Syllabus – Con Law II
Fall 2021
The case book for the course is Erwin Chemerinsky CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (6th Edition), plus 2021 supplement.
The syllabus below indicates the assignments for each day of class. The goal of the course is to give each student an advanced knowledge of the rules and policies contained in the field of constitutional law. You must also learn how to extract rules and policy from cases interpreting the Constitution as well as statutes, and administrative regulations and learn how to analyze, interpret and argue differing interpretations of the Constitution. You should also understand the roles and differing characteristics of sources of interpretation of the Constitution: the common law; legislation, administrative regulations; treaties, and judicial interpretation of the Constitution, legislation, regulations and treaties.
The American Bar Association requires that you spend at least six hours per week, on average,outside of class studying for this 3-credit course. This is in addition to the three hours a week we spend in class.
You must sign the attendance sheet that will be made available on line.
The assignments for the Fall term 2020 are as follows:
1177-1185; 1308-29; Historical background of the First Amendment; why should freedom of speech be a fundamental right; development of the “clear and present danger” test; Schenck, Frohwerk and Debs: Holmes dissent in Abrams, leading to modification of the test; dissents in Gitlow and Whitney; the Dennis case;
1329--1365; Development of the Brandenburg test; application of the Brandenburg test; fighting words test; Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project; Gooding v. Wilson, R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul; hostile audience problem; racist speech; Virginia v. Black; Chaplinsky case;
1365--1395; Other categories of unprotected speech; obscenity; Roth v. United States ; child pornography; New York v. Ferber; nude dancing; categories of unprotected speech: zoning ordinances; fighting words to a hostile audience; Stanley v. Georgia; Osborne v. Ohio; Cohen v. California; City of Erie v. Paps.
1395--1419; Profanity and indecent speech; Seven dirty words case; ; Cohen v. California; special rules for broadcasting; speech on the internet; Reno v. A.C.L.U.; new exceptions for violent speech; cable television rules; U.S. v. Stevens; Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn;
1455--1482; Libel, invasion of the right to privacy and publicity; New York Times v. Sullivan; Gertz v. Welch; intentional infliction of emotional distress; Hustler Magazine v. Farwell; unwilling thrusting; Snyder v. Phelps;
1482--1506; Conduct that communicates; speech, symbolic speech; the O’Brien test; flag desecration; Texas v. Johnson; Campaign contributions; Buckley v. Valeo;
1506--1531; Political contributions as speech; Citizens United; public financing of elections;
1531--1559; Places available for speech; government property; Hague v. C.I.O.; public forums; Hill v. Colorado; time, place and manner rules; designated public forums; McCullen v. Coakley; Ward v. Rock against Racism;
1559--1597; Speech on limited public forums; student lorganizations; non-public forums private property; speech on restricted government areas, military, prisons, schools; Parker v. Levy; Tinker; Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeeier; Morse v. Frederick ;
1419--1455; Commercial speech; Virginia State Board of Pharmacy; Central Hudson; Lorrilard Tobacco
1186--1223; Content based laws; Reed v. Town of Gilbert; distinction between content based and content neutral laws; Matal v. Tam; Boos v. Berry; Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar; other problems in making the distinction; City of Renton, Finley, Pleasant Grove City;
1223-1266; Government speech; messages on license plates; New York Times v. United States; Vagueness and overbreadth; Coates v. City of Cincinnati; prior restraints; licensing as a prior restraint;
1266--1308; Other infringements on freedom of speech; prohibitions on compensation for speaking or writing; U.S. v. National Treasury Employees Union; compelled speech; unconstitutional conditions; California Reproductive Freedom law; Rumsfeld case; Rust v. Sullivan;
1605--1635; Freedom of association; laws prohibiting and punishing membership; NAACP v. State of Alabama; laws prohibiting discrimination; Boy Scout case;
1635-1664; Freedom of the Press; are there special rules for the press beyond the rules covering freedom of speech? taxes on the press; general regulatory laws; keeping sources confidential; Minneapolis Star & Tribune; Branzburg v. Hayes; press access to judicial proceedings, Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia; Cohen v. Cowles Media.
1665-1703; Freedom of religion; what is religion? United States v. Seeger; free exercise clause; Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith; exemptions because of religious belief; Burwell v. Hobby Lobby; new cases on special protection for religious employers; establishment clause; Masterpiece Cake case;
1703-1747; Missouri school yard case; Establishments Clause; Lemon v. Kurtzman; religious speech and the First Amendment; student delivered prayers; religious symbols on government property; religion in schools; government aid to religion; Engel v. Vitale; Lee v. Weisman;
1747-1792 Prayer in schools; prayer in other governmental functions; other religious support cases; Van Orden v. Perry.
683-711; Equal Protection Clause; basic principles; framework for analyzing the clause; the rational basis test; what is a legitimate purpose or a reasonable relationship between the law and the purpose; Romer v. Evans; Railway Express Agency v. New York; City of Cleburne.
711-742; Classifications based on race and national origin; Dred Scott case; Korematsu, Loving v. Virginia; laws requiring separation of the races; Plessy v. Ferguson; cases leading up to Brown v. Board of Education; discriminatory impact vs. discriminatory purpose; Washington v. Davis.
742-772; McClesky v. Kemp; discrimination in imposing the death penalty; discriminatory impact cases; City of Mobile v. Bolden; how to prove discriminatory purpose; Palmer v. Thompson; Feeney case; Milliken v. Bradley; Arlington Heights;
772-802; remedies to eliminate school segregation; original remedies in Brown v. Board of Education; later remedies; Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg; Milliken v. Bradley; Seattle School case; ending discrimination remedies; racial classifications benefitting minorities, Richmond v. J.A. Croson.
802- 836 use of race to benefit minorities in college and university admissions; Grutter v. Bollinger; Gratz v. Bollinger; when should remedies end; Fisher v University of Texas; election district cases;
836-876; Gender classifications; Frontiero v. Richardson; Craig v. Boren; United States v. Virginia; gender classifications benefitting women; Orr v. Orr; Rostker v. Goldberg; Nyugen case;
876-901; Alienage classifications; application of strict scrutiny; Graham v. Richardson; undocumented aliens and equal protection; other types of discrimination, where only rational basis review can be applied; groups not entitled to suspect category status;
903-929; Fundamental rights; constitutional source of such rights; Ninth Amendment; right to marry; Loving v. Virginia.
929-961 right to control upbringing of children; Meyer v. Nebraska; cases leading up to Roe v. Wade