LAW 845SEM - Religion and Law

This is a First Amendment Religion course with an interesting twist: we will have as our central text a book from Aspen entitled: Law and Religion: Cases in Context. This book provides the backstory to several famous Supreme Court opinions on religion. Each week, we will read one case and its backstory for class. For example, one week we will do the entry on Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 US 205 - 1972 which describes the history of the Amish in that part of Wisconsin and the testimony of a famous former-Amish anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania who swung the Supreme Court in favor of this small religious group. A three to four page paper (1300 words) is due in class every week on the case at hand and then we will discuss what you have written and what you think about the decision. Class attendance is obviously important, but there is no other work product, no long paper and no exam. This class is always a lot of fun.

Credits: 3