Constitutional Law: The Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment is the focal point for many of the most contentious issues in contemporary constitutional law, from abortion to affirmative action to voting rights to criminal justice. This course will begin by paying attention to the origins of the Amendment: to what did it respond and how did it alter our constitutional framework? Rather than then going through section 1 of the amendment clause by clause (citizenship, privileges and immunities, due process, and equal protection) and then skipping to section 5 and Congressional power--we will briefly discuss the seldom mentioned sections 2 and 3, but don't worry, we won't spend a minute on the public debt provisions of section 4!--the course will then explore the amendment's doctrinal evolution with respect to several broad areas of American life, ranging from education to democracy to the economy to criminal justice to intimate relationships (not necessarily in that order). Obviously, we can't cover every area that the amendment touches. But the idea is to give you the tools to work with the changing doctrine and to be an intelligent critic of where we started and where we are. Class format will be a combination of lecture, on-call panels, and open discussion. Grading will be based on an exam and class participation.