291 - 300 of 388 results for: LAW

(Formerly Law 238) Federal, state and local administrative agencies affect vast areas of life and law practice, including regulation of the environment, immigration, and professional licensing, as well as government benefits. But who is in charge of government agencies, and what can those agencies do? These are the major questions that permeate administrative law, which is concerned with fair and open government procedures and the checks and balances that control government agencies. Accordingly, this course is concerned with the constitutional rules and political pressures that shape agencies; how agencies promulgate regulations and adjudicate disputes; the major statutes affecting how agencies work, particularly the Administrative Procedure Act; and how courts review agency action. Elements used in grading: Final Exam (essay, three hours, open book).

(Formerly Law 238) Administrative agencies interpret statutes, promulgate regulations, and adjudicate disputes, thereby affecting vast areas of life -- from employment to food and drug safety, from the environment to energy markets, and from telecommunications to immigration. This course surveys the law of the administrative state, considering rationales for delegation to administrative agencies, procedural and substantive constraints on agency decision-making, and the judicial review of agency actions. Elements used in grading: Class participation, attendance, assignments, final exam. Attendance is required to retain a seat in class. Special Instructions: In 2016-2017 this class is open enrollment. Subsequent to this year, enrollment will be limited by lottery, but no priority will be given to 3Ls.

(Formerly Law 563) Over the past century, tort law has been under sustained attack. Using a broad mix of case law, case studies, and scholarly analysis, this seminar will interrogate those attacks-including their historical roots, their theoretical justifications, and their practical effects. We will first study "replacement reforms"-attempts to jettison the common law in favor of alternative compensation mechanisms, including workers' compensation, auto no-fault, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, housed within the U.S. Court of Claims. Second, we will study modern tort reform initiatives, often dubbed "discouragement reforms," which have chiseled away at damages and chilled personal injury victims' incentives and capacity to seek relief. Finally, we will study the United States Supreme Court's own tort reform activity, including recent jurisprudence limiting punitive damages, preferencing arbitration, and granting broad preemptive effect to agency actions. Through this analysis, students will develop a deeper and richer understanding of the tort system, its contemporary operation and excesses, and the uneasy but undeniably important place tort law-and civil litigation more generally-occupies in contemporary American society. Special Instructions: Grades will be based on class attendance, class participation, and either several short reflection papers (section (01)) or an independent research paper (section (02)). After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Students taking the course for R credit can take the course for either 2 or 3 units, depending on paper length. Elements used in grading: Class participation, class attendance, reflection papers or research paper. Early drop deadline.

(Formerly Law 735) In 2013, the City Detroit became the 28th city to declare municipal bankruptcy or to enter a receivership for fiscal crisis since late 2008, marking a window of time that saw five of the six largest municipal bankruptcies in American history. Despite the end of the Great Recession, serious fiscal challenges remain for many urban and rural local governments. This course will focus on these places and what they need from state and local government. Rather than a survey of municipal bankruptcy or restructuring law, the course will function as a seminar on state and local governance in the face of decline and poverty, especially due to the loss and automation of industrial employment. Subjects will include: (1) the basics of local finance; (2) an introduction to the primary causes of local fiscal distress; (3) tools for state and federal governance of city finances and financial distress (including municipal bankruptcy and state receiverships); and (4) the local public sector's role in anti-poverty work. The course will feature readings focused on places (both urban and rural) across the country, including in California, Oregon, the Northeast, the Great Lakes/Rust Belt region, and the Appalachian region. Students will have two options for this course. In Section 1, students will enroll for 2 units of course credit. Section 1 grades will be based on class participation and weekly reflection papers of 3-5 pages each week for most of our topics. In Section 2, a smaller number of students will enroll for 3 units of course credit. Section 2 grades will be based on an original research paper for R-Research Paper credit. Completion or co-enrollment with Local Government or Land Use Law is advisable but not required. Elements Used in Grading: Class Participation, Attendance, Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for either section of this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

This seminar will explore various ways in which constitutional law interacts with the political process. Topics covered will include the appointment and confirmation process for federal judges, judicial campaigns and elections in the states, various approaches to "popular constitutionalism," ratification of constitutional amendments, judicial activism as a political issue, public opinion and the Supreme Court, court-curbing legislation, and the role of interest groups in constitutional litigation. Readings will include cases, as well as perspectives from legal scholars, political scientists and historians. Students will be assigned to prepare and circulate discussion questions for one week of the class. Students can choose to write a final R paper or take an exam. Students writing the paper may take the class for 2 credits or write a longer paper for 3 credits. The paper will be due at the law school's paper deadline for fall quarter classes. Students taking the exam will be asked to answer one or more essay questions about the major issues covered in the class. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: The grade will be based on the paper or exam, along with class participation.

This seminar will address a series of interrelated issues that have arisen from America's response to 9/11, including: torture, detention, surveillance, profiling, and dissent. Each of these issues raises a discrete set of legal and policy questions. However, each also offers the chance to explore how the system of checks and balances can and should work during periods of national crisis, the relevance of traditional constitutional constraints on executive power in a national security context, and the enforceability of international legal norms in domestic courts. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Paper.

(Formerly Law 602) This course covers the major doctrines and decisions interpreting the provisions of the First Amendment affecting religion, especially the free exercise and establishment clauses. The principal focus is on modern Supreme Court cases and doctrine, but the course also emphasized the historical, philosophical, and theological roots of first amendment principles. Elements used in grading: Final Exam (take-home).

(Formerly Law 255) This course examines various aspects of the Fourteenth Amendment, with special attention to equal protection and substantive due process. Topics addressed will include equal protection in relation to race, gender, and sexual orientation, and substantive due process in relation to procreation, sexuality, and relationships. Elements used in grading: Class attendance and participation and exam.

(Formerly Law 255) This course examines various aspects of the Fourteenth Amendment, with special attention paid to equal protection and substantive due process. We will examine many contested constitutional questions, including, for example: How did gay and lesbian relationships go so quickly from being subject to criminal prohibition to being eligible for marriage? What justifies the Supreme Court's striking down a law mandating segregated schools, when it had upheld an analogous law half a century earlier? Must the law treat all individuals identically, or may and should it grant special protections to members of historically disadvantaged groups? To what sources might (and should) a judge look to give content to vague constitutional terms like "equal protection" and "due process"? How can we distinguish "law" from "politics" in this area? Readings will include judicial opinions and some scholarly commentary. Class discussion will be supplemented with group exercises of various sorts. Elements used in grading: Class participation and exam. ENROLLMENT REQUEST FORM: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit the Enrollment Request Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Enrollment Request Form for instructions and submission deadline.