Michael D. Ramsey

               Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School

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Constitutional Law I, Spring 2022 Course Webpage

 

COURSE OVERVIEW

 

Class Meetings:  Monday & Wednesday, 1:00 pm to 2:50 pm

 

Office Hours:       Monday & Wednesday, 8:30 am to 10:00 am (via zoom); 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm (in person) (note: afternoon office hours will also be conducted via zoom while the class is being taught remotely)

                                  

Textbook: The required text is Gregory Maggs & Peter Smith, Constitutional Law: A Contemporary Approach (5th ed., West 2020). Note: earlier editions are not acceptable substitutes.

 

There will be supplemental readings available from this website.

 

 

INFORMATION REGARDING THE COURSE

 

This space will be used for announcements regarding class cancellations, make-ups, optional events of interest, and other updates regarding the course and the course schedule.

 

This course will meet remotely via zoom for at least the initial weeks of the semester, as directed by the law school administration.  Please review the policies relating to online class meetings posted below.

Recordings of this class will be available to enrolled students via Blackboard/Panopto.  I do not vouch for the quality or usefulness of these recordings and they are not a substitute for attending class.  Only students in this course are authorized to view or listen to the recordings.  The recordings are only for personal use in connection with this course.  Do not show them to others, post them on the internet or otherwise distribute or provide access to them or any part of them. The recordings will be automatically deleted from Blackboard after the final exam and you should not attempt to retain them or any part of them.

The syllabus, readings for the first unit of the course, and assignment for the first class meeting are available below.

Links to several optional readings relating to executive and legislative power are posted below.

We return to in-person classes on Monday, February 7.  Classes will meet in Room 131, Warren Hall.  Afternoon office hours will be in person in my office, Suite 319, Warren Hall (no appointment required, although appointments have priority).  Morning office hours will remain on zoom (email for an appointment).

Writing Assignment No. 1 is available below and is due at 10:00 am on Monday, February 14.

Reading List No. 2 (Federalism) is available below.

Writing Assignment No. 2 is available below and is due Monday, March 21, at 10 am.

Reading List No. 3 (First Amendment) is available below.

This class will not meet on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.  The missed class will be made up with an asynchronous recorded lecture.

For anyone interested, I will be debating originalism as a method of constitutional interpretation with Professor David McGowan on Thursday, April 7, at 5 pm in LRC 132.

No class Monday 4/18 (school holiday).

Writing Assignment No. 3 is available below and is due on Monday, 4/25, at 10 am.

This course will meet at its regular time on Tuesday, 4/26 (Tuesday is deemed to be a Monday), and will not meet on Wednesday, 4/27 (Wednesday is deemed to be a Friday).  I will have regular office hours on Tuesday.

 

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

 

This space will be used to post assignments for each class meeting; these assignments will also be announced in class. The Reading Lists for Unit 1 (Separation of Powers), Unit 2 (Federalism) and Unit 3 (First Amendment) are available below.

 

Assignment for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

 

Reading List Part IX, focus on O’Brien, Barnes and Texas v. Johnson.

 

Assignment for Monday, April 25, 2022

 

Writing Assignment No. 3 is available below and is due on Monday, 4/25, at 10 am.

No new reading assignment for 4/25.

Assignment for Wednesday, April 20, 2022

 

Reading List Part VIII, focus on Kokinda and the hypotheticals (available below).

 

NO CLASS Monday 4/18 (school holiday)

 

Assignment for Wednesday, April 13, 2022

 

Reading List Part VII, focus on Kovacs, Ward and the hypotheticals (available below).

 

Assignment for Monday, April 11, 2022

 

Reading List Part VI, focus on U.S. v. Stevens in the text and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants in the supplemental material).

 

Assignment for Wednesday, April 6, 2022

 

Reading List Part V, focus on Miller, Cohen and the hypotheticals [available below]

 

Assignment for Monday, April 4, 2022

 

Reading List Part IV, focus on NYT v. Sullivan, and notes on Hustler v. Falwell and U.S. v. Alvarez

 

NO CLASS Wednesday, March 30, 2022 (class cancelled; makeup to be announced)

 

Assignment for Monday, March 28, 2022

 

Reading List Part II.D. and Part III, focus on Chaplinsky, Snyder and the two sets of hypotheticals.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, March 22, 2022

 

New Reading List (Unit 3, First Amendment) [available below], Part I and Part II.A, B & C, focus on Brandenburg v. Ohio and the Pentagon Papers case

 

Assignment for Monday, March 21, 2022

 

Reading List Part VIII, focus on Baldwin and Piper

 

Writing Assignment No. 2 (available below) is due on Monday, March 21, at 10 am.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, March 16, 2022

 

Reading List Part VII, focus on Hughes v. Oklahoma, Philadelphia v. New Jersey, Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways and the cases in the supplemental reading (Taylor and Hunt)

 

Assignment for Monday, March 14, 2022

 

Reading List Part VI, focus on Crosby and Gade in the supplemental reading [available below] and Silkwood in the text.

 

NO CLASS Monday, March 7, 2022  or Wednesday, March 9, 2022 (Spring Break)

 

Assignment for Wednesday, March 2, 2022

 

Reading List Part V, focus on Gregory and Bond in the supplemental reading [available below] and New York v. U.S. and Printz v. U.S. in the text.

 

Assignment for Monday, February 28, 2022

 

Reading List Part IV.A, focus on NFIB v. Sebelius [part 2]

Reading List Part IV.B, focus on South Dakota v. Dole and NFIB v. Sebelius [part 3]

 

Assignment for Wednesday, February 23, 2022

 

Reading List Part III, focus on Lopez, Morrison, Raich, and NFIB v. Sebelius [Part 1].

 

Assignment for  Monday, February 21, 2022

 

New Reading List, Part II.B, C & D, focus on Jones & Laughlin, Wickard, Heart of Atlanta and McClung.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, February 16, 2022

 

New Reading List (Federalism) [available below], Part I and Part II.A, focus on McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden.

 

Assignment for Monday, February 14, 2022

 

Reading List Part V.D, E. & F, focus on Nixon v. United States and on Zivotofsky v. Clinton in the supplemental reading.

 

Writing Assignment No. 1 (available below) is due at 10:00 am on Monday, February 14.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, February 9, 2022

 

Reading List Part V.A, B & C, focus on Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, and on Massachusetts v. EPA in the supplemental reading.

 

Assignment for Monday, February 7, 2022

 

Reading List Part IV, focus on Marbury v. Madison

 

Assignment for Wednesday, February 2, 2022

 

Reading List Part III.F & G, focus on Morrison v. Olson and Seila Law v. CFPB.  We will also consider Bowsher, Myers and Humphreys from the previous assignment.

 

Assignment for Monday, January 31, 2022

 

Reading List Part III.C, D and E, focus on Lucia and Bowsher.

 

The first part of class will discuss the Chadha, Whitman and Gundy cases from the previous assignment.

 

Links to several additional optional readings relating to the vaccine mandate case are posted below.  Also, as an optional reading, a link to the Trump v. Thompson case (the Jan. 6 papers case) is posted below.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, January 26, 2022

 

Reading List Part III.A & B, focus on Whitman and Chadha, plus Justice Gorsuch’s dissent in Gundy (in the supplement available below)

 

Optional: The essay mentioned in class, on Youngstown and the vaccine mandate case, is John McGinnis, Jabbing the Administrative State.

 

Assignment for Monday, January 24, 2022

 

Reading List Part II.G (Trump v. Hawaii; excerpts available below)

Reading List Part II.H & I, focus on U.S. v. Nixon and Clinton v. Jones

Reading List Part II.J (summary and review)

 

We will begin with a discussion of the Hamdi case from the previous assignment.

 

Assignment for Wednesday, January 19, 2022

 

Reading List Part II.D, E & F, focus on Dames & Moore, Zivotofsky and Hamdi.  Consider how these cases should be analyzed under the frameworks developed by the different Justices in Youngstown.

 

Supplemental Reading #2 (Reading List Part II.D, excerpting the Zivotofsky case) is available below.

 

No Class January 17, 2022 (King holiday)

 

Assignment for Wednesday, January 12, 2022

 

Reading List Part II.A, B & C, focus on Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer (the Steel Seizure Case), opinions of Black, Frankfurter, Jackson and Vinson.

 

Supplemental Reading #1 (Reading List Part II.B) is available below.

 

Assignment for Monday, January 10, 2022

 

Available below

 

 

COURSE DOWNLOADS

 

Syllabus

Assignment for first class meeting (Jan. 10, 2022)

Reading List -- Unit 1 (separation of powers)

Policies Relating to Online Meetings

 

Supplemental Reading #1: Historical Introduction to Executive Power (for 1/12)

Supplemental Reading #2: Zivotofsky v. Kerry (excerpts) (for 1/19)

Supplemental Reading #3: Trump v. Hawaii (excerpts) (for 1/24)

Supplemental Reading #4: Gundy v. United States (Gorsuch dissent) (excerpts) (for 1/26)

 

Optional reading relating to the vaccine mandate case:

NFIB v. OSHA (decided January 13, 2022) (opinion of the Court; Justice Gorsuch concurring; Justice Breyer dissenting); John McGinnis, Jabbing the Administrative State (Law & Liberty Blog); Eric Segall, Libertarianism as Constitutional Interpretation (Dorf on Law Blog) (responding to the McGinnis essay).

 

Optional reading relating to executive immunity: Trump v. Thompson (decided Jan. 19, 2022) (order by the Court and statement by Justice Kavanaugh).

 

Supplemental Reading #5: Massachusetts v. EPA and Clapper v. Amnesty International (for 2/9)

Supplemental Reading #6: Zivotofsky v. Clinton (for 2/14)

 

Writing Assignment #1 (separation of powers) (due 2/14 at 10 am)

 

Reading List -- Unit 2

 

Supplemental Reading #7: Gregory v. Ashcroft and Bond v. United States (for 3/2)

Supplemental Reading #8: Crosby and Gade excerpts (for 3/14)

Supplemental Reading #9: Dormant Commerce Clause (for 3/16)

 

Writing Assignment #2 (federalism) (due 3/21 at 10 am)

 

Reading List -- Unit 3

 

Free Speech Hypotheticals, part 1 (for 3/28)

Free Speech Hypotheticals, part 2 (for 3/28)

Free Speech Hypotheticals, part 3 (for 4/6)

 

Supplemental Reading #10: Brown v. Entertainment Merchants (for 4/11)

 

Free Speech Hypotheticals, part 4 (for 4/13)

 

Supplemental Reading #11: U.S. v. Kokinda (for 4/20)

 

Free Speech Hypotheticals, part 5 (for 4/20)

 

Writing Assignment #3 (First Amendment) (due 4/25 at 10 am)