Courses & Clinics

COURSES AND SEMINARS
Citizenship and Membership
Civil Liberties
Civil Rights Litigation
Constitutional Law II: Freedom of Speech and Press
Death Penalty: An International Perspective
Ethical Issues in Foreign Policy 
First Amendment Freedoms
Human Rights Advocacy 
Immigration Law
International Human Rights Law
International Litigation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Law of War
Nationalism and Cultural Identity
Punishment in Law and Culture
Refugee Law and Policy
Rights, Bills of Rights and Constitutions: Britain
Begins to Emulate the United States
Rights of Indigenous People
Transitional Justice as a Security Strategy
War Crimes (at the JAG School)

CLINICS
International Human Rights Law
Immigration Law

View all curricular concentrations

Return to Top

Course Descriptions
All are three credit hours except where noted.

Advanced topics in the First Amendment This seminar focuses on doctrinal and theoretical controversies involving the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. The first three weeks of the course provide a general overview of constitutional protections for the freedom of religion. After this introduction, each week is devoted to an intensive discussion of a law review article on a selected topic (e.g., public displays of religion, religious accommodation, public funding of religion, the autonomy of religious institutions, the definition of religion, the values and principles that justify the Religion Clauses, and the relationship between the two clauses).

Advanced Topics in the Law of War (JAG SCHOOL) (2) The course provides an in-depth study of specific topics in the law of war, building upon foundations laid during the core instruction. Discussions and readings consider and compare U.S and international perspectives on the law of war including views of U.S. allies, the U.N., the ICRC and NGOs. Topics include sources of contemporary law of war, in-depth consideration of the principles of the law of war and targeting, issues associated with battlefield status, regulation of internal armed conflicts, the interface between human rights law and the law of war, and mechanisms to enforce the law of war. The ICRC’s casebook “How Does Law Protect in War” will serve as the text.

CITIZENSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP (1) This short course provides an overview of U.S. citizenship law, including acquisition at birth, naturalization and denaturalization, loss of citizenship, dual nationality, and the history of U.S. doctrine, including the increasing importance of constitutional protections. The course looks briefly at selected international and comparative law issues, including citizenship questions that arise from the breakup of states, and considers deeper questions involving the concept of citizenship and the meaning of membership in a nation.

COMPARATIVE LAW This seminar introduces the student to different legal systems, especially those in Europe and parts of the developing world. The efforts of formerly Communist countries to create new legal systems has provoked a critical review of the achievements and deficiencies of the Anglo-American and Continental legal traditions as well as considerable experimentation with hybrid institutions. The seminar considers the influence of ideology on law, the reform process, this influence of various models, and the realization of institutional change in constitutional, civil, criminal, and administrative law. It also examines the impact of international institutions such as the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights on domestic law.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE CONFLICT OF LAWS (3) This course examines traditional principles of private international law in the context of the rapidly changing global business environment. Areas covered include the concept of international jurisdiction, choice of law rules in inter-jurisdictional contracts and in Internet transactions, the implications of electronic commerce for private international law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Particular attention will be given to anti-suit injunctions and provisional and protective measures in international litigation. The Draft Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters is also considered.

CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN TERRORISM AND THE LAW (1) This short course analyzes legal issues implicated by such questions as: Is terrorism best conceptualized as a crime or war? What are the limits on the surveillance and use of force against terrorists? When are the various forms of  detention legal? Should there be different rules for detainees held in and outside the United States? What is the appropriate form of trial for detainees? Are military commissions constitutionally valid? Familiarity with constitutional law and international law is not necessary.

DEATH PENALTY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE (1) Course lectures cover the issue of capital punishment in an international context. They survey: the history of capital punishment and the movement to restrict its use and then to abolish it; the politics of the abolitionist movement, including the arguments and forces that have been at work to achieve successful abolition and those that have been used to resist it, including public opinion; the influence of international law and the human rights movement; the current scope and use of the death penalty around the world, the modes of enforcing it and the legal and moral issues involved in its application, including arbitrariness, discrimination, the “death row phenomenon,” and error; the evidence regarding the deterrent effect of capital punishment; and alternatives to the death penalty, in particular the legal and penal application of life imprisonment.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN FOREIGN POLICY (1) This short course provides an overview of ethical thinking and examines the ethical implications of four specific foreign affairs decisions, including President Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decisions to “stress” detainees for intelligence in the war on terror, the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, and the response of the international community to the crisis in Rwanda in 1994.

EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN MILITARY JUSTICE In 1776, Congress adopted summary military justice procedures that denied soldiers many of the very rights they were fighting for. Two hundred years later, however, courts-martial generally equal, and in some areas exceed, standards of American civilian justice. This course considers the nature of this evolution. Particular focus is placed on the changing scope of military personal and subject matter jurisdiction, rights and due process accorded to the accused, and the roles of lawyers and judicial review in military justice. Both statutory (the court-martial) and common law (the military commission and military government court) tribunals are considered. The course explores the challenges posed in exercising criminal jurisdiction over complex situations such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, before concluding with a comparative analysis of how U.S. military justice stacks up today against both our own civil courts as well as military trials around the world.

FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS This elective sequel to the required introductory course focuses significantly on First Amendment doctrine and theory including free speech, freedom of the press, and religion.

FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW This course examines the constitutional and statutory doctrines regulating the conduct of American foreign relations. The topics discussed include the distribution of foreign relations powers between the three branches of the federal government, the status of international law in U.S. courts, the scope of the treaty power, the validity of executive agreements, the preemption of state foreign relations activities, the power to declare and conduct war, and the political question and other doctrines regulating judicial review in foreign relations cases.

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY (3) This seminar explores a range of approaches to human rights advocacy, domestic and international, from the perspective of human rights methodology. Students examine diverse tactics, strategies, and venues selected by human rights lawyers and other advocates pursuing similar objectives. We consider the obligations and options of various stakeholders, including states, corporations, NGOs, and individuals. The seminar focuses on strategic choices, including litigation; legislation and policy advocacy; advocacy before the U.N., transnational, regional and national human rights bodies; investigation and documentation; and global human rights campaigns.

IMMIGRATION LAW This course is an introduction to the complex provisions of U.S. immigration laws and the procedures used to decide specific immigration-related issues. Considerable attention is given to underlying constitutional and philosophical issues, to selected questions of international law and politics, and to the interaction of Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies in dealing with major public policy issues in the immigration field.

INTERNATIONAL AND FOREIGN LEGAL RESEARCH (2) International and foreign legal research employs materials, methods and strategies that are different from those encountered in U.S. domestic legal research. This course provides a survey of research resources, methods and strategies unique to international and foreign law. Topics to be examined include public international law (e.g., the law of treaties), private international law (e.g., commercial law), foreign law, as well as selected topics of international interest such as arbitration, human rights, intellectual property, environmental law, and trade law.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW This course introduces students to problems posed by the investigation or prosecution of criminal laws in the international arena. It first explores the foundations of international criminal law, including the bases for criminal jurisdiction. It then covers in depth two issues central to international criminal law, the extradition of fugitives and mutual legal assistance (i.e., international evidence gathering). Coverage includes the criminal procedure and the U.S. constitutional issues implicated in it.

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW This course examines the legal, political, and scientific aspects of problems of biodiversity and atmospheric pollution that are the subject of international treaties. Legal analyses focus on the texts of those treaties, but we also examine relevant U.S. domestic law and some international trade law. The course includes a series of simulated international negotiating and drafting sessions aimed at reaching agreement on a climate change treaty.

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH POLICY What makes a good health care system? How do we know whether a health system is performing well? These questions are addressed through a comparison of the financing, delivery, and operation of health systems in different countries throughout the world. Using the U.S. health care system as a basis for comparison, the course will focus on both the differences in health system performance, as measured by death, disability, morbidity, access, and patient satisfaction, and the differences in health system inputs, including personnel, facilities, and infrastructure. Legal and economic systems, in addition to particular case studies, are examined, as well as insurance, reimbursement mechanisms, the management of data and privacy, and public-private mix. Trends toward globalization of health issues are identified and discussed.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW This course introduces the theory and practice of international human rights law, with particular emphasis on the ways in which human rights law is made and used. Topics to be covered include: an introduction to key principles of international law; the philosophical foundations of universal human rights; core international human rights norms and their foundations in the U.N. Charter and other treaties, how states incorporate human rights principles domestically; recent human rights-based challenges to the idea of state sovereignty; the increasing overlap between human rights law and international humanitarian law; human rights and development, and international systems and procedures for the protection of human rights.

INTERNATIONAL LAW This course is the basic offering in international legal studies. The emphasis is on the interaction between international legal rules, on the one hand, and international politics, domestic politics, U.S. law, and historical factors, on the other hand. The course begins with the legal rules that constitute the international politico-legal system, such as the prerequisites and perquisites of a nation-state, the sources of international law, and the formal relationship between international and domestic law. The course continues with the legal rules governing international trade, such as the rules of the European Union and the World Trade Organization. The course concludes with legal rules that regulate the international environment, such as the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. As time permits, the course also covers the legal rules that regulate war, alliances, and weapons, such as the U.N. Charter and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

International Litigation of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1) Can the rights to health, education, housing or adequate food be enforced by courts? Long viewed as mere programmatic goals to be realized progressively through political processes and within available resources, economic-social-cultural rights are increasingly being litigated in judicial and quasi-judicial instances at national and international levels. Some of these cases have been successful while others have not. Classic distinctions between economic-social-cultural rights and civil-political rights are being questioned. This seminar seeks to provide the legal and analytical tools to understand why distinctions between rights are unhelpful and why some claims succeed while others fail. The course considers the international normative framework for the legal protection of economic-social-cultural rights, the corresponding obligations assumed by states, the contentious procedures available internationally for the adjudication of individual complaints, and how cases must be framed to survive basic justiciability and admissibility thresholds. The course examines each of these matters through analysis of human rights instruments, procedures, and case law, as well as detailed case studies on the right to health and the right to housing.

Labor Rights in International Law (1) This short course examines the ways that national and international law protect and promote what the international community has identified as "core labor standards": freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively; freedom from discrimination in employment; freedom from harmful child labor; and freedom from forced labor. Case studies consider the effectiveness of different methods of international regulation, comparing the International Labor Organization with other international and national human rights systems, and also with trade-related measures and corporate social responsibility approaches. The course concludes with an assessment of the U.S. level of compliance with its international legal responsibilities to protect workers’ fundamental human rights.

LAW AND VIOLENCE Seventeenth-century English political theorist Thomas Hobbes thought that a world without law would be a world of pervasive and uncontrollable violence. In his view, law arose as a necessary response to violence. Many would still assert that law is the very antithesis of violence; after all, law seeks to create a social order based upon reason, rather than brute force. But law also relies on violence for its efficacy: without the possibility of coercion, no legal regime could survive. This raises the question of how the violence of the law differs from the violence that the law claims to prevent and address.

LAW OF WAR This seminar introduces students to the contemporary law of war. Participants will discuss several current issues such as the Bush Administration’s pre-emption doctrine and applicability of the laws of war to the war on terrorism. This course is particularly useful for law students interested in taking the Judge Advocate General’s School Advanced Topics in the Law of War course.

Nationalism and Cultural Identity (1) This course makes use of cultural studies, political theory, history, and law to study forms of group identity and membership as well as the politics of inclusion, exclusion, and recognition of groups by states. The course decouples the concepts of nation (a community of ethnic, racial or cultural relatedness) and state (a geo-political body) in order to explore the relationships between the two. The course focuses on attempts at national definition by the United States (through immigration and citizenship law, holidays, monuments, etc.) and on the struggles by nationalist groups for recognition within pluralist states, but it also provides a solid foundation for anyone interested in nationalism in an international context.

NATIONAL SECURITY LAW This course examines the historical development of the international law of conflict management, including the U.N. system and the role of the Security Council. Addressing the lawfulness of using force in international relations, the course discusses the prohibition of war as an instrument of national policy, low-intensity conflict, intervention, anticipatory defense, and other continuing problems. It examines human rights for contexts of violence, looks at war crimes and the Nuremberg principles, and the new international criminal court. It briefly reviews American security doctrine, arms control, the security aspects of oceans law, and then examines in detail the national institutional framework for the control of national security, the national command structure, and intelligence and counterintelligence law. It ends with a review of individual rights and accountability as they interface with national security.

Privacy and surveillance Can we preserve dignity and privacy in the age of Facebook? This seminar will consider the history and current applications of technologies and cultures of surveillance. How and why did we get to the point where almost all of our activities leave a trace? What is our level of tolerance of mass surveillance? Are we willing to let the state into our bedrooms? Are we more comfortable letting our stores and shopping services understand us? What sorts of laws and policies do we need to protect our sense of personal integrity? And is privacy worth anything these days anyway? This course will allow students to survey a broad range of approaches and issues. We will read the latest work as well as some classic contributions to the field.

PUNISHMENT IN LAW AND CULTURE (1) This short course considers connections between punishment and culture in the contemporary United States. The class examines punishment through philosophical literature, literary texts, legal cases, and film. Among the questions discussed are: Do we punish too much and too severely, or too little and too leniently? Does punishment express our noblest aspirations for justice or our basest desires for vengeance? Can it ever be an adequate expression of, or response to, the pain of the victims of crime? When is it appropriate to forgive rather than punish? Students consider these questions in the context of arguments about the right way to deal with drug offenders, sexual predators, and terrorists. In addition, students examine the treatment of punishment in constitutional law, e.g. the prohibition of double jeopardy and of cruel and unusual punishment.

REFUGEE LAW This course covers in detail refugee law and the procedures involved in adjudicating claims to political asylum, as well as such topics as: the theory and philosophy of refugee protection; comparative refugee law and procedure; the special dimensions of gender-based persecution claims; U.S. overseas refugee programs; restructuring the asylum adjudication process; “temporary protected status”; the role of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees; regional and universal treaties concerning refugees; and extradition law (including the political offense exception).

Rights of indigenous peoples From the United Nations and regional human rights institutions to the World Bank and other international institutions, indigenous peoples have made significant gains in recent decades. This seminar will explore emerging norms and principles of indigenous rights within the international legal framework. We will discuss such issues as the definition and concept of indigenous peoples and rights; tensions between individual rights and group rights; historical discriminatory practices (e.g., removal of children from indigenous communities); indigenous peoples’ land rights, environmental law and the activities of multinational corporations; cultural survival and indigenous peoples’ rights under international trade and intellectual property regimes; and indigenous mobilization and international advocacy.

RULE OF LAW: CONTROLLING GOVERNMENT IN CONTEMPORARY LEGAL THOUGHT This seminar explores the theory and cost of government failure and its relationship to contemporary movements for constitutional and legal reform. The seminar reviews information about government failure internationally and domestically; examines theoretical approaches to explaining such failure, including public choice theory; and then examines the implications for the rule of law and constitutional and legal reform as applied to controlling government.

WAR CRIMES (JAG SCHOOL) (1) In the last decade, no source of law has made more significant contributions to the law of war than the international criminal law of armed conflict. In this short course, students survey the jurisprudence of both traditional (military commissions, courts-martial, and international tribunals) and emerging forums (International Criminal Court, hybrid tribunals, national tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions). The course offers opportunities for critical analysis of the often conflicting goals of justice and peace, the complexities of international and domestic jurisdiction, and the challenges of identifying substantive crimes under the law of war.

WAR AND PEACE: NEW THINKING ABOUT THE CAUSES OF WAR AND WAR AVOIDANCE This interdisciplinary seminar explores the latest thinking about the causes of international armed conflict and ways future wars might be avoided. World history is examined to test competing theories.

Return to Top

Clinics

First Amendment Clinic This clinic is conducted in conjunction with the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. The First Amendment Clinic offers law students the opportunity to gain practical legal experience involving timely free speech and press issues. Supervised by the legal staff of the Thomas Jefferson Center, students work as a team in conducting legal research, meeting with clients and co-counsel, and drafting legal memoranda and briefs. Assignments typically involve appellate-level litigation, although there are occasional trial-level opportunities. Students also work on a variety of non-litigation projects. Recent tasks involved reviewing proposed municipal ordinances for potential First Amendment flaws and drafting a handbook for the American Bar Association detailing media rights of access to the courtroom.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CLINIC (4) Students gain first-hand experience in human rights advocacy under the supervision of international human rights lawyers. Projects are designed to give students the practical experience necessary to be effective human rights lawyers and to integrate the theory and practice of human rights. Class sessions provide the opportunity to discuss human rights law concepts and lawyering practice, and the legal, strategic, ethical, and theoretical issues raised by the project work. The clinic also provides instruction in international human rights law research and writing skills. The clinic may have one or more adjunct instructors. There is no live-client representation in this clinic.
Clinic Projects, 2003-2008

IMMIGRATION LAW CLINIC This semester-long clinic is offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center. Students are assigned several clients and handle at least one complex case involving extensive client interviewing, factual investigation, and legal briefs. Female victims of violence are a priority at Legal Aid. Students may also work with clients appealing denials of applications for status, appealing for special categorization or procedures, or clients who have cases complicated by past criminal or immigration histories. Students are expected to keep office hours at LAJC for half a day per week. Spanish-language ability is a plus. The clinic meets for a weekly seminar for much of the semester. The clinic also covers basic ethics and professional responsibility issues, and skills such as eliciting information from abuse victims and working through cultural and language differences.

Return to Top

 

Mission | Courses & Clinics | Faculty & Scholarship
Student Organizations | News & Events | Jobs & Fellowships