Constitutional Law: Civil Rights POLS 129, Fall 2015 SYLLABUS

Constitutional Law: Civil Rights
POLS 129, Fall 2015
SYLLABUS
POLS 129, CRN 93974
Tuesday & Thursday, 10:05 - 11:20, Lafayette L108
Professor Alec Ewald, Department of Political Science
Old Mill 514; [email protected]; (802)656-0263
Office Hours (best time to visit): Tuesday & Thursday, 11:30-1:00; Wednesday, 9:00 – 11:00; and by appointment
Assignments are subject to change with appropriate notice. For course policies, see separate handout (posted on
Blackboard).
Readings not included in Gillman, Graber, and Whittington, American Constitutionalism, Vol. II (“GGW”), are
either in our course-pack of photocopied readings or posted on Blackboard. Please follow page numbers listed in GGW, and
look for sensible section breaks. That is, where I’ve indicated something about content in those pages (e.g. “Foundations,”
“Voting Rights,”) it’s meant as an effort at detail and elucidation, not replacement of page numbers.
In addition to the final exam, two essays, and two exams, one important evaluative mechanism is not listed on this
schedule of assignments: for any twelve days (you choose) during the semester, you must answer the “Reading Questions”
posted on Blackboard. Please see separate assignment description.
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS
Topic
Introduction:
Thinking about
American
Constitutionalism
DATE
Tues., Sept. 1
ASSIGNED READING DUE
[Note: all today’s readings are on Blackboard, under the “Course Materials” tab.
Comprehensive knowledge of all is not required.] In class, discuss as many as
time permits:
The Vermont Teacher’s Oath.
Britz, “To All the Girls I’ve Rejected,” New York Times, March 23,
2006.
3. Summary, “Constitution Restoration Act of 2005” (proposed legislation),
at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.520:
4. First Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln, 1861 (Pay attention to
material on page 4, about what the Constitution says, and page 5, about
the power of the Supreme Court.)
5. McDaniel et al., “In states, a legislative rush to nullify federal gun laws,”
Washington Post, August 2014.
6. Brief of Amici Curiae National Beer Wholesalers’ Association et al.,
S.D. v. Dole, U.S.S.C.
7. Stuart M. Butler, “Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans,”
Heritage Foundation (1989). Note particularly material at p.6.
8. Kaiser Health News, “Summary of a 1993 Republican Health Reform
Plan.” Note, among other interesting provisions, Subsection F.
Gillman, Graber, & Whittington [GGW], American Constitutionalism (Vol. 2),
xxv-xxviii (Preface); and 3-20 (Ch. 1: Introduction to Rights & Liberties).
GGW, Ch. 2, p 58-64; Ch. 3, 81-86, and 124-136; GGW, Ch. 4, 154-157
(including Marbury, 1803).
1.
2.
Introductions,
continued.
The Colonial Era
& the American
Founding
The Early
National Era and
the Jacksonian
Era
Thurs., Sept. 3
Tues., Sept. 8
Thurs., Sept. 10
On the early national era: GGW, Ch. 4, 180-198 (Voting; Equality); and,
excerpt from the Reports of Proceedings & Debates of the New York
Constitutional Convention, 1821, p. 190-191. On the Jacksonian Era: GGW, Ch.
5, 211-218 (Introduction, Foundations); 226-234 (alcohol restrictions; religion);
245-247 (voting rights).
1
The Jacksonian
Era, Part II
Civil War &
Reconstruction,
Part I
EXAM
Civil War &
Reconstruction,
Part II
Tues., Sept. 15
Thurs., Sept. 17
Tues., Sept. 22
Thurs., Sept.
24
Tues., Sept. 29
The Republican
Era, Part I
Thurs., Oct. 1
The Republican
Era, Part II
Tues., Oct. 6
ESSAY DUE
Thurs., Oct. 8
Interlude: The
Construction of
American Racial
Categories
The New Deal &
Great Society
Era, Part I
Tues., Oct. 13
The New Deal &
Great Society
Era, Part II
Tues., Oct. 20
The New Deal &
Great Society
Era, Part III
EXAM
Liberalism
Divided, Part I
Thurs., Oct. 22
Liberalism
Divided, Part II
Tues., Nov. 3
Thurs., Oct. 15
Tues., Oct. 27
Thurs., Oct. 29
GGW, Ch. 5, 247-264 (Equality: Race, Gender, and Native Americans); Dred
Scott v. Sanford (1857).
GGW, Ch. 6, 281-296 (Introductory material; Congressional debates over
meaning of the 13th and 14th Amendments); Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address,
1861.
Assignment TBA; class time to catch up and review
Exam One
GGW, Ch. 6, 303-307 (Confiscation); 316-319 (Voting); and 320-344 (Equality;
focus on sections A, C, and D, related to theory, gender, and Native Americans).
GGW, Ch. 6, 320-344, continued (Equality; focus on section B, 324-337, related
to race). And, excerpts from GGW, Vol. I: p. 272-276, related to the Civil Rights
Act of 1866, and p. 294-295, on the legitimacy of the Reconstruction
Amendments (in course-pack).
First short essay assigned.
GGW, Ch. 7, 357-372 (Introduction, Foundations); 376-383 (extraterritoriality,
and the “state action” doctrine); and, excerpt from GGW, Vol. I, 350-354
(punishing lynching). Excerpt from Strauder v. West Virginia (1879) (coursepack). Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) (Blackboard).
GGW, Ch. 7, 397-400 (Lochner); 418 (morality; Buck v. Bell, 1927); 471-473
(crime and punishment: Powell); 433-438 (citizenship). (Note: Buck v. Bell is
also included in the course-pack). GGW, Ch. 7, 438-458 (Equality: race, gender,
Native Americans – includes Plessy).
First short essay due (assignment separate), in hard copy only, at beginning of
class time. Class does meet.
“Race” and races in the early twentieth century. Ozawa v. U.S. (1922) and U.S. v.
Thind (1923); excerpt from Josiah Strong, Our Country (1891): Ch. 14, “The
Anglo-Saxon and the World’s Future,” p. 200-218 (course-pack).
GGW, Ch. 8, 479-495 (Introduction, Principles; Carolene Products excerpt, and
A.C.L.U. document). Note: the opening pages of Carolene Products are also in
your course-pack. GGW, Ch. 8, 503-511 (on “state action:” Allwright, Shelley,
and Alfred Meyer; 520-521 (Lee Optical); 529-538 (Skinner, Perez, and
Griswold). Note: Skinner is also in your course-pack. Korematsu v. U.S. (1944),
excerpt, in course-pack
“Levels of scrutiny,” considered.
[Recommended (optional): Blaisdell and West Coast Hotel excerpts.]
GGW, Ch. 8, 561-577 (Voting Rights and Congressional power; citizenship);
and, Heart of Atlanta v. U.S. (1964). Note: Heart of Atlanta and Katzenbach v.
McClung are also in course-pack. GGW, Ch. 8, 577-602 (Equality: race,
Korematsu, Brown, more); and 605-608 (Griffin).
“Levels of scrutiny,” continued: very brief excerpts from Brown-Forman Co.
v. Kentucky, 217 U.S. 563 (1910); Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220
U.S. 61, 78-79 (1911); and from Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) – these
are combined, on one document, in course-pack. Loving v. Virginia (1967), and
McLaughlin v. Florida (1964), excerpts.
Race and education. Brown, continued; the “Southern Manifesto,” 1956;
Rosenberg, “Substituting Style for Substance: What did Brown Really
Accomplish?” From PS: Political Science & Politics (2004) (in course-pack).
Exam Two
GGW, Ch. 9, 629-638 (Introduction, Foundations, Principles); GGW, Ch. 9,
639-641 (state action: Moose Lodge); 674-683 (voting rights; apportionment).
Rec’d: Buckley v. Hoff (U.S. Dist. Ct., 1964).
GGW, Ch. 9, 685-696 (San Antonio; Swann; busing). Bradley v. Milliken, 338 F.
Supp. 582 (U.S. Dist. Ct. E. Michigan, 1971), excerpt, in course-pack; Swann v.
2
Interlude:
College
Admissions and
Equality
Thurs., Nov. 5
Liberalism
Divided, Part III
Tues., Nov. 10
ESSAY DUE
Thurs., Nov.
12
Tues., Nov. 17
The Reagan Era
The Reagan Era,
cont’d.
Thurs., Nov. 19
The
Contemporary
Era, Part I:
Congressional
Power, and Race
Tues., Dec. 1
The
Contemporary
Era, II: Sexual
Orientation
Conclusions
Thurs., Dec. 3
Tues., Dec. 8
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971), brief excerpt, in course-pack;
a longer excerpt from Swann appears in GGW.
Recommended: Shapiro v. Thompson (1969).
Golden, The Price of Admission (2007), Ch. 5, “Title IX and the Rise of the
Upper-Class Athlete;” Kahlenberg, “Elite Colleges, or Colleges for the Elite?,”
New York Times, Sept. 29, 2010. (Both course-pack.) Other readings on college
admissions controversies recommended, and posted on Bb.
GGW, Ch. 9, 696-712 (Bakke, Washington v. Davis, gender material). Statement
of Senator Holland, Cong. Rec. 1970 (in course-pack); Craig v. Boren (1976),
excerpt (in course-pack).
Second short essay due (assignment separate), in hard copy only, at beginning of
class time. Class does meet.
GGW, Ch. 10, 737-744 (Introduction, Foundations); and focus on the following
sections: 748-751 (Principles); 792-794 (Bowers); 812-824 (voting rights); 825829 (Plyler); 865-870 (Batson); and 872-876 (McCleskey).
Rec’d: Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center (1985).
GGW, 829-851 (Equality: school funding; implementing Brown; affirmative
action; gender).
Thanksgiving recess: Nov. 25-29
GGW, Ch. 11, 881-891 (Introduction, Principles); 919-921 (Congressional power
and Boerne); excerpt from GGW Vol. I, 652-657, on Morrison (course-pack).
GGW, Ch. 11, 988-1016 (equality material, including on Grutter, Parents
Involved, and U.S. v. Virginia). Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle,
Ninth Circuit 2005, concurring opinion of Judge Kozinski (course-pack).
TBA, time permitting: materials on Fisher v. University of Texas (U.S.
Supreme Court, 2013, and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2014); Shelby County
(2013); Schuette (2014); and Texas Department of Housing and Community
Affairs (2015).
GGW, Ch. 11, 932-948 (sexual orientation). Attorney General Holder, letter to
Speaker Boehner, Feb. 23, 2011 (re: D.O.M.A.); U.S. v. Windsor, 570 U.S. ___
(2013), excerpt (course-pack). TBA: materials from Hollingsworth and
Obergefell.
Course conclusions and review.
Final exam (cumulative): December 15, 2015, 10:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., in our classroom.
3