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Michael D. Ramsey Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School |
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Supreme Court Seminar Fall 2026 Course Webpage |
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COURSE OVERVIEW
Class Meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00 pm to 2:20 pm
Office Hours: 9:30 to 11:30 am, Tuesday and Thursday 2:30 to 3:00 pm, Tuesday and Thursday
Textbook: There is no required text. Assignments will be made from materials available on-line or posted on 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.
The material for the first writing assignment (cert. memo directions and cert memo case assignments) is posted below. Cert memos are due on September 22, 2026.
A revised syllabus, including a revised course schedule, is posted below. The principal change, as noted in class, is that short papers will be due September 22 and short presentations will be on September 22 and September 24.
The basic requirements of the course are summarized here. A more complete description of the course is available in the course syllabus, available below.
There will be two writing assignments, explained in further detail in the “Overview” below. The first, a short memo (4-6 pages), will be due around the end of September, and will count 15% of the final grade for the class. The second, a significant paper (20-30 pages), will be due at the end of the semester, and will count 40% of the final grade.
During the semester students will make two in-class presentations on the subject of their writing assignments. These together will count for 25% of the final grade for the class.
In addition to the foregoing, students are expected to participate in discussions during class. Many of these discussions will include specific assigned topics. Participation in these discussions will count 20% of the final grade in the class.
Attendance is required (except for emergencies or valid excuses approved in advance) each of the presentation days. Failure to attend on required days will result in automatic reductions in the discussion part of the grade. Attendance is expected (although not graded per se) for other class meetings as well; failure to attend will be taken into account in awarding discussion grades, and moreover the topics discussed in class are directly relevant to the writing assignments.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
This space will be used to post assignments for each class meeting; these assignments will also be announced in class.
Assignment for Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Discussion topic: interim docket (part 2) Discussion assignments are posted below.
Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, Final Report (2021), pp. 202-215, available here Jack Goldsmith, Supreme Court Emergency Orders and Trump 2.0 (Executive Functions, Mar. 5, 2025) Erwin Chemerinsky, Why the shadow docket should concern us all (SCOTUSblog, Aug. 4, 2025) Alicia Bannon, Supreme Court Must Explain Why It Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor (Brennan Center, Aug. 14, 2025) Josh Blackman, The Failed Lower Court Revolt (Civitas Outlook, Sept. 2, 2025)
Consider: what are the leading criticism of the interim docket and what are the responses? How, if at all, should the Court change its approach?
Also: look at the Application for one of the pending interim docket cases (easiest to access though the SCOTUSblog Cases/Interim Docket tabs) to see the format and style of argument.
Assignment for Thursday, September 3, 2026
Discussion topic: interim docket (introduction) Discussion assignments are posted below
Find and read a short article on the interim docket.
Look at the SCOTUSblog website under “Interim Docket 2025” to get a sense of the kinds of cases on the interim docket.
Recommended: Amy Howe, Solicitor General Sauer’s SCOTUS tightrope (SCOTUSblog, September 1, 2026), available here.
Assignment for Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Discussion topic: alternatives to cert. Discussion assignments are posted below.
(a) U.S Constitution, Article III, Sec. 2, para. 2. (b) Find and read a short article on original jurisdiction. Identify a current or recent example. (c) Find and read a short article on mandatory appellate jurisdiction in the Supreme Court. Identify a current or recent example.
Recommended: Nora Collins, The serious decline in petitions before the Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog, May 11, 2026), available here. The instructions for the first writing assignment are posted below.
Assignment for Thursday, August 27, 2026
Discussion topic: the cert process (part 2) Discussion assignments are posted below
Stewart Baker, A Practical Guide to Certiorari, pp. 611-621, available here
Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe, No. 24-856, petition for a writ of certiorari and response (skim, but with attention to format and principal arguments for and against certiorari) Supreme Court filings for a case can be found by using the docket search function at the Supreme Court’s website, searching for the docket number. Alternatively, for cases profiled on SCOTUSblog, the filings can be found by searching at SCOTUSblog on the case name and going to the SCOTUSblog page for that case. Assignment for Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Discussion topic: the cert process (part 1) Discussion assignments are posted below
SCOTUSblog: Explainer: the certiorari process Rules of the Supreme Court, Rules 10 – 16 ABA Journal: How is certiorari pronounced?
Assignment for Thursday, August 20, 2026
Discussion topic: the lower courts (state and federal) Discussion assignments posted below.
Assignment for first class meeting (August 18, 2026)
Read the U.S. Constitution, Article III, with attention to what it says (and does not say) about the U.S. Supreme Court and other U.S. federal courts.
Look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s website (https://www.supremecourt.gov/), especially the “about” tab.
Look at some other on-line resource to find some interesting facts about the Court to share in class.
COURSE DOWNLOADS
Discussion assignments: the lower courts (for 8/20) Discussion assignments: the cert process (for 8/25) Discussion topics: the cert process, part 2 (for 8/27) Discussion topics: alternatives to cert. (for 9/1)
Cert memo writing assignment: description and instructions Cert memo writing assignment: case assignments (updated)
Discussion topics: the interim docket (part 1) (for 9/3) Discussion topics: the interim docket (part 2) (for 9/8)
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