Constitutional Rights and Liberties

Catalog description

This course studies the specific limits placed on governmental power in the “bill of rights” and other sections of the Constitution, as well as the limits derived from less specific phrases in the 14th Amendment. These rights and liberties include the freedoms of religion and conscience, speech and press, the right to keep and bear arms, the rights of property, the procedural rights of the criminally accused, as well as the rights and liberties found in the ideas of “due process” and “equal protection” of the laws. The Supreme Court and its opinions are the focus of this course, but additional commentary will also be consulted.