Course Home Page for Ideas Of The First Amendment

Spring 2009
Law No.: LAW4656
Sched. No.: 400v3

Ideas Of The First Amendment
Section 0001
X
Blasi, Vincent

Administrative Information:

Days, Times (Room):	MTW, 0850-0950 (WB 104)
Credits:	3	Type:	Lecture
Capacity:	45^{This information is current as of}^{09/05/2008 02:00:11 AM}^
Current Enrollment:	11 ^{This information is current as of}^{09/05/2008 02:00:11 AM}^

Course Description:

The principal goal of the course is to develop skills of close critical reading, as well as an understanding of the central ideas of the First Amendment tradition. The emphasis is on how those ideas emerged in various historical periods from particular political, legal, and intellectual struggles. Each week is devoted to one major thinker in the tradition. Philosophical and polemical essays are studied as well as judicial opinions. We will read essays and opinions by, among others, John Milton, James Madison, John Stuart Mill, Learned Hand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, and Alexander Meiklejohn. We will study the argumentative techniques employed by each major thinker; in part, this is a course in elementary rhetoric. Throughout the semester, we will explore how the ideas of these thinkers bear on issues of contemporary First Amendment controversy. Grades will be based largely on a ten-page critique of one of the major essays or opinions (due during the twelfth week of class). In addition, to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the full range of essays and opinions that we study, students will have the option of either taking a multiple-chocie examination or writing a 3-page paper in anawer to a specific question about each major thinker.

PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law (may be taken concurrently)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Ten-page critique and a multiple choice examination

Prerequisites:

Constitutional Law (may be taken concurrently)