Apart from their assigned mod courses, 1L students may only enroll in courses offered as 1L electives. A complete list of these courses can be found on the 1L Elective Listings page. 1L students must use the 1L class number listed on the course description when enrolling.
220.6 sec. 001 - Constitutional Law (Spring 2024)
Instructor: Ian Haney Lopez (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
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Units: 4
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
ThF 08:00 AM - 09:50 AM
Location: Law 140
From January 11, 2024
To April 19, 2024
Course End: April 19, 2024
Class Number: 32187
This course is open to 1Ls.
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 68
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 68
As of: 07/30 03:46 PM
Covering much of the same material discussed in the other sections, this four-unit introductory Constitutional Law course nevertheless likely differs to some degree in the following ways: First, it foregrounds questions of social hierarchy, politics, and power, as these affect marginal groups and also as these shape society as a whole. Second, it emphasizes constitutional change as a guide to what might be possible in the (near) future. Third, it takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on history, sociology, political science, and critical theory.
Substantively, the course engages the following topics: federalism, economic regulation, equality, and liberty. It examines how these concepts have been filtered through politics and institutional constraints during transformative eras of American history, such as the Civil War and Reconstruction, the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement, and the post-1970’s rightward shift in American politics. All of this lays the groundwork for parsing significant contemporary alterations in constitutional law in areas including race, gender, abortion, sexual orientation, and activist government.
The principal text for this course is Brest, Levinson, Balkin, Amar & Siegel, Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials, 7th ed. (note: this is not the most recent edition; little of note changed with the 8th edition, and the 7th ed. required for this course is more affordable). *We will read closely from the casebook in class, and you will find it necessary to have your own edition in front of you.* It is not necessary to have the supplement.
Students in the course will be expected to achieve the following learning outcomes: (a) understanding of substantive constitutional law; (b) familiarity with the legal analysis, reasoning styles, and interpretive techniques associated with constitutional arguments; (c) and knowledge of the competing values served by constitutional law. Class participation may count as a grade tie-breaker.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
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Exam Notes: (TH) Take-home examination
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Exam Length: 8 hours
Course Category: Public Law and Policy
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Race and Law
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Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Required Books are in blue
- Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials
Paul Brest, Sanford Levinson, J. M. Balkin, Akhil Reed Amar, Reva B. Siegel
Edition: 7th edition, 2018
Publisher: Aspen/Wolters Kluwer
ISBN: 9781454899242
e-Book Available: unknown
Price: $292.00
Note: prices are sampled from internet bookstores. Law-school Bookstore prices are unavailable at this time.