in the United States. We pay attention to the ways legislatures, political parties, interest groups, and prominent private citizens have shaped American law, in addition to cases decided by state and federal courts. Much of the course focuses on race and racism in the law of equality in the U.S.; we also study discrimination based on gender, socioeconomic class, religion, and sexual orientation. Readings include, in addition to judicial decisions, excerpts from legislative hearings, state constitutional-convention debates, party platforms, speeches, and social-science texts interpreting law and legal change. We use a constitutional-law textbook, supplemented by an instructor-designed course-pack and occasional materials on-line. Note that no previous background in the study of law is expected or required. Course purposes. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to: 1. Describe precisely the different ways American constitutional law has embraced, challenged, and defined racial discrimination. 2. Describe precisely the powerful roles legislators, political parties, interest groups and private citizens have played in constitutional politics and changes in constitutional meaning. 3. Demonstrate basic proficiency in reasoning by precedent and analogy: a skill most closely associated with law, but useful in any setting where people are interested in thinking clearly. Reasoning by analogy is perhaps the signature skill of a legally-trained mind, but happy people also do it. 4. Describe important developments in the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. The Fourteenth Amendment is crucial to the American law of equality, but its central language (“equal protection,” “due process,” “privileges and immunities”) is so grand as to mean either everything or nothing. Yet the courts have built a more or less coherent body of doctrine expounding what the Fourteenth Amendment’s noble phrases mean. We will examine how that body of doctrine has been constructed, and what it suggests about how future cases will be approached and resolved by the Court. 5. Describe the critical role played by other Constitutional texts beyond the Equal Protection Clause, particularly the enforcement clauses of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Commerce Clause, in the constitutional politics of equality. 6. Describe significant changes in the meaning of “citizen” across American constitutional development. 7. Be able to navigate (but perhaps not resolve!) a fundamental paradox at the heart of the law of equality. Virtually everything government does draws lines treating us differently, allocating benefits and burdens on the basis of our characteristics or behavior. Yet both the law and our fundamental ethical views say we must be treated equally. How are we to sort out which kinds of differential treatment violate our commitment to equality?

Each class meeting will combine discussion with some lecture. Students will write frequently in informal Brightspace "reading journals," on which many of our discussions will be based. Students should expect to do at least six to eight hours of focused work per week outside of class meetings.

Evaluation will be based on reading-response writing, two examinations (each combining essays and short answers), maybe a couple low-stakes surprise quizzes, and a cumulative final exam.