Civil Rights and Remedies (LAW-933-001)
Gross
Meets: 06:30 PM - 09:10 PM (T) - Room 101
Enrolled: 29 / Limit: 35
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
Welcome to Civil Rights and Remedies. The syllabus has been posted on the school website.
The syllabus lists the cases and statutes we will discuss. You can either buy the material, bound, from the law school, or you can print it out yourselves. There is no other information in the bound books other than the cases, statues and two articles listed (the articles are available on the website of the Housing Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department). It does not matter where you get them.
For each case, I have put the entire decision in the bound material. While it looks like a great deal or reading, it is not quite as much as it seems.
First, a some of the recent Supreme Court decisions I have provided have a number of opinions. That is a trend that seems to have begun about 25 years or so ago and has gotten worse since then. The sharp divisions in the Court seem to manifest themselves in more and more opinions in each controversial case. In addition to the majority opinion, there are often concurrences and one or two dissents. That makes the case quite long.
As far as class discussion goes, however, I will hold you responsible for (and expect you to have read) the majority opinion. Since that is the opinion that creates the binding law, that is primarily what we will discuss. The words in the parentheses in the syllabus are to give you an idea what issues in the decisions I want to discuss. Some decisions may also address other issues, such as mootness or standing, and those issues you may just skim over.
There are a couple of reasons I have provided the entire opinion, though. First, when, after you graduate and are in practice and citing cases, you need to make sure you have read the entire opinion, just to be sure you have not missed any points. That is habit you must develop, and you might as well start now. Second, dissents are often very enlightening. You will find that when writing dissents, Justices often describe the majority’s opinion in language that is often a bit clearer, and sometimes different, than that even in the majority opinion itself. So reading dissents often gives you a different view of what the majority opinion. That is less true of concurring opinions, but often concurring opinions identify issues in the majority that the concurring judge or Justice feels are a bit obscured or not addressed fully or accurately. So you should, ultimately, be in the habit of reading an entire opinion, dissents and all, once you are in law practice. But for the course, reading the majority is required, and the rest is up to you.
The syllabus sets out the topics we will cover as of now. They are (a) strict, intermediate and rational basis review under the Equal Protection Clause; (b) equal employment; ( c) housing discrimination, (d) voting rights (e) disability rights; (f) sexual orientation; (g) issues involving modification and termination of orders and decrees, and (h) litigation issues regarding the use of 42 U.S.C.1983 and entitlement to attorneys fees. I will be happy to discuss at the first few classes whether there are other topics you want to cover.
I look forward to meeting you all.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
First Class Readings
Not available at this time.
Syllabus
Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)