4113: Constitutional Law

Prof. Jon York

Thursdays 6:00 -8:45 p.m.

Room 314

Course Overview: This course surveys the principles of the United States Constitution as

they relate to the organization, power, and limits of government and to the relationship between

government and the American people. The course will examine the Constitution in two parts:

the institutional dimension and the civil rights and civil liberties dimension. The institutional

component will examine issues of presidential, congressional, and judicial power, as well as

questions of state versus national authority and problems of interstate relations. The civil

rights/liberties component will examine issues of personal freedom and legal and political

equality.

Attendance Policy: A student may not be absent from more than two (2) classes.

Grading: Grades will be based on written exams and classroom participation. A mid-term

exam will be thirty percent (30%) and the final exam will count sixty percent (60%) of final

grades. Classroom participation will count ten percent (10%).

Text: Stephens & Scheb, American Constitutional Law, 3d. Ed., Published by Thomson West.

Contact Information: My phone number is 668-5995. My email is jyork@pgandr.com.

Class Schedule

PART I

January 11: Course Overview

January 18: Introduction & The Constitution

Reading Assignment: Introduction (pp. 1-14); Constitution (Appendix A) the United States

January 25: NO CLASS

February 1: The Supreme Court

Reading Assignment: Chapter 1 (pp. 16-62); Marbury v. Madison (pp. 65-67); Ex parte McCardle (pp. 72-72)

February 8: Congress and the President

Reading Assignment: Chapter 2 (pp. 82-111); M’Colluch v. Maryland (pp. 115-118); Gibbons v. Ogden (pp. 123-27);

Hammer v. Dagenhart (pp. 127-129); Carter v. Carter Coal Company (pp. 129-131);

NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin (pp. 131-135); Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US (pp. 138-140); Katzenbach v. McClung (pp. 140-141); United States v. Lopez (pp. 141-144)

February 15: The President

Reading Assignment: Chapter 3 (pp. 164-192);

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (Justice Black’s opinion only pp. 193-194);

Clinton v. City of New York (pp. 198-200); United States v. Nixon (pp. 200-202);

United States v. Curtiss-Wright (pp. 208-210);

Korematsu v. United States (pp. 21-219)

February 22: Mid-Term Exam

Course Schedule

PART II

March 1: Constitutional Sources of Civil Rights and Liberties

Reading Assignment: Chapter 6

March 8: Property Rights and Economic Freedom

Reading Assignment: Chapter 7

March 15: No Class (Spring Break)

March 22: Expressive Freedom and the First Amendment

Reading Assignment: Chapter 8

March 29: Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations

Reading Assignment: Chapter 9

April 5: The Constitution and Criminal Justice

Reading Assignment: Chapter 10

April 12: Personal Autonomy and the Constitutional Right to Privacy

Reading Assignment: Chapter 11

April 19: Equal Protection and the Antidiscrimination Principle

Reading Assignment: Chapter 12

April 26: Elections, Representation, and Voting Rights

Reading Assignment: Chapter 13

May 3: Final Exam