Constitutional Law: The Fourteenth Amendment

Catalog description

The Fourteenth Amendment is the source of many of the rights that have been cherished by many people throughout our nation. Rights pertaining to sex and reproduction, marriage, parenthood, abortion, birth control, educational opportunity, sex discrimination, race discrimination and many more all are rooted in the 14th Amendment. In recent years, the Supreme Court has reshaped significant aspects of 14th Amendment doctrine, and accorded ever more importance to historical understandings in interpreting and applying the Constitution to contemporary society. Recent decisions have prompted considerable controversy and highlight enduring questions about the relation (or distinction) between law and politics in constitutional interpretation. This course will examine the development of 14th Amendment doctrine, with special attention paid to equal protection and substantive due process. We will examine many contested constitutional questions, including same sex marriage and gender identity, race-based affirmative action in school admissions, and abortion and birth control, among many other topics. These constitutional controversies, in turn, raise broad questions about the meaning of citizenship, freedom, and equality, the very concerns that prompted the adoption of the 14th Amendment. Readings will include judicial opinions and some scholarly commentary. In this polarized time, it is important to note that the professor will not privilege any particular view of how the relevant controversies should be resolved. Indeed, our focus will be more on the processes and principles of constitutional decision-making than the outcomes reached by the Court. Students should be prepared to articulate and engage empathetically with arguments and perspectives that are different from their own. Class discussion will be supplemented with group exercises of various sorts. Elements used in…