Curriculum Guide · Curriculum

Public law plays a central role in the modern U.S. legal system. Statutes have displaced common law regulation in many areas, and supplement it in nearly all. Constitutional law issues, while not central in the daily practice of most lawyers, sporadically arise in nearly all areas of law. And, of course, constitutional law is fundamental to understanding the place of law in our society. As lawyers, you should have a fair understanding of the basic structure of the Constitution and the rights it guarantees.

Basic courses in the field are underlined below. (The basic course in Administrative Law, described in the Administrative Law and Government Regulation cluster, is an important complement to study of constitutional law and government.)

The field of constitutional law and government allows students to examine the role of statutes and the Constitution in modern law. First year students study some aspects of constitutional structure in Constitutional Law I and in the courses in Curriculum B. Constitutional Law II is the basic constitutional law course in this cluster. Students interested in civil rights and civil liberties should take it as soon as they find convenient. In addition, the course in Federal Courts and the Federal System provides a systematic introduction to constitutional litigation in our federal system. Students interested in, or having obtained, judicial clerkships (both state and federal) should be sure to take the Federal Courts course. (Many students and faculty members think it best to take the Federal Courts course in the third year, and preferably after having taken Constitutional Law II.) Specialized courses then deal with different aspects of government operations. In general, students should select such courses based on their interests and career plans; none is more basic than any other.

The basic course in Legislation introduces students to issues about how statutes are created and interpreted that are at the foundation of many other statutory courses (including tax and government regulation courses). Legal Process (which has been offered as a first year and second year evening “perspective” elective) examines the interaction between statutory and common law, and therefore gives common law issues somewhat greater emphasis than the Legislation course.

Students interested in civil rights law (broadly understood) will find several courses in this cluster dealing with statutory protection of civil rights. The course in Civil Rights gives an overview of statutory protection of civil rights. It will be useful to students interested in a survey course and to students who, while interested in the field in general, may not have enough background to make them comfortable in immediately choosing among the specialized courses. Depending on the instructor's interests, these courses may emphasize the connection between civil rights law and constitutional law, or between civil rights law and questions of statutory creation and interpretation. Again, choices among the specialized courses are best made on the basis of a student's interests and plans, rather than on a judgment that some specialized course is more important than another.

Local Government Law integrates issues of administrative, land use, and constitutional law, and questions of civil rights, tax, and labor law. It focuses on issues of state and local power that pervade nearly every lawyer's practice.

A number of advanced courses and seminars offer more historical and theoretical perspectives on constitutional law and government. As with all advanced courses, these augment students' understanding of the field in general. Students interested in pursuing academic careers with a primary or secondary focus on public law should seriously consider taking one of the courses offering such perspectives. Similarly, students interested in international law should consider seminars dealing with the constitutional dimensions of foreign affairs or comparative constitutional law.

The three clinical offerings listed below provide students with opportunities to learn about the process of adopting and interpreting legislation by engaging in it, through litigation or legislative advocacy. Students interested in the practical and theoretical aspects of this field should do their best to combine a clinical placement with a combination of the basic courses in the field and some advanced offerings.

The course descriptions published in the Law Center Bulletin provide enough information to give students a rough sense of what each course emphasizes. Particularly when different faculty members offer separate sections of a course, the faculty members themselves, and students who have previously taken the course from a particular faculty member, are the best sources of information about the approach taken in the course.

Full-time Faculty:
Charles F. Abernathy
T. Alexander Aleinikoff
Hope Babcock
Randy E. Barnett
Susan Low Bloch
J. Peter Byrne
Angela J. Campbell
Sheryll D. Cashin
Julie E. Cohen
David D. Cole
Anthony E. Cook
Peter B. Edelman
Chai R. Feldlum
Lawrence O. Gostin
Michael H. Gottesman
John H. Jackson
Neal K. Katyal
Abe Krash (visitor)
Martin Lederman
Naomi Mezey
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Joseph A. Page
Elizabeth Hayes Patterson
Gary Peller
Nina Pillard
Nicholas Q. Rosenkranz
Paul F. Rothstein
Peter J. Rubin
Lawrence B. Solum
Girardeau A. Spann
Robert K. Stumberg
Carlos Manuel Vázquez
Don Wallace
Silas J. Wasserstrom