Constitutional Law/Civil Rights (CLCR)

This course examines the protection of individual rights afforded by the Constitution by analyzing litigation involving violations of individual rights by the government and its officers. The principal substantive areas addressed are prisoners' rights, police misconduct, and political surveillance. In the process of examining the substantive civil rights issues, the course will analyze advanced concepts of civil procedure, constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, and trial practice.

This course examines current constitutional doctrine concerning religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution. The focus will be on the essential cases and principles of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. These cases and principles are organized along three thematic lines: (1) the regulation of religions activity (free exercise and neutriality, governmental interests, legislative accommodation), (2) the funding of religions activity (establishment and neutriality, governmental support of religious institutions), and (3) the treatment of religion in government's culture shaping activities (public schools, school curriculum, religious speech). The course ends with a discussion of the definition of "religion" for purposes of federal constitutional law.

This course studies the development of equal protection law under the 5th and 14th Amendments, the state action issue, and the free exercise and establishment clauses of the 1st amendment.

This course examines the history, values and function of free expression, advocacy of illegal action, expression that provokes a hostile audience reaction, defamation, commercial advertising, obscenity, hate speech and pornography, expression in public places, symbolic speech, campaign finance laws, and speech in restricted environments.

This course focuses on torts not involving physical injury, such as misrepresentation, defamation, invasion of privacy, interference with business relations, and misuse of legal procedure. These subjects are not ordinarily covered in the four-hour Torts course required in the first year, but have become burgeoning areas of potential liability due to the emergence of electronic communications. An effort will be made to integrate substantive doctrine and practice implications with legal, economic, political and social theory.

Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or term.