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Constitutional litigation is the stuff of power politics in America. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, there is scarcely any political question that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question. In the past 200 years, nearly every interest represented in our diverse and far-flung nation has knocked, at one time or another, on the courthouse door. It is more than a little ironic that in our representative republic, nine unelected individuals have come to wield so much power and enjo y so much acceptance. It is even more ironic that the elected, co-equal branches--the Congress and the Executive--seem, of late, to be knocking the hardest! The Supreme Court decisions in Clinton vs city of New York and Byrd vs Raines, the constitutiona l challenge to the line item Veto Act is a recent example of this trend. This course will take an in-depth look at the politics behind several cases, in which the Congress or the president, or both, have come hat-in-hand seeking a resolution to their ong oing tug-of-war for power from the umpire. We will consider such questions as Is the more equal branch really the least dangerous branch? When the court rules on separation-of-powers issues, is it interpreting the Constitution or creating its own versio n of a Constitution? Is the Constitution a blueprint that can be applied with some specificity or a spirit open to broad and flexible interpretation? Can the modern bureaucratic state be squared with the Founding Fathers' constitutional design? The readi ngs will be from law journal articles, excerpts from various books on judicial review and Supreme Court cases.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS GOVT Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE
Last Updated on MAR-24-2000
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459