Course Descriptions

This page contains the course descriptions for current Legal Studies courses and classes that have been offered in the past. For all other courses, such as electives drawn from other departments, please refer to those departments' web pages.

Spring 2013 Courses:

Legal Studies 318-1-20: Legal and Constitutional History of the United States

Senior Lecturer Joanna Grisinger

This course explores some of the major questions and problems of American legal history from the colonial era to 1850. First, we will examine how and why the colonies developed their laws and legal institutions, and how these evolved over time. Next, we will explore the legal, political, and social forces that led to the American Revolution, and we will look at how Americans drew on their legal experiences in drafting a constitution. We will then examine how judicial and legislative action guided and enabled explosive economic growth in the nineteenth century. Not everyone was able to participate in the new economy, however; we will explore how the law created separate categories for women, American Indians, and African Americans that limited their participation in law, politics, and society. By the end of this course, you should be able to: read and analyze different kinds of legal texts; understand the meanings of legal concepts and doctrines by rooting them in specific historical moments; understand the distinct roles played by different actors (judges, legislatures, lawyers, reporters, litigants, voters, etc.) within our constitutional system; and make cogent, evidence-based arguments about these core themes in law and legal history.

Legal Studies 333: Constitutional Law II

Senior Lecturer Joanna Grisinger
This course will introduce students to important issues in civil liberties and civil rights, including equality and discrimination, privacy, due process, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion.

Legal Studies 376-0-22

Alexander Gourse
This course will trace the evolution of public interest law practice in the United States since the 1930s. Drawing on texts by historians, political scientists, and legal scholars, we will explore the profession's roots in the legal culture of the mid-twentieth century, and trace its development through a series of case studies. Specific topics we will discuss include civil rights, environmental regulation, and property rights. In each of our case studies, we will explore two broad questions: Why did cause-oriented lawyers' role in the policy-making process change over time? And how did changes in the legal profession relate to broader trends in American political history, such as the creation of a federal regulatory-welfare state during the New Deal and World War II, the emergence of a so-called "rights revolution" during the 1960s and 70s, and the rise of conservatism during the final decades of the twentieth century?

Legal Studies 376: Gender, Dissent, & Martyrdom

Professor Bonnie Honig
Sophocles' great tragedy, the Antigone, is probably the most discussed play in the history of continental philosophy, feminist, and political theory. The various readings of the play underwrite conventional distinctions of gender--some, like Hegel, see the conflict between Antigone and Creon as a conflict between public and private, male and female. Others see the play as a fable of civil disobedience: is it allowable to resist an unjust law? is political martyrdom a desirable thing? The play is also about the worry that lamentation might destabilize regimes, and deprive rulers of the soldiers needed to pursue the aims of the state. When during the Iraq war, President Bush forbade the filming of caskets returning from the war and refused to meet with Cindy Sheehan whose som died in Iraq, he was, arguably, sensitive to this concern, . In this class we will read the play in detail and examine issues of dissidence, martyrdom and lamentation and their gendered politics in the context of the 5th century BC when the play was written, and in its later reception contexts, in Hegel, in 20th century film references to the play, and in 21st century feminist theory.

Fall 2013 Courses:

Legal Studies 101-6-20: Law and the Civil Rights Movement (Freshman Seminar)

Senior Lecturer Joanna Grisinger

This course explores the relationship between law and civil rights in modern American history - in particular, African-Americans' efforts to secure their legal, political, civil, and economic rights. How and why did the American civil rights movement pursue legal change (in the courts, in the legislatures, and in administrative agencies)? How and why did legal actors (including judges, White House officials, members of Congress, and state governors) engage with civil rights reformers? What are the benefits of pursuing legal change, and what are the limits? In order to answer these and other questions, we will read and discuss material including court cases, statutes, speeches, memoirs, newspaper articles, photographs, and songs.

Legal Studies 376-0-20: Race, Politics, and the Law

Assistant Professor Heather Schoenfeld
How does U.S. society, politics and law construct the notion of "race?" Does racism still exist? And what form does it take? And, how do social, political and legal forces produce outcomes differentiated by race? This class will draw from sociology, political science, psychology and legal scholarship to situate the role of race in contemporary U.S. politics, policymaking and law. We will look at how race continues to structure life experiences, social outcomes, opinions and political affiliations. We will review and critique various conceptualizations of race and racism in the literature. Finally, we will investigate three contemporary political and policy issues: affirmative action, immigration and voting rights. For each issue we will ask, how does race function in politics and policymaking? And, how does the law shape or respond to race and racial difference? The seminar is designed to give students a deeper understanding of the relationship between race, inequality and the law. Students will be given the opportunity to research other topics of interest that speak to this relationship. We will read scholarly literature, court materials, and relevant newspaper articles. This is a reading and discussion-based class with a research paper.

Legal Studies 376-0-21: Cross Cultural Perspectives

Associate Professor Elizabeth Hurd

This seminar examines critical themes at the intersection of politics, law and religion in international and cross-cultural perspective. We begin by analyzing several broad concepts that organize and inform contemporary international political thought and practice in this area including religion, law, pluralism, rights and toleration. We then examine the specific histories and political logics of several modern attempts to institutionalize and manage social and religious difference. These include international religious freedom, international human rights and the rule of law, the creation and protection of religious minorities, and the politics of counter-radicalization. The seminar will move back and forth across disciplinary boundaries to explore these questions, drawing on literatures in political science, law, religious studies, anthropology, history and the sociology of religion.

Legal Studies 398-1 Advanced Research Seminar

Senior Lecturer Joanna Grisinger
Graduate Teaching Fellows: Stacey Lom and Steve Munch
In Legal Studies 398-1, students will examine academic articles on courts, lawyers, legislation, and regulation from a variety of disciplinary perspectives; students will also examine relevant primary sources that students may encounter in their research. Students will be trained to use the specialized resources of a law library and will receive a basic introduction to legal reasoning and analysis. By the end of the quarter, students will have a detailed research proposal and should have their thesis research well underway. During winter quarter, students will complete their research projects in close consultation with faculty and Graduate Teaching Fellows, and will present their projects to the class.