Federal Courts

Catalog description

This course addresses the role of the federal courts in the American system of federalism and separation of powers, as well as their role in the development of substantive federal law and constitutional rights. A central premise of the course is that the institutional, political, and constitutional features of federal litigation cannot be understood without engaging the historical and theoretical context, especially the social, political, and legal movements in response to which the federal courts have developed and related assumptions about structural constitutional theory (including federalism, supremacy, separation of powers, and judicial review). Thus while many of the traditional aspects of federal court jurisprudence will be covered (e.g., federal common law including implied rights of action, justiciability doctrines and other doctrines of restraint, congressional power to limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts and to create "legislative courts" outside of Article III, Supreme Court review of judgments, state sovereign immunity, litigating against the government, and federal habeas corpus), the doctrine will be assessed from an interdisciplinary perspective, including social, political, and theoretical accounts that reveal how the courts and ordinary Americans have come to understand the distinctive role of the federal courts, as well as claims for expansion or contraction of their powers. The course is recommended for students interested in pursuing a career in litigation, government service, and/or judicial clerkships. Special Instructions: In Winter 2026 the Federal Courts class will be capped at 45 students and conducted in small group sessions of 5 students per group. Required class participation includes (a) weekly pre-recorded lectures introducing assigned materials, and (b) weekly small group sessions. The small group sessions are led by…