DRAFT PS 485: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Professor Alison Gash

Mondays and Wednesdays 4:00- 5:20

 

The courts have played a critical role in advancing civil rights and protecting civil liberties. Many believe that, relative to more majoritarian institutions, the courts offer the greatest protection of our constitutional rights and freedoms—particularly for minority groups. Shielded from popular will through judicial appointments and lifetime tenure, federal judges have significant discretion in interpreting the constitution to protect minority rights from majority infringements. This course examines landmark cases, doctrines, and approaches that the courts have used to apply constitutional provisions to questions of civil rights and liberties.  This course relies on close reading of, primarily, US Supreme Court cases focusing on the Bill of Rights—specifically the First and Fourteenth Amendments.  In addition to examining how these cases have shaped the promise of civil rights and liberties, we will also explore how judicial decrees alter the political and institutional landscape of civil rights struggles.

 

Students will be expected to participate in class and may be called upon to provide their insights on cases.

 

Readings for the course:  Cases serve as the primary materials for the course.  Additionally students will be required to purchase the following:  Charles Black, A New Birth of Freedom and David O’Brien Judges on Judging 3rd Edition

 

Students will be graded according to the following assignments:

            Reading Questions 5%

            First Exam       15%

            Second Exam 25%

            First Analytical Paper 25%

            Second Analytical Paper 30%

 

Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism


Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are not tolerated in this class.  Any test, paper, or report submitted by you that bears your name is presumed to be your own original work that has not previously been submitted for credit in another course unless you have obtained my prior written approval.

In all of your assignments, including your homework or drafts of papers, you may use words or ideas written by other individuals in publications, Web sites, or other sources, but only with proper attribution.  "Proper attribution" means that you have fully identified the original source and extent of your use of the words or ideas of others that you reproduce in your work for this course, usually in the form of a footnote or parenthesis.  However, the bulk of your written work should be your own original thoughts.  Published or web-based information should only be used to supplement your own ideas. 

As a general rule, if you are citing from a published source or from a Web site and the quotation is short (up to a sentence or two), place it in quotation marks; if you employ a longer passage from a publication or Web site, please indent it and use single spacing.  In both cases, be sure to cite the original source in a footnote or in parentheses.

 

Be warned, I conduct periodic web searches for language from student papers.  If you have used language from publications or websites without giving them proper attribution I will find out. 

 

Handing in Assignments

Instructions for handing in assignments will be included on all written assignments and exams.  Students are expected to hand in their assignments on time and in accordance with the instructions provided, unless alternate arrangements have been made prior to the assignment’s due date.  Students will lose a half grade on the assignment each day that the assignment is late.

 

Grading Disputes

If you want to dispute a grade on a paper or exam, please submit in writing a description of your concerns at least 24 hours after you have received the grade in question.  The 24 hours should be used as a cooling off period.  Please note, however, that if I, or a GTF, review your work, we will be reviewing the entire exam or paper. This could result in a lower grade.

 

Receiving an Incomplete

In general incompletes will only be permitted under extenuating circumstances (health, family issues, emergency).  Students who have outstanding assignments at the time that grades are due and who have not received preapproval for an incomplete will receive an “F” for the assignments they have not completed.  In order to receive a passing grade in the class you must hand in all assignments. 

 

 

 

Reading Assignments

Week One

Constitutional Guarantees

Due Wednesday:        Declaration of Independence

                                    The Constitution

                                    Federalist 84

                                                                         

Week Two

Modes of Interpretation

Due Monday:              Bobbitt, Constitutional Fate

                                    O’Brien, Judges on Judging                          

 

Substantive Due Process

Due Wednesday:        Slaughterhouse Cases (1872)

                                    Munn v. Illinois (1876)

                                    Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897) 

 

Week 3

Substantive Economic Due Process

Due Monday:              Lochner v. New York (1905)

                                    Muller v. Oregon (1908)

                                    Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923)

                                    Nebbia v. New York (1934)

                                   

Due Wednesday:        West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937)

                                    Williamson v. Lee Optical (1955)

                                    Ferguson v. Skrupa (1963)

 

Week 4: 

Substantive Due Process and the Family

Due Monday:              Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)

                                    Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)

                                    Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

                                    Loving v. Virginia (1967)

 

Due Wednesday:        Roe v. Wade (1973)

                                    Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

                                    Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

                                    Ruth Bader Ginsburg “Speaking in One Judicial Voice”

 

Week 5:

Substantive Due Process and Gay Rights

Due Monday:              Bowers v Hardwick (1985)

                                    Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

                                    Baehr v. Lewin (1996)

                                    Perry v. Schwarzenegger (2010)                                

 

Equal Protection

Due Wednesday:        Dred Scott (1856)

                                    Slaughterhouse Cases (1872)

                                    Civil Rights Cases (1883)

 

Week 6:

Separate But Equal…In Education

Due Monday:              Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

                                    Gaines v. Canada (1938)

                                    Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

                                    McLaurin v. Oklahoma (1950)

                                   

Due Wednesday:        Brown v. Board of Ed. (1954)

                                    Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg (1971)

                                    Milliken v. Bradley (1974)

                                    Parents v. Seattle School District (2006)

 

Week 7:

Suspect Classifications

Due Monday:              Korematsu v. United States (1942)

                                    Loving v. Virginia (1967)

                                    University of California v. Bakke (1978)

                                    Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

 

Due Wednesday:        Craig v. Boren (1976)

                                    US v. VMI (1996)

                                    San Antonio v. Rodriguez (1973)

 

Week 8:

Suspect Classification and Gay Rights

Due Monday:              Romer v. Evans (1996)

                                    In re Marriage Cases (2008)

                                    DOJ Brief Golinski (2011)

 

Voting

Due Wednesday:        Baker v. Carr (1962)

                                    Reynolds v. Sims (1964)

                                    Bush v. Gore (2000)

                                                           

Week 7:

First Amendment and Religious Freedom

Due Monday:              Jefferson, Letter to Danbury Baptist Assoc., Oct 7, 1801                                                                             Everson v. Board of Education (1947)                                                           

                                    Zorach v. Clauson (1952)                                                                                                                               Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)                                                                                                                                   Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches School District (1993)                                  

 

Due Wednesday:         Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)                                                                                                                       Sherbert v. Verner (1963)                                                                                                                                     Employment Division v. Smith (1990)                                                      

 

Week 8:

Prayers and Symbols

Due Monday:              Engel v. Vitale (1962)

                                    Abington v. Schempp (1962)

                                    Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)

                                    Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)             

                                   

Due Wednesday:         Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)                                     

                                    West Virginia v. Barnette (1943)

                                    Spence v. Washington (1974)

                                    US v. Eichman (1990)

                                                                                                                                               

Week 9:

Free Speech and National Security

Due Monday:              Schenck v. United States (1919)                                                                                                                      Abrams v. United States (1919)                                                                                                                             Dennis v. United States (1951)                                                                 

                                    Rankin v. McPherson (1987)                                                                          

 

Symbolic Speech and Hate Speech

 

Due Wednesday:        Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942)

                                    Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1968)

                                    Cohen v. California (1970)

                                    RAV v. St. Paul (1991)

Week 10:

Speech and Civil Rights

Due Monday:              Doe v. University of Michigan (1989)

                                    Capitol Square and Review Advisory Board v. Pinette (1996)

                                    Hurley v. Irish American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group (1995)

                                    Boy Scouts v. Dale (1999)

                                    Snyder v. Phelps (2011)