LAW 7050: Toxic Harms
(Formerly
Law 280) This seminar will examine the concerns arising from exposure to toxic substances from a variety of perspectives. A principal focus will be tort liability, and a central theme in the course will be whether tort law is an effective method of compensating victims of toxic exposure and controlling the distribution and/or emission of toxic substances. In order to assess the efficacy of tort, it is essential to compare the liability system with alternatives such as restructured "public law" litigation, administrative compensation schemes, and regulatory control strategies. Moreover, it seems equally important that these options be grounded in a concrete understanding of the major current problem areas. To accomplish these aims, the course will focus on a number of specific present concerns, including tobacco, asbestos, anti-inflammatory drugs, and workplace emissions exposures. In each instance, we will look at the nature of the public health problem as well as ensuing to
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(Formerly
Law 280) This seminar will examine the concerns arising from exposure to toxic substances from a variety of perspectives. A principal focus will be tort liability, and a central theme in the course will be whether tort law is an effective method of compensating victims of toxic exposure and controlling the distribution and/or emission of toxic substances. In order to assess the efficacy of tort, it is essential to compare the liability system with alternatives such as restructured "public law" litigation, administrative compensation schemes, and regulatory control strategies. Moreover, it seems equally important that these options be grounded in a concrete understanding of the major current problem areas. To accomplish these aims, the course will focus on a number of specific present concerns, including tobacco, asbestos, anti-inflammatory drugs, and workplace emissions exposures. In each instance, we will look at the nature of the public health problem as well as ensuing tort litigation and regulatory activity. In addition to examining these distinctive problem areas, we will look at broader, cross-cutting institutional reform proposals that have received recent attention. Students in Section (01) will write three ten-page writing exercises on topics discussed in class. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), and have the option to write a final independent research paper for Research credit, with instructor consent. Elements used in grading: Three ten-page writing exercises or final independent research paper. Early drop deadline.
Last offered: Winter 2017
| Units: 2
LAW 7051: Local Government Law
This course will examine the source, scope and limits of local government power. It will consider the relationship of local governments to state and federal government and of the relationship of local governments to the individuals and communities within and around them. Specific themes will include the potential of local governments to be responsive democratic communities, the potential of local governments to become isolated or exclusive enclaves, and the effect of local governments on the metropolitan political economy. The course will examine state and federal doctrine that affects local government, political/ social theory and urban planning/ development literature. Students may write papers in lieu of the final exam. Upon instructor consent, students interested in writing should enroll in
Law 427-0-02. Students who do not receive a spot in section 02 may enroll in section 01. Elements used in grading: Exam or paper and class participation.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Ford, R. (PI)
LAW 7054: The 45th President and the Constitution
We will survey a number structural constitutional issues raised during the Trump Presidency, including the role of the judiciary; the scope and limits of unilateral Presidential power; the relationship between state and federal governments; Congressional power to investigate; and the role of the Special Counsel. Among the substantive areas of coverage will be protection of voting rights; partisan gerrymandering; free speech; and religious freedom. Among the specific settings we will consider are the President's first and second immigration orders; the Global Gag Rule; the effort to de-fund Planned Parenthood; the President's acrimonious relationship with the press; conflict of interest issues, including the Emoluments Clauses; the legal status of the Affordable Care Act's mandatory coverage of contraception, including religious objections; the status of gay marriage, including religious exceptions; and the regulation of the mass media and the Internet. Participants in the seminar shoul
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We will survey a number structural constitutional issues raised during the Trump Presidency, including the role of the judiciary; the scope and limits of unilateral Presidential power; the relationship between state and federal governments; Congressional power to investigate; and the role of the Special Counsel. Among the substantive areas of coverage will be protection of voting rights; partisan gerrymandering; free speech; and religious freedom. Among the specific settings we will consider are the President's first and second immigration orders; the Global Gag Rule; the effort to de-fund Planned Parenthood; the President's acrimonious relationship with the press; conflict of interest issues, including the Emoluments Clauses; the legal status of the Affordable Care Act's mandatory coverage of contraception, including religious objections; the status of gay marriage, including religious exceptions; and the regulation of the mass media and the Internet. Participants in the seminar should have completed (or be enrolled in) the basic Constitutional Law course. After the term begins, a maximum of 20 students accepted into the course can transfer from Section 01 into Section 02 (long research paper option), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Final paper.
Last offered: Spring 2018
| Units: 2-3
LAW 7055: American Legal History, 1930 - 2000: The New Deal, The Rights Revolution and Conservative Reaction
This course examines major transformations in American law brought about by the momentous social and political movements of the mid- to late 20th Century. Part I deals with the response of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal to the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression. The New Deal resulted in a major expansion -- against the resistance of conservative courts -- in the size and responsibilities of the Federal government to regulate the economy and secure citizens against risks of unemployment, sickness and old age. Part II covers the expansion of the New Deal after World War II to new forms of welfare and regulation (such as Medicare and environmental law) and what we now call the Rights Revolution --movements of subordinated or marginalized groups to claim equal rights (African-Americans, women, the disabled, gays and lesbians) or fair treatment by government (criminal suspects, welfare recipients, mental patients, prisoners). Part III: Both the New Deal and the Rights Revolution
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This course examines major transformations in American law brought about by the momentous social and political movements of the mid- to late 20th Century. Part I deals with the response of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal to the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression. The New Deal resulted in a major expansion -- against the resistance of conservative courts -- in the size and responsibilities of the Federal government to regulate the economy and secure citizens against risks of unemployment, sickness and old age. Part II covers the expansion of the New Deal after World War II to new forms of welfare and regulation (such as Medicare and environmental law) and what we now call the Rights Revolution --movements of subordinated or marginalized groups to claim equal rights (African-Americans, women, the disabled, gays and lesbians) or fair treatment by government (criminal suspects, welfare recipients, mental patients, prisoners). Part III: Both the New Deal and the Rights Revolution provoked fierce political reactions in which the modern conservative movements arose and came to power. 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: Class Participation, Attendance; Exam or Final Research Paper. Cross-listed with History (
HISTORY 51G & 151G).
Last offered: Winter 2017
| Units: 2
LAW 7056: Law of Democracy - India: Field Study
This is the Delhi, India component of Political Campaigning in the Internet Age (
Law 7031) and Law of Democracy (
Law7036). For details, see course description for
Law 7031 and
Law 7036. Students in this optional field study component will travel to Delhi, India for one week during spring break 2017. It accompanies courses in Law of Democracy and Political Campaigning in the Internet Age. Class sessions will take place primarily at the O.P. Jindal Global University, but will include visits to the Indian Parliament, Supreme Court, and National Electoral Commission. The Course will examine topics in regulation of democracy in a comparative perspective. Those topics include voting rights, campaign finance, regulation of political parties, and election administration. On the last day of the course, students will also have the option of participating in an international conference on comparative democracy to be held at O.P Jindal Law School. The course grade will be based on student essa
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This is the Delhi, India component of Political Campaigning in the Internet Age (
Law 7031) and Law of Democracy (
Law7036). For details, see course description for
Law 7031 and
Law 7036. Students in this optional field study component will travel to Delhi, India for one week during spring break 2017. It accompanies courses in Law of Democracy and Political Campaigning in the Internet Age. Class sessions will take place primarily at the O.P. Jindal Global University, but will include visits to the Indian Parliament, Supreme Court, and National Electoral Commission. The Course will examine topics in regulation of democracy in a comparative perspective. Those topics include voting rights, campaign finance, regulation of political parties, and election administration. On the last day of the course, students will also have the option of participating in an international conference on comparative democracy to be held at O.P Jindal Law School. The course grade will be based on student essays examining a topic of the law of democracy in comparative perspective. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for 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.
Last offered: Winter 2017
| Units: 1
LAW 7057: Policy, Politics and the 2020 Elections: What 2020 Means for Future Campaigns and Elections
This course looks back at the 2020 election campaign and tries to discern lessons and takeaways for future campaigns and elections. It will provide students with a behind-the-scenes understanding of how campaigns work. Each week, we will explore a different topic related to high-profile campaigns -- policy formation, communications, grassroots strategy, digital outreach, campaign finance -- and feature prominent guest speakers who have served and will serve in senior roles on both Democratic and Republican campaigns, including the Trump and Biden teams. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Final Paper. Cross-listed with Communication (
COMM 153A, 253A), Political Science (
POLISCI 72), and Public Policy (
PUBLPOL 146, 246).
Last offered: Winter 2021
| Units: 2
LAW 7058: Introduction to Antidiscrimination Law
(Formerly
Law 734) This course will focus on the statutory legal rules (primarily federal) governing discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, disability, and other protected classifications. With a rotation of instructors including and beyond Ford and Anderson, the course will include modules regarding: employment discrimination (including sexual harassment), fair housing law, voting rights, and disability law. Note: The course will be designed to minimize overlap with Ford's Employment Discrimination course, and thus students are welcome to take both. Elements used in grading: Class Participation, Attendance, Final Exam.
Last offered: Winter 2018
| Units: 3
LAW 7059: Labor Law
This course is a survey of the law of labor relations; it is designed to provide the student with an acquaintance with the more important problems of labor law but not with a comprehensive coverage of the entire field. In particular, the course will focus upon the historical development of labor law, problems relating to union organization, recognition, and the duty to bargain collectively. The course will also examine some aspects of arbitration and the law relating to the enforcement of collective bargaining as well as non-union arbitration. The course will include some discussion of the relationship between law and politics in administrative agencies. Elements used in grading: Final Exam.
Last offered: Spring 2025
| Units: 3
LAW 7060: Law and Continental Thought: Resistance
Dominant trends in continental thought will be studied with an emphasis on the complex evolution of the relationship between theories of the rule of law and the definition and assertion of liberal democratic rights, on the one hand, and the sources of systematic legal failure and justifications of resistance to law, on the other. The roots, development, and pathologies of post-structural theory will be a central preoccupation of the course, as will the tensions between post-structuralism and the premises of liberal democratic thought. Major works by a range of theorists (such as Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Benjamin, Fanon, Lacan, Foucault, Bhabba, Butler, Said, Chakrabarty, Haraway, Crenshaw, Ranciere, and Agamben) will be situated in relation to historical and theoretical interpretations of discrete 19th and 20th century resistance movements. No prior work in philosophy or critical theory is required to enroll in the seminar. Students may elect to write an 'R' credit paper or complete a 10-12 page essay. 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. Grading Elements: attendance, active class participation and written assignments (essay or research paper).
Last offered: Autumn 2017
| Units: 2
LAW 7061: Children Sexuality and the Law
This seminar focuses on federal and state law designed to protect children from sexual exploitation, as well as federal constitutional law regulating young adults' expressive rights with regard to gender and sexual identity. The seminar provides a general introduction to some of the laws governing children's sexual autonomy as well as necessary protections from sexual abuse; however, the seminar's primary purpose is to teach students about how the law discursively constructs children as it attempts to protect them. Specifically, students will explore how laws designed to protect children from sexual exploitation also naturalize certain assumptions about children's perceptions, cognitive capacities, interests and vulnerabilities. Our discussions will explore how the law, while attempting to catalogue and regulate the potential threats children face, also instantiates certain ideas about children's potential sex-related injuries and how these injures can affect them over time. Finally, s
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This seminar focuses on federal and state law designed to protect children from sexual exploitation, as well as federal constitutional law regulating young adults' expressive rights with regard to gender and sexual identity. The seminar provides a general introduction to some of the laws governing children's sexual autonomy as well as necessary protections from sexual abuse; however, the seminar's primary purpose is to teach students about how the law discursively constructs children as it attempts to protect them. Specifically, students will explore how laws designed to protect children from sexual exploitation also naturalize certain assumptions about children's perceptions, cognitive capacities, interests and vulnerabilities. Our discussions will explore how the law, while attempting to catalogue and regulate the potential threats children face, also instantiates certain ideas about children's potential sex-related injuries and how these injures can affect them over time. Finally, seminar discussions will explore whether there are any inconsistencies between the understanding of childhood, sexual injury, capacity, and autonomy in various areas of state child protection laws, federal constitutional law, and relevant federal statutes. In addition to considering how laws regulating children's sexuality affect children, the seminar will also examine how the same laws effectively constrain adults' behavior, as well as shape our understanding of the role of certain social institutions. Laws intended to more generally protect children from sexual exploitation also regulate children's relationships to their parents, affect our understanding of the role of schools, and even our understanding of the role libraries and the internet play in educating citizens. Seminar discussions will focus on how discursive constructs and social understandings about children contained in law both constrain and enable us in discussions of child sexuality. We will also consider how these constructs and understandings empower certain institutions by legitimating certain kinds of intervention. Students can choose to write three short response papers for two units or a final research paper for three units. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the Research (R) requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation; Written Assignments or a Final Research Paper. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for 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.
Last offered: Winter 2017
| Units: 2-3