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OK, so I’ll admit that my creative juices had definitely stalled.  I had a reasonably clear conception of Bashal and Hunter’s genesis and how they might meet.  I had no idea what would happen immediately after that, except for an ill-conceived, vaguely Terminator-style time travel strand (revolving around a character named Pharoah, since scrapped).

With the introduction of the character of Catastrophe, I think I may have resolved this Act 2 crisis (or, at least, delayed it).  There would be some minor plot changes to get us to that point.

• Rahul is established as before and comes to US as before.
• Hunter, instead of working at a Blockbuster clone, instead works as a laboratory security guard (this is more consistent with his personality and family life, anyway).  He’s still an alien, Marine, and predator.
• Shortly into the story, we are introduced to a research assistant (working name: John Fox) working on what he erroneously thinks is a research project for a revolutionary, new sunscreen: FACM 99.
• The project has been considerably delayed and the project’s sponsors are getting antsy for results.  When the research assistant begins to question the application of the “sun-screen,” his boss pushes him into a vat of what is actually a Fast-Acting Chemical Mutagen, transforming him into Catastrophe, the third supernatural entity in the St. Louis area (see his description here).
  • The remainder of the time in the US is divvied up between Catastrophe’s quest for revenge, Hunter’s attempts to maintain a semblance of law and order (and figure out what links, if any, exist between the new chemicals and the terrorist cell operating out of his house), and Rahul’s feeble attempts to figure out what the #&@# is going on.

Professor Dan Lindley

• Office in 448 Decio Hall
• Phone: 574-631-3226
• Email: dlindley@nd.edu
• website: http://www.nd.edu/~dlindley/
• Office Hours: Tuesday 1:15-2:45, Wednesdays 12-1:30 pm, appointments

Course materials

• Betts, Conflict after the cold war: arguments on the causes of war and peace
• Blainey, The Causes of War
• Evera, Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict
• Course packets

Grading

• 30% for Participation

TO BE COMPLETED

Professor Barber

Grading

• 40-50% on midterm (October 10).
• 40-50% on final exam (Dec. 18)
• 0-20% on surprise quizzes

Required Texts

• American Constitutional Interpretation (Murphy, Fleming, Barber and Macedo: 3rd edition, 2003)
• The Federalist (Scigliano)
• Other readings in Hesburgh reserve, available online or course packet for sale in LaForture

Class schedule

1. • Materials on Lawrence v. Texas
   • ACI, chapters 1-2 (pages 1461-81)
2. Basic Questions of Constitutional Interpretation
   • ACI, 134-8, 158-69, 207-18, 936-43, 1404-37, 1513-20, 243-70
3. Interpetation: Constitutional and Otherwise
   • Leo Strauss, “An Interpretation of Genesis” (course packet)
   • Plato, The Apology of Socrates (excerpt) (course packet)
   • The Federalist, Numbers 1, 5-6, 9-10, 40, 45-51, 62-3, 68, 70-2, 78-9, 84
   • William Schambra, “Progressive Liberalism and American ‘community’ ” (course packet)
4. Who Interprets and When?
   • ACI, chapter 7
   • Abraham Lincoln, “The Dred Scott Decision” (course packet)
   • ABA Report on Presidential Signing Statements (www.abanet.org/op/signingstatements)
5. Approaches to Constitutional Interpretation: Introduction
   • ACI, chapter 9
   • John Hart Ely, Democracy and Distrust (chapter 3) (Hesburg Reserve).
6. Approaches: Textualism and Consensualism
   • ACI, chapter 12
   • Michael Moore, “Do we have an unwritten constitution?”  (Hesburgh Reserve)
7. Approaches, Philosophic Approach
   • ACI, chapter 18
   • Ronald Dworkin, “The Moral Reading of the Constitution” (Hesburgh Reserve)
8. Approaches: Intentionalism (”Originalism”)
   • ACI, chapter 14
   • Robert Bork, The Tempting of America (chapters 7, 8, 12, pages 74-84) (Hesburgh Reserve)
9. Approaches: Structuralism
   • ACI, chapter 11
   • Walter Berns, “The Meaning of the Tenth Amendment” (course packet)
   • Ely, Democracy and Distrust (chapter 4) (Hesburgh reserve)
10. Approaches: Pragmatism and the Limits of Interpretation
    • ACI, chapter 19
    • Richard Posner, “What has pragmatism to offer law?”  (course packet)