CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Catalog description

May be used to satisfy the Writing Requirement. CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS examines the California Constitution as a protector of individual rights within a state political system that allows the electorate to directly amend the state constitution through ballot initiatives. The course focuses on the test case of this tension, the recognition of the right to same-sex marriage by the California Supreme Court and the subsequent passage of a ballot-initiative amendment to the California Constitution, Proposition 8, which reversed that judicial recognition. The course places Proposition 8 within a larger history of previous recognitions and reversals of individual constitutional rights in other areas, including criminal procedural rights, the death penalty, and busing. Each semester, the course addresses cutting-edge constitutional rights issues in California, which has included, the right to privacy in the internet age, bail reform, and the conflict between the Governor and local prosecutors in implementing the death penalty.