Irons, Peter. A People’s History of the Supreme Court (Penguin) 1999. (skip chapters 18 and 20).

O’Brien, David M. Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics. 6^th edition (Norton: 2003).

Thomas, Brook. Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents, Norton: 1997.

Friendly, Fred. Minnesota Rag.

Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and its

Troubled Legacy (Oxford: 2001).

Hull, N. E. H. , and Peter Charles Hoffer. Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy

in American History. (U Press of KS: 2001).

Heins, Marjorie, "Obscenity: the First Amendment’s Second-Class Citizen," in Sex, Sin, and

Blasphemy, (The New Press: 1993), 15-37. (on reserve at the library).

van Patten, Jonathan K, "Making Sense of Bush v. Gore," South Dakota Law Review,

2002 (available through Lexis-Nexis online)

Strunk, William and White, E.B. The Elements of Style (Longman: any edition).

Individual Supreme Court opinions assigned each week for following week.

Recommended Reading:

Kelly, Harbison, and Belz. The American Constitution: Its Origin and Development,

volume II, 7^th ed., (Norton: 1991). [note: I strongly recommend you buy this book if you do not have any background in legal or constitutional history: it is the best and most comprehensive constitutional history and will help you to fill in gaps from other readings.]

Rakove, Jack. Original Meanings (for those interested in theory and its interpretation)

Garraty, John A. Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution (Harper Perennial) 1987.

Turabian, Kate. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Course description: Much of American history has been made in its courts. This course will examine the crucial role played by the Supreme Court in American history. Following a roughly chronological framework, we will examine the Court’s evolving jurisprudence and how it has affected society, institutions, and individuals. We will focus specifically on civil liberties and civil rights—especially race relations litigation, separation of church and state, and the rights of the individual to free speech and privacy. Since the Court specifically addressed such issues only after 1937, the bulk of our reading will be in the mid-to-late twentieth century. There will be some lecture presentation during the first half of the semester for background information, but the balance of the course will be conducted as a seminar in which all students will be invited to participate. Each student will also research and write an article/paper on a twentieth century case of interest to the individual student and the class.

Course goals: by the end of the course, you will have developed (or enhanced) your ability to think critically and logically, to ask important questions of legal historical evidence, to interpret court documents, and to convey what you have learned to other scholars. Specifically, you will begin to understand the Court’s complex relationship to and with the legal culture and the society.

۩ Along with reading assigned texts and case opinions each week, each student will present one major case to the group (25%). The presentation will include a summary of the case, including its origin and its outcome. The presenter will also prepare discussion questions and oversee a 40-minute discussion. A list of major cases is attached to this syllabus. (A second presentation may be done for extra credit.)

۩ Each student will also write and present a brief research paper (10-15 pages undergrads; 15-20 pages grads). The paper topic, proposed bibliography, outline, first draft, and final draft will each be graded, totaling 55% of the final grade. The paper must be original and prepared for this course alone. The paper will receive two grades: one for content and a second for format. A format sheet will be handed out and must be followed. Failure to follow the format and citation guidelines will result in a grade of F for format.

۩ Finally, and most importantly, since this is a seminar of scholars; participation is essential and will count for 20% of the final grade.

Week of Jan 5: Introductions and Lexis-Nexis demonstration at Randall Library

Read Strunk & White by Friday. Be ready for quick grammar quiz on Monday.

Jan 10: The Constitution: reports on individual amendments

Jan 19 (no class Jan 17) The Amendments: student presentations

Jan 24: Marshall and Taney (Marbury v. Madison, Gibbons v. Ogden, McCullough v. Maryland,

Read Irons, 83-220

Jan 31: Fourteenth Amendment meets separate but equal (Slaughterhouse, Civil Rights cases,

Cruikshank, Plessy)

Read Thomas, Plessy v. Ferguson, 1-126

Feb 7: The First Amendment in practice: free speech (Schenck v. U.S., Debs v. U.S., Abrams v.

U.S., Whitney v. CA)

Annotated bibliography due Wednesday

Read Irons, 265-348

Read Friendly, Minnesota Rag.

Feb 14: the Supreme Court’s turning point: freedom of religion and civil rights (footnote 4 of

Read Irons, 349-383

Feb 21: Japanese-Americans and other so-called subversives at mid-century (Korematsu v.

U.S., Hirabayashi v. U.S., Dennis v. U.S.)

Gaines, Sweatt, McLauren,

Read Irons, 383-420.

Begin Patterson, Brown v. Board: Troubled Legacy,

Mar 14: the Legacy of Brown v. Board, (Brown II, Cooper v. Aaron)

Finish Patterson

Outline with thesis statement due no later than Wednesday but I suggest you get it in sooner

(10% final grade)

Mar 21: The Warren Court and the Bill of Rights (Everson, Tinker, Reynolds v. Sims, Gideon v.

Read Irons, 409-421 (no class Friday)

Mar 28: Warren Court continued: Obscenity: "I know it when I see it…" (Burstyn v. Wilson,

Roth v. U.S., Jacobellis v. Ohio, Miller v. CA,)

Read Heins, "Obscenity: The First Amendment’s Second-Class Citizen"

Apr 4: The Court and reproductive rights? (Griswold v. CT, Roe v. Wade, Casey)

Read; Hull, Roe v. Wade, Recommended: read Irons, 421-449

First draft of paper due Monday (25% of final grade)

Apr 11: Elected officials and the press; affirmative action (New York Times v. Sullivan,

Pentagon Papers, U.S. v. Nixon, Regents of CA v. Bakke, Gratz v. Bollinger).

Read Irons, 409-420

first drafts returned on Monday

Apr 18: Bush v. Gore and the changing bench (where will we go from here?)

Research paper due Monday, Apr 25 (20%).

Presentation of Research during Final Exam period. Each student will have 10 minutes.