Rights and Liberties in American Constitutional Law. ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

Prerequisite(s): Admission to M.A. in Constitutional Government, Civics, and Law program. Focuses on the content and enforcement of constitutionally protected civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. Begins with the foundational ideas that formed the content of the American tradition of civil liberties in the early republic and gave rise to reliance on judicial review as a guarantor of constitutional rights. Examines the constitutional disputes over equal protection, property rights, criminal due process, freedoms of speech, press, and association, religious liberty and other judicially created rights concerning privacy, marriage, and parental rights. Explores primary sources, both in the form of judicial opinions and non-judicial documents.