Constitutional Law of the United States (LAW333H1S)

Note: This course can be used to satisfy either the Perspective or the International/Comparative/Transnational course requirement.

This course introduces students to the basic themes of and controversies within U.S. constitutional law. Among the selected topics covered are the origins of judicial review in the U.S., the federal division of powers and the separation of powers. Turning to the Bill of Rights, we look principally at equal protection and the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy. The approach taken is a historical one premised on the understanding that what counts as good constitutional argument varies over time and is dependent upon legal, political, and socio-economic contexts. This suggests that, though constitutional law has a vocabulary or repertoire of moves all its own, it also has an intimate relation to political and social change. In addition to attending to modes of argumentation, we will consider competing theories of constitutional interpretation and, on occasion, comparable or comparative approaches.