Supreme Court Focus Seminar

Catalog description

This one-credit seminar offers an intensive examination of the Supreme Court's October Term 2026 docket as it unfolds in real time through close study of pending merits cases. Students will engage directly with primary materials-merits briefs, amicus filings, and oral argument transcripts-using these texts as a starting point for rigorous discussion of doctrine, jurisprudential method, and the Court's role in the constitutional order. Assessment will be based on seminar participation and in-class presentations of individual cases that frame the legal, institutional, and strategic questions presented. The seminar will be taught by Professors Elizabeth Beske and Michael Dreeben, former Deputy Solicitor General, who argued 109 cases before the Supreme Court. Prerequisite: Federal Courts.