LAW 612LEC - Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights - Due Process, Equal Protection, First Amendment

This upper-level survey course supplements Con Law I by taking a deeper, more methodical dive into the scope, content, and claimability of the Individual Rights guarantees protected by the U.S. Constitution. Who can claim these rights? Against whom? Subject to what limitations? With what remedies? What, if any, is the overarching logic that guides constitutional interpretation of individual rights protections by the U.S. Supreme Court? How has that logic evolved over the last 230 years? Are these logics, and the methodologies applied to implement them, up to the challenges of the 21st century, particularly in preserving and strengthening inclusive democratic self-governance? What, moreover, do these methodologies mean for rights-based work at the state and local levels? The course will concentrate on the individual rights and liberties protected by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech.

Credits: 3