Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors Mark Chopko and David Saperstein

J.D. Seminar 286 | 3 credit hours

This seminar will focus on the major shifts in church-state law over the past decades and key issues the Supreme Court will face in the next several terms. It will analyze and evaluate the various theories proposed by the sitting Justices on both free exercise and establishment clause jurisprudence and place those theories in the historical context of church-state law in America. The seminar will deal with such issues as tensions between the free exercise and establishment clauses, public aid to religious institutions, religion and public education, accommodating religious minorities, and church autonomy. Throughout, current litigation strategies related to these issues will be explored.

Recommended: Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights and Liberties.

Students must register for the 3 credit section of the seminar if they wish to write a paper fulfilling the Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement. Students in the 2 credit section will write a paper.