Semester: Spring 2023 (tentative) Fall 2022 Summer 2022 Spring 2022 Fall 2021 Summer 2021 Spring 2021 Fall 2020 Spring 2020 Fall 2019 Summer 2019 Spring 2019
Professional/Experiential Skills Courses First Year Courses Only

Separation of Powers (LAW-877-001)
Vladeck

Notices

Description

The separation of powers is frequently encountered in law school courses, but seldom on its own terms. As a result, even while discussing some of the key separation-of-powers cases and concepts, we tend to give relatively short shrift to the central role the Founders intended separated powers to play in our constitutional system, or to the animating reason for of so thoroughly hard-wiring checks and balances into the structure of the federal government — “not to avoid friction,” as Justice Brandeis suggested 80 years ago, “but, by means of the inevitable friction incident to the distribution of the governmental powers among three departments, to save the people from autocracy.” The purpose of this course is to take a holistic view of the law governing the separation of powers as such, and to assess whether (and to what degree) such a fundamental constitutional principle has become un-tethered from its moorings. Put another way, why are separated powers important, and to what extent is the Supreme Court’s modern separation-of-powers jurisprudence consistent with how we answer that question? In considering these issues, our study will include a diverse set of topics where, over time, tensions have arisen among and between the branches of the federal government, ranging from executive privilege to legislative vetoes; from treaty-making (and treaty termination) to the appointment and removal powers; from war powers to the non-delegation doctrine; from the power to control spending to the power to compel testimony before Congress. Finally, toward the end of the semester, we will turn our focus to current events, and use the precedents that we have surveyed to evaluate the myriad separation-of-powers issues that have arisen out of the war on terrorism.

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.

Our reading this semester will come from the second edition of Peter Shane and Hal Bruff’s Separation of Powers Law, published in 2005 by Carolina Academic Press — and available fairly widely via online booksellers (and via the AU Bookstore). I will also provide supplemental readings, especially for the sessions toward the end of the semester. Those readings will be made available via the course Blackboard site, which you can access via http://blackboard.american.edu (and which I’ll discuss in more detail on the first day of class).

First Class Readings

The readings for the first class meeting on Tuesday, January 13 will be available both via the Blackboard and in hard copy from Kristina Hilton in Room 384 by Wednesday, January 7. You will not need the casebook for the first reading assignment.

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):

• Microsoft Word (DOC)
• Adobe Acrobat (PDF)