Instructor: Brendon Swedlow Political Science (POLS) 412 bswedlow@niu.edu Constitutional Law III
Office: 418 Zulauf Hall DU
246 MW
Hours: MW
Phone: 753-7061
This course covers major United States Supreme Court cases interpreting First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment limitations on state power over individuals. Cases in the first part of the course define how state agents must act when searching for and seizing evidence of suspected criminal activity, and how they must treat those they detain, arrest, question, prosecute, and punish. Cases in the second part of the course define the extent to which states may restrict freedom of speech in the interests of national security and public order.
Course Requirements
Your grade in this course will be based on class participation, two take-home midterms, and an in-class final. Class participation will determine a significant part of your grade (20%) and is further described on the next page. The midterms and final will consist of hypothetical fact-patterns that I will ask you to analyze in terms of the cases we have been reading. Take-home midterm answers should be six pages in length, double-spaced, with 12 point type. If you want, the first midterm answer can be jointly authored with one other person from this class. The final is open-book, open-note. A course-reader can be purchased at the NIU student center. No outside reading or research is required.
Exam Schedule
February 4 Midterm #1 (15%) Take-home, can be jointly authored; six pages; due
following Wednesday, February 11, at beginning of class
March 17 Midterm #2 (25%) Take-home; must be your own work; six pages; due
following Wednesday, March 24, at beginning of class
May 3 Final (40%) In-class; open book, open note; but no sharing of
materials or discussion during exam; Monday,
Bring your own blue books.
Participation (20%) See following page for further explanation
Briefing Cases, Study Groups, the Socratic
Method, and Class Participation
We will read and discuss many judicial opinions in this course. I will teach you how to read these cases so that you can extract their legally relevant aspects. This specialized form of note-taking is called “briefing cases.” Law students often form study groups to brief and discuss cases. I encourage you to do the same.
In class, I will do very little lecturing. Instead, I will ask you questions about your readings, particularly about the cases you have read. Your case briefs will be essential to answering these questions. This questioning approach to teaching is called the Socratic Method, and is the most common teaching style used in law schools.
Every day that we meet I will select one or more of you from the enrollment roster to answer questions about the readings. If you are here and prepared to answer those questions, you will receive credit for participating in class discussion that day. If you are absent or unprepared, you will receive no credit that day.
For Extra
Credit: Serving as a Witness or Juror in
There may be an opportunity for you to serve as a witness or juror in mock trials that function as final exams for students of NIU law school’s courses in trial advocacy. The availability of this opportunity will depend on the needs of the law school faculty who teach these courses and on how many public law students wish to serve as witnesses or jurors.
I encourage all of you to serve as a witness or juror and will give you extra credit for serving and even for observing these mock trials – an opportunity that should be available to everyone.
Other Course Requirements
Please do not…
· ask for extensions on turning in your midterms. Midterms will be graded down one third of a grade per day that they are late.
· ask to take make-up exams or an incomplete in the course unless you have a very, very compelling reason to do so.
Definitely do not…
· engage in “academic misconduct,” defined by the NIU Student Judicial Code as the “receipt or transmission of unauthorized aid on assignments or examinations, plagiarism, unauthorized use of examination materials, or other forms of dishonesty in academic matters.”
Department
of Political Science Announcements
Undergraduate Writing Awards
The Department of Political
Science will recognize, on an annual basis, outstanding undergraduate papers
written in conjunction with 300-400 level political science courses or directed
studies. Authors do not have to be political science majors or have a particular
class standing. Winners are expected to attend the Department's spring
graduation ceremony where they will receive a certificate and $50.00. Papers,
which can be submitted by students or faculty, must be supplied in triplicate
to a department
secretary by
Statement Concerning Students with
Disabilities
Under Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, NIU is committed to making reasonable
accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Those students with
disabilities that may have some impact on their coursework and for which they
may require accommodations should notify the Center for Access-Ability
Resources (CAAR) on the fourth floor of the
Department of Political Science Web Site
Undergraduates are strongly
encouraged to consult the Department of Political Science web site on a regular
basis. This up-to-date, central source of information will assist students in
contacting faculty and staff, reviewing course requirements and syllabi,
exploring graduate study, researching career options, tracking department
events, and accessing important details related to undergraduate programs and
activities. To reach
the site, go to http://polisci.niu.edu.
Jesse Choper, “The Current Justices of the
David O’Brien, “The
Selective Nationalization of Guarantees of the Bill of Rights,” Constitutional Law and Politics, 277-86.
Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment
Reading a Supreme Court Decision
Palko v.
James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, “Broken
Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety,” The Atlantic Monthly, March 1982, 29-38.
Samuel Walker, “Arrest Discretion, Generally,” Taming the System, 39-41.
Fred Inbow, et al, “Outline of Criminal Procedure,” Criminal Law and Its Administration, 5th
ed., (The Foundation Press, 1990), 1-15.
Malcolm Feeley and Samuel Krislov, “Searches, Seizures, and the Warrant Requirement,” Constitutional Law, 2nd edition, (Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown, and Company, 1990), 555-69.
Akhil Reed Amar, The Constitution and Criminal Procedure (Yale University Press, 1997), 1, 3-13, 16-24, 31-35, 37-44; as excerpted in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, David O’Brien, ed., (Lanahan Publishers, 1999), 137-58.
Mapp v.
Payton v. N.Y. (1980) (homes)
Steagald v.
Schneckloth v.
Bustamente
(1973) (consent exception)
“Entry of Building for Caretaking” (
Phillip Johnson,
“Introductory Commentary,” Cases and
Materials on Criminal Procedure, (West Publishing, 1988), 200-4. (Robinson, Sibron, Adams)
Terry v.
Chimel v.
“Illegal Searches Used in
David A. Harris, “The Use of Traffic Stops Against
African Americans: What Can Be Done?,” Congressional
Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference,
NOTE: MIDTERM #1 HANDED OUT AT END OF CLASS ON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH
H. L. Pohlman, “The Exclusionary Rule:
Craig Bradley, The Failure of the Criminal Procedure Revolution (University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 37-41, 45, 48-51.
SURVEILLANCE AND PRIVACY
Katz v.
NOTE: MIDTERM #1 DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS ON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH
WEEK
6 SEARCHES
IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE
Camara v. Municipal Court (1967) (regulatory searches)
People v. Dilworth (1996) (school search)
Wyman v. James (1971) (welfare search)
Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives (1989) (drug testing)
Michigan Department of State v. Sitz (1990) (roadway checkpoints)
Malcolm Feeley and Samuel
Krislov, “The Right to Counsel,” Constitutional
Law, 2nd edition, 617-19.
Anthony Lewis, Gideon’s Trumpet (New York: Random House, 1964), 3-10, 44-45, 48, 55, 62-63, 168-70, 173, 185, 187, 223, 226, 237; as excerpted in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, David O’Brien, ed., 177-83.
Gideon v.
Wainwright
(1963) (right to counsel in state courts)
Randy Bellows, “Notes of a Public Defender,” from
Philip B. Heyman and Lance Liebman, The
Social Responsibilities of Lawyers (The Foundation Press, 1988), 69-83.
Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton, “Oral Argument in
Miranda v.
William E. Schmidt, “Silence May Speak Against the
Accused in
WEEK
8 Rhode
Island v. Innis (1980) (non-interrogative police methods)
State v. Cayward (1989) (trick interrogation)
Roger Parloff, “False Confessions,” American Lawyer (May, 1993), 58-62.
Craig Bradley, The Failure of the Criminal Procedure Revolution, 52-59.
Phillip Johnson, “A Statutory Replacement for the
Miranda Doctrine,” Criminal Procedure,
595-606.
Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendment Rights Against Cruel, Unusual, and Other Punishments
David O’Brien, “Recent Rulings of the Rehnquist
Court on Capital Punishment,” Supreme
Court Watch – 1996 (W.W. Norton and Company, 1996), 211-15.
David O’Brien, “Recent Rulings of the Rehnquist
Court on Capital Punishment,” Constitutional
Law and Politics, Volume II: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (Little,
Brown and Company, 1991), 222-25.
Malcolm Feeley and Samuel
Krislov, “Punishment and Fairness,” Constitutional
Law, 2nd edition, 651-55.
Gregg v.
McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) (race and capital punishment)
NOTE: MIDTERM #2 HANDED OUT AT END OF CLASS ON
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17TH
WEEK
11 Booth
v.
Payne v.
Callins v. Collins (1994) (Blackmun and Scalia dissents)
Harmelin v.
National Security and Political Dissent
Geoffrey Stone, et al, “Freedom of Expression,” Constitutional Law (Little, Brown, and
Company, 1991), 1011-24.
Geoffrey Stone, et al, “Expression that Induces Unlawful Conduct,” Constitutional Law, 1025-26.
Geoffrey Stone, et al, “Overbreadth and Vagueness: Gooding v. Wilson,” Constitutional Law, 1121-30.
Geoffrey Stone, et al, “From Dennis to
NOTE: MIDTERM #2 DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS ON
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24TH
Masses Publishing v. Patten (1917) (“direct incitement to violence”)
Schenck v.
Whitney v.
Dennis v.
Parker v. Levy (1974) (Army captain denounces Vietnam war)
Rust v. Sullivan (1991) (family planning clinic and free speech of doctors)
Public Order and Free Speech
INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS AND HOSTILE AUDIENCES
Terminillo
v.
Cantwell
v.
Feiner v. N.Y. (1951) (white-bashing speaker)
Edwards v.
Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton, “Oral Argument in
Cox v.
Gregory v.
Geoffrey Stone, et al, “The Public Forum: Streets
and Parks” and “Regulating the Public Forum,” Constitutional Law, 1177-83.
Adderly v.
Frisby v.
Schultz
(1989) (“focused picketing” in residential area)
WEEK 15 International
Society of
City of
Madsen v.
Women’s
Chaplinsky v.
Cohen v.
Geoffrey
Stone, et al, “Fighting Words,” Constitutional
Law, 1098-1100.
Beauharnais v.
Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton, “Oral Argument in
HATE SPEECH
Ira Eisenberg, “Fighting Words: Race and Free Speech
at the
Sarah Lubman, “Judicially Suspect: Campus Speech
Codes are Being Shot Down as Opponents Pipe Up,” The Wall Street Journal,
Marc Hardie, “Living Hell: The Price of Dissent,” The Defender, January 1995, 9.
H.L.
Pohlman, “Hate Speech: R.A.V. v.
in Action, 212-37.
R.A.V. v.