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796.11 - Seminar Supreme Court
Professor: Gregory A. Caldeira
Semester: 2012 Winter
Second Writing Requirement? Yes
Seminar? Yes
Professional Responsibility? No
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
This seminar will focus on the Supreme Court as an institution and emphasize the ways in which its formal and informal norms and structures shape the nature and content of the law the Court makes. Topics will include the development of the Court as an institution--changes in jurisdiction, structure, and function--from 1790 to the present; nominations and appointments to the Court; the Court's "agenda control," i.e., jurisdiction and procedures for determining cases it will decide on the merits; the internal deliberative processes of the Conference in coming to and preparing its opinions; the role of law clerks in and advocates before the Court; relationships between and among the Court and the coordinate branches; control by the Court of the lower federal courts; and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Readings will include articles and chapters from law reviews and journals in the social sciences in the humanities. Cases currently on the Supreme Court's docket will serve as examples. Readings (tentative): articles on JSTOR and HEIN ONLINE and in Gillman and Clayton (eds.) Supreme Court Decision-Making (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), and Epstein and Knight, The Choices Justices Make (Washington: CQ Press, 1998).
Requirement: one "cert pool" memorandum; one bench memorandum.
The course materials listed above are for informational purposes only and should not be considered final. Students must check with the Registrar for a current list of closed courses.
