Constitutional Law: The First Amendment

Catalog description

This seminar will examine the doctrine of free expression as constructed and fashioned by the Supreme Court. During the first part of the semester we will review the principal cases in their various doctrinal groups (political speech-crimes, defamatory speech, commercial speech, sexually explicit expression, speech-vs.-acts, etc.). After that, our review will continue based upon student presentations of their seminar papers-in-progress. A particular focus will be those areas in which the doctrine of free expression appears to be due for or already undergoing change. This course will satisfy the Upper Level Writing Requirement.