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POLS 30060

Class: DeBartolo 131 (9:30-10:45)

Professor Kommers (Law School- Office 318)

Requirements, Porcedures, and Counseling

1. Examinations: Each student is required to take a mid-term and final examination. Each exam has an objective and essay component. The objective part is designed to test your breadth of knowledge, the second your critical and analytical ability. Exams are based mostly on material covered in class lectures and discussions. Class attendance is therefore important.
2. The teacher will lecture for about the first hour of class and then the teaching assistants will take over. They will organize these brief sessions for discussion purposes. The discussion sessions will be designed to encourage students to reflect upon and resolve particular issues in the light of the case or cases covered in the lectures.
3. Grading and Attendance: each student will have four grades at the semester’s end, represented by the essay and objective examinations mentioned above. The lowest of the four grades will be dropped for purposes of calculating the final grade. In addition, students will have the option of writing a paper, the nature of which is described later. If you submit this, and your grade on the paper is higher than your average grade for the semester, you will receive the next highest grade as your final grade. Unless otherwise excused, however, any student who misses more than THREE classes throughout the semester will be afforded none of these advantages. His or her grade will be based solely on the average of all the grades received on the objective and essay exams.
4. Office hours and teaching assistants: teaching assistants are J.R. and D. M. Teacher’s office hours are from 1-2:30 on Mondays and Tuesdays or by appointment in 318 Law School.

Course schedule/work

All readings are in American Constitutional Law unless otherwise noted.

1. August 22: 1-7, 1053-55
2. August 24: 31-52, 1035-46 (Apps. A and B)
3. August 29: 11-29, 61-84
4. August 31: Get ready for Marbury film and discussion
5. Sept. 5: 87-108
   • We’ll look at the remaining cases in chapter 3, especially Dred Scott and other opinions seeking to define the so-called political question doctrine (Luther, Baker, and Nixon). You might also want to look at Bush v. Gore.
6. Sept. 7: 109-128, 133-138, 143-153, 156-169
7. Sept. 12: 171-194, 196-211
8. Sept. 14: 211-230
9. Sept. 19: 231-261, 273-280
10. Sept. 21: 267-273, 284-287, 294-297, 299-304, 317-322
11. Sept. 26: 287-294 (need different title)
12. Sept. 28: 304-316, 322-339, 348-358
13. Oct. 3: MIDTERM
14. Oct. 5: 431-465, 1051 (Appendix D)
15. Oct. 10: 465-487, 494-499
16. Oct. 12: 501-522, 532-546
17. Oct. 24: 553-595
18. Oct. 26: 595-626
19. Oct. 31: 640-677
20. Nov. 2: 887-919, 935-940
21. Nov. 7: 919-935
22. Nov. 9: 945-968
23. Nov. 14: 969-998, 1001-1018
24. Nov. 16
25. Nov. 21: 679-726
26. Nov. 28: 726-759
27. Nov. 30: 759-772
28. Dec. 5: 773-801, 804-808, 841-851, 862-865, 873-879

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