General Course Descriptions for Terms: constitutional
725 - Introduction to Criminal Procedure
Various aspects of criminal procedure and criminal justice administration. Constitutional limitations upon criminal justice practices.
731 - Constitutional Law (1Ls only)
740 - Constitutional Law II
Rights of citizens against state and federal governments; the nature of due process and the equal protection of the law; the protection of freedom from invidious discrimination; the Civil Rights Acts; freedoms of expression, association, and religion.
744 - Administrative Law
This course is an introduction to the federal administrative state. We will study both the powers that agencies possess and the constitutional, statutory, and other limitations on those powers. We will explore the relationship of agencies to Congress, the courts, the President, and the public; the procedures through which agencies operate; and the availability and scope of judicial review of agency action. Along the way, we will consider the rationales for delegating power to agencies, the implications of the ways agencies are structured, and the values that do or should guide agency conduct. The course thus has theoretical components, but it is also extremely practical, and I will emphasize both theory and practice during the course. The work of federal agencies affects nearly every area of modern life, from environmental protection to financial markets to national security—not to mention public health, medicine,voting, and mail.This course will prepare you to engage with that law, whether as a public servant, a lawyer representing a client, or a citizen interacting with your government. Understanding how regulation works will serve you well in your legal careers (and your lives), whatever you choose to do with your degree.
854 - Clinical Program: Constitutional Litigation, Appeals & Sentencing Project (CLASP) (AKK Session)
901 - First Amendment
Explores American constitutional law governing speech, association, the press, and religion. It focuses on the leading First Amendment cases that have created the most expansive protection for expression anywhere in the world. Consider not only the reasons for protecting these rights, but also countervailing interests - such as public safety, national security, and equality - that may justify restrictions on expression. Consider arguments that the U.S. Supreme Court has gone too far in protecting some forms of speech and association, such as false statements, sexually explicit materials, hate speech, and corporate political spending.
904 - SP Con Law: WI Constitution, Law & Society
This course will be an exercise in ‘constitutionalism’. The course will address not only court opinions interpreting the State constitution, but will spend significant time with the document itself. We will cover the history of the document from its initial drafting through amendment exercises, including currently proposed amendments. The class will actually read the State Constitution and discuss its historical context, overall logic, and meaning: i.e., is this document one of restricted, expressly enumerated powers; or is it a wholesale grant of plenary authority (or power) to the government institutions it establishes? We will do a textual analysis particularly focusing on the relationships between and among various Articles, sections, and provisions. While we all have learned the importance of the basic ‘separation of powers’ between legislative, executive, and judicial functions, this course will teach that, as important as it is to separate powers in government, perhaps it is equally if not even more important to separate powers from government. As a result we will study the relationship(s) between the constitution and the ‘liberty sphere’ where the citizenry, property, and societal institutions reside (i.e., corporations, unions, families, marriages, religions, churches, political parties, etc.) The course will focus on certain constitutional provisions and developments unique or peculiar to our State’s constitution, including legislative committees playing a participant role in the executive or administrative process even after enactment of a law; legislators having standing to file suit; the idea of the ‘constitutional office’; the ever-looming ‘partial-veto’; the lengthy provisions on non-governmental social issues du jour – i.e., gaming, the Public Trust Doctrine, anti-gay marriage, as well as other hot-button issues today: redistricting, selection of judges, open meetings, resurrecting a meaningful State Bill of Rights, and the constitutional amendment process. Additional readings may include a book by Professor Dinan on State constitutions generally as well as several law review articles on the Wisconsin Constitution. The course, however, will not be all constitutional theory. We will study how law is made is Wisconsin. We will study the structure and processes of the Wisconsin court system. We will look at administrative processes in general including, for example, our contested rule-making requirements. Several guest speakers will be invited to present on their respective areas of government practice or expertise. The course will be offered for 2 or 3 credit option. Both the 2 and 3-credit requirements will include one two hour class session per week and a two-hour final exam. The 3-credit requirement will add a paper from 5 to 7 (10-15 double-spaced) page paper.
915 - SP Crim. J. Admin: Criminal Injustice in America
Examine historical and structural injustices that drive racially discriminatory practices and outcomes in the criminal legal system. Explore the system’s racially discriminatory approach to surveillance, street detention, arrest, charging, pretrial detention, trial, sentencing, and probation. Consider how constitutional “rights” expand the discretion of state actors to exert unaccountable power. Critically examine narratives within the criminal legal system and law school curriculum that legitimize a mass incarceration crisis that targets communities of color and undermines public safety. This course meets with Prof. Meyn's undergraduate Legal Studies course of the same name. With respect to Law students in the course, he anticipates assigning 3-4 writing assignments. These assignments will require law students to conduct independent research. For example, the first few weeks of the course examines conceptions of public safety between the 1600s and the present. Prof. Meyn plans to ask law students to study historical newspapers and other relevant historical texts to further illuminate or contest the texts and ideas discussed in class about what public safety has meant at different times in this country’s history. Where undergraduates take three exams that test their understanding of the presented material, JD students will be expected to understand the material presented, and thus expected through writing assignments to deepen our understanding of course concepts through the presentation of findings from their own research into historical documents and scholarly texts.
940 - Constitutional Law I (3Ls only)
Powers of government, state and federal, under the Constitution of the United States; relations between federal and state authority (e.g., taxation and regulation of interstate commerce); relations between branches of the federal government; limitations on governmental authority by virtue of a distribution of power.
950 - European Union Law
Course Description: The subject of this six-week, one-credit course taught by Professors from Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, will be an "Introduction to the Law of the European Union." This will be a general introduction to the legal system of the European Union covering both its constitutional and institutional architecture and focusing on a selection of issues including (1) the EU institutional setting, (2) sources of EU law (treaties, secondary legislation, law-making procedures, direct effect, supremacy), (3) remedies in EU law (enforcement proceedings, preliminary references, direct actions, liability), (4) general principles of EU law (human rights, citizenship, rule of law, discrimination, proportionality), (5) the internal market (free movement of goods, persons, services and capital), and (6) a brief overview of other policies of the EU. The focus will be on understanding the underlying principles of European legal integration and becoming familiar with European Union legal sources. Note: The course will meet starting on September 15th and meet each Friday thereafter until October 20th; the final exam will be a take-home exam on Saturday, October 21st.
988 - SP Environ Law: Natural Resources Law
This course covers the law and policy of the disposition and use of natural resources in the United States. We will emphasize federally owned and managed resources, especially the nearly one-third of this country’s land area that is owned by the federal government, although you will also learn a little about the management of state and private lands as well. Main topics include the history of public land law; the constitutional basis for federal control of natural resources, and legal doctrines and principles that cut across the whole field. We will study two important statutes that, while often included in environmental law curricula, are equally pivotal to natural land use and management in the United States: the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. We will then turn to studies of particular types of resources, including fisheries, wilderness and recreational areas, water, rangelands, federally owned minerals, and forests. Although the general public often perceives natural resources law as part of “environmental law,” natural resources law, as presented in law school courses and casebooks, covers the government’s role as owner and regulator of publicly owned resources, such as land and use of navigable waters. In contrast, environmental law tends to focus on the regulation of private conduct to minimize and provide remedies for various forms of pollution of natural resources. Natural resources law follows a property law model, whereas environmental law’s common law heritage is traceable first and foremost to tort law. While having taken environmental law will, like a number of other courses (structural constitutional law; federal courts; legislation), prove helpful for your studies of this course, it is not a requirement, and I will not assume knowledge of environmental law.