Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor J. Shulman

J.D. Seminar 162 | 3 credit hours

This course examines the legally complex and thematically robust intersection of two areas of the law: the free exercise of religious belief and family law. The family is a rich basis from which to discuss the scope of religious liberty in a pluralistic society. The shifting "settlement" of individual, family, and community interests reflects broader political and cultural questions--constitutional questions about the nature of individual and group rights, cultural questions about identity and assimilation, political questions about the proper boundaries of civic discourse, and a host of questions that are intensely personal and problematic.

Although this course concerns itself primarily with the Free Exercise Clause, students will be introduced to relevant Establishment Clause jurisprudence.

Throughout the semester, we will consider litigation strategies by staging mock trial motions and appellate arguments.

All enrolled and waitlisted students must attend the first class session in order to be eligible to enrollment in this seminar.