COURSE SYLLABUS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: CIVIL RIGHTS

Political Science 322/622 3 Ug 4 g Credits

Winter Quarter 2005 Mon/Wed/Fri. at 11 a.m. Rieveschl 422D

http://homepages.uc.edu/~tolleyhb http://blackboard.uc.edu

Course Description:

Constitutional law is offered as a three-course sequence but 321 is not a prerequisite for 322. The fall quarter class introduced constitutionalism, the allocation of judicial, legislative, and executive powers in the national government, and the division of authority between national and state governments in the federal system. This winter term civil rights class covers issues of criminal due process, life and death (capital punishment, abortion and the right to die); as well as discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. A third class on Civil Liberties--speech, press, religion and assembly--will be offered spring using the same two texts from this Civil Rights class. Students who have not completed introductory American politics and a 200 level intermediate public law course should not attempt this advanced offering in Constitutional law. This course fulfills the General Education Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) areas of Social Sciences and Social & Ethical Issues and promotes the development of the following Baccalaureate Competencies: Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, and Social Responsibility. The class also counts as an elective for the A&S Ethnic Studies Certificate.

Texts: Lee Epstein and Thomas Walker, Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights and Liberties 5 th ed.

Henry Abraham + Barbara Perry, Freedom and the Court, 8 th ed.

N.Y. Times highly recommended $20 Home $17.60 campus Delivery Mon-Fri 10 wks;

Also available free at http://www.nytimes.com

Instructor:

Howard Tolley, 556-3316 Office Hours 1114 Crosley Wed. and Fri. noon- 2 pm and by appointment Email: Howard.Tolley@UC.edu

In addition to assisting students in this course, the instructor is available for academic advising and placement counseling for pre-law students, political science and international affairs majors, and any students interested in Semester-at-Sea, Co-op, internships, Model UN. Go to http://homepages.uc.edu/~tolleyhb for links to advising references.

Requirements:

Per Cent of Final Grade

Class attendance 5% 25 points

Participation, Recitation 5% 25 points

Homework exercise: CALI IRAC 5% 20 points

IRAC Case Analysis: 5% 25 points

Paper Bibliography 5% 20 points

Journal Article Synopsis 5% 30 points

Research/Advocacy Paper + Oral Argument 22% 100 points

Mid-Term Test 22% 100 points

Final Examination 26% 120 points

Students should expect to spend two hours in outside preparation for each one hour class meeting. The instructor will regularly call on students in class to recite the facts and holdings of cases excerpted in the text for that day’s reading.--come prepared. Students in the honors program may arrange a writing contract for the paper. Instructor’s grade distribution in 9 classes, Summer 2000—Winter 2002 (13% W passing not included): A: 16%; A-: 4% B+: 4.3% B: 34% B-: 5%-29%; C+ 9.7%; C: 17% C-: 5.8% D: 1%; UW: 3.3%

Withdrawal Policy:

Students who withdraw by Monday February 10 will all be assigned a grade of "W", even if they have not attended class or done any assignments. Thereafter, any student who is failing will be recorded as "withdraw-F". Under university policy, a student who is passing can still withdraw up until March 1 without penalty.

Attendance Policy:

Regular attendanceis expected and is essential for participation/recitation. In exceptional circumstances every student will need to miss class for reasons they alone determine. No explanation must be given--there are no excused or unexcused absences. All absences are treated equally. No specific number of absences results in a grade penalty. Points earned by class attendance, recitation and participation are added together with scores from all assignments and exams to compute a point total that determines a final grade. A student attending 90% of the classes (26 of 29) would have an "A" grade for the attendance component. After missing a class, always check with a classmate for notes and special announcements. If you must leave a class meeting early, go quietly without asking permission, offering an explanation, or requesting an excuse.

Online Conferencing:

The instructor will regularly call on students in class to answer questions about assigned readings. Blackboard, the U.C. internet classroom assistant, will be used for email, link sharing and an electronic bulletin board for posting messages/papers. http://blackboard.uc.edu. Post a one-paragraph bio of yourself following the link for Communication, Discussion Board, Student Bios. The instructor will post on the electronic bulletin board for all students’ answers he gives to any students raising questions by e-mail. All current and prospective POL and INTA majors are expected to join the department listserv, at http://listserv.uc.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=uc-pos&A=1 . If you encounter any difficulty contact Professor Moore at 556-3376, Thomas.Moore@UC.edu

IRAC Legal Analysis Homework

Complete the Legal Research and Writing online exercise “ Learning Legal Analysis Through Its Components: Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion—IRAC” from the CD-ROM on Langsam overnight reserve in multimedia services. Compute and print out your score to turn in for homework. All papers received will be awarded identical full credit, no matter what score is awarded. (Note: An alternative approach to preparing notes on a case is described in Epstein “Briefing Supreme Court Cases” p 869). Students who did the IRAC exercise in the fall term Federal System class should complete the more advanced exercise on using IRAC in legal writing.

Case Analysis Using IRAC

Using the IRAC format, submit a two-page analysis of the Supreme Court decision identified on this syllabus that serves as a precedent related to the case selected for your term paper.

Article Synopsis

Find a law journal article related to the case selected for your term paper, similar to the critique of Rasul v Bush from the Air Force Law Journal assigned for 1/28, and submit a 2 page summary.

References

Submit a bibliography for your term paper that includes the following:

1. Secondary sources: a) books—both texts with specific chapter and page references, plus at least one other. b) at least one scholarly law journal article c) periodical articles – newspapers, magazines

2. primary sources a) Court decisions with full legal citations b) Oral argument transcripts c) pleadings and legal memoranda by the parties

Online sources should be fully identified by author, title, organization/publisher, URL (http://www. . .) and date of access.

Advocacy Papers AND ORAL ARGUMENT

All students will write an advocacy paper to support participation in oral argument involving a Supreme Court case or a lower court decision. Department majors eligible for high honors (3.6 GPA) may do work in preparation for a senior thesis. U.C. Honors Scholars may undertake a writing contract.

Each advocacy paper should be 4-6 typed pages with a separate outline/table of contents and a final list of references. Students conducting research on the same case or issue may collaborate with co-counsel or other members of a team as long as each student completes a distinct paper for an individual grade. All papers must provide a complete list of references using the same citation style for books, court cases, internet sites, and journal articles found in the Epstein text.

Research : Consult the full text of Supreme Court decisions, at least one law journal article, listen to oral argument if available, and view documentary videos. Court decisions are at http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/ Many law journal articles can be downloaded from the internet. Findlaw.com is an excellent search tool. The Index to Legal Periodicals and periodical abstracts is online www.libraries.uc.edu LEXIS-NEXIS Academic universe is valuable. Langsam Library has the full opinions in Lawyer's Edition and a few major law reviews. The U.C. Law Library also has U.S. Reports, The Supreme Court Reporter, the Index to Legal Periodicals and most law reviews.

Blackboard has a link to http:// www.oyez.org/ that accesses full oral argument that can be heard with Real Audio. Supreme Court Oral Argument Transcripts available at

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.html

Proper Citations and Academic Honesty When your paper directly quotes material from Epstein, Abraham, a court opinion, law journal or other source, use quotation marks to identify all copied phrases and then give the correct page citation or the internet site address and date of visit. Give the full citation--author, title, journal, date, page. The instructor’s advising website http://homepages.uc.edu/~tolleyhb has links to writing resources including guidance on citation.

Two Warnings: 1) Plagiarism is an automatic "F". The University's Student Code of Conduct. http://www.uc.edu/ucinfo/conduct.html identifies additional penalties that may be imposed. The instructor will use internet tracking software to identify copied material. Examples of unacceptable plagiarism can be reviewed at: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html#original 2) Papers turned in after the deadline will receive no more than 50% credit and cannot earn a passing grade.

Oral Argument.

Each student will make a 5 to 10 minute oral argument in a class debate on the case. Draft arguments must be posted on Blackboard the day before class debate and sent to all in the class by email for advance preparation. Submit a printed version in class.

2005CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CIVIL RIGHTSTERM PAPER CHOICE

Equal Protection/14 th Amendement

1. Racial segregation in California Prisons Johnson v. Gomez, James & Rowland Docket: 03-0636 Oral Argument: Nov. 2, 2004 Does California's practice of temporary racial segregation of state prisoners violate the Equal Protection Clause? IRAC Loving v. Virginia p. 683

2. Gender Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education Docket: 02-1672 Oral Argument: Nov. 30, 2004 Whether male coach of a girls high school team dismissed for raising complaints has a private right of action for unlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq IRAC Craig v Boren p. 705

Criminal Procedure/Due Process

3. Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada Decided June 21, 2004

http://clca.cqpress.com/rights/Hibel.htm Must individual stopped by the police provide personal identification? IRAC Terry v Ohio p. 532

4. Hamdan v Rumsfeld decided by US District Court. March 8 argument in Court of appeals. Osama Bin Laden’s driver imprisoned at Guantanamo challenges legality of Presidentially established military tribunals. IRAC Rasul v Bush, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld http://clca.cqpress.com/powers/Hamdi.htm

Reference links available at http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/terrorism/cases/

5. United States v. Booker, and United States v. Fanfan were argued on Oct. 4, 2004.

Do the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines deprive defendants of their 6 th Amendment jury trial right by empowering judges to impose sentences based on facts not presented to jurors? IRAC Blakely v Washington http://clca.cqpress.com/rights/Blakeley.htm

6. 8 th Amendment Cruel + Unusual

Roper , Supt., v. Simmons Docket: 03-0633 Oral Argument: Oct. 13, 2004

Is the imposition of the death penalty on a person who commits a murder at age 17 "cruel and unusual" and thus barred by the 8th and 14th Amendments? IRAC Atkins v. Virginia p 629

Assignments (Subject to change by instructor)

STUDENT INFORMATION FORM CON LAW: CIVIL RIGHTS WINTER 2005

Name ____________________________________ Year/Class ________________

Major ___________________ E-mail address _______________________________

College at U.C. _________________________ U.C. Honors Scholars Program? YES NO

Registered

Home City and State __________________________________ Voter? YES NO

Related Coursework--Check courses taken (S/01) if this term):

American Government and Politics Judicial Process

U.S. Supreme Court Business Law

International Law Human Rights

Other ______________________________________________________

Total number of credit hours to be taken at U.C. this term: ____________ Pre-Law? YES NO

If employed, how many hours per week during this term: _________________

Would you like a training session in how to use internet to access court opinions, law journal articles, and related legal materials? YES NO

Identify your 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd choice for term paper reports from the six options below, and indicate for each whether you prefer to be an advocate for A the government or B the civil rights petitioner (circle one).

Equal Protection/14 th Amendement

____ A B 1. Race in Prisoner Segregation Johnson v. Gomez & Rowland

___ A. Counsel for Johnson (California) ___ B. Counsel for inmates

____ A B 2. Gender Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education

Criminal Procedure

____ A B 3. Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court

____ A B 4. Federal Sentencing Guidelines U.S. v. Booker/Fanfan

___ A. Counsel for U.S. ___ B. Counsel for Booker/Fanfan

____ A B 5. Guantanamo detainee Case Hamdan v Rumsfeld

____ A B 6. 8 th Amendment Juvenile executions Roper , Supt., v. Simmons

Please provide on your Blackboard web page and as desired below whatever additional information you care to share that might be relevant: schools previously attended, law related experience, employment, internships, club or organization memberships, travel, other interests, strengths, weaknesses:

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