Constitution and Syllabus

The governing document for this course, in full — the Constitution for Constitutional Law, the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, and the syllabus. This is not a democracy.

Constitution and Syllabus — Constitutional Law — Fall 2026 · v1_11 · Canvas syllabus

The text of the Constitution of the United States is on this site in full, with every clause separately linkable.

The Five Grading Criteria

Every assessment in this course rewards the same five things: Big Picture understanding, Raw Specific Knowledge, Practical Application, Critical Thinking, and Creative Thinking. The Notes & Questions after each case are keyed to them.

Schedule of Modules

On Canvas

Quizzes, discussion boards, recorded materials and additional handouts live in Canvas: Modules · Quizzes · Discussion boards · Files · Announcements.

TOURO UNIVERSITY

Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

Constitutional Law

Fall 2026

Daytime Section — Central Islip Campus

Professor Jorge R. Roig

jroig@touro.edu

CONSTITUTION

FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Preamble

I, the Professor of this course, in order to form a more coherent learning experience, establish the applicable norms, ensure classroom tranquility, provide for the common growth, promote Critical and Creative Thinking, and secure the blessings of an open mind to all Students and their posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for Constitutional Law.

This Constitution summarizes basic administrative details pertaining to Constitutional Law, and generally introduces you to the course. It also presents an overview of the material that will be covered in Constitutional Law, which generally addresses: 1) the structure of, the powers delegated to, and the interplay between the different branches of, our federal government under the United States Constitution; and 2) the scope and limits of some of the most important individual rights protected by the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, including Due Process and Equal Protection. You will find here a general outline of the topics and readings we will be covering this semester. And you will find the ground rules that will be generally applicable to all Students taking the course. Please review the contents of this Constitution carefully and return to it for future reference throughout the semester.

I. The Legislative Power

1. The Professor

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Professor. This is not a democracy. The Professor reserves the right to, from time to time, learn something from the Students and put it to good use by applying the lessons learned to the betterment of the course.

2. Program Outcomes

• Outcome 1 (O1): Have a core understanding of the principles of fundamental areas of American substantive and procedural law, including civil procedure, torts, contracts, property, criminal law, constitutional law, evidence, business organizations and trusts and estates.

• Outcome 2 (O2): Comprehend, analyze and synthesize legal texts and apply the legal principles extracted from the texts to new factual circumstances.

• Outcome 3 (O3): Demonstrate an ability to use effective oral and written communication.

• Outcome 4 (O4): Demonstrate the ability to conduct essential practice skills including effective problem-solving, fact investigation, interviewing, negotiating, counseling, and legal research.

• Outcome 5 (O5): Exercise proper professional and ethical behavior toward their clients and the legal system and progress in the development of their professional identity.

• Outcome 6 (O6): Demonstrate a commitment to public and community service.

3. Course Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students should be capable of:

• CLO1*. Understanding and analyzing the powers of the three branches of the federal government and the relation between federal and state governments (O1, O2, O6)

• CLO2*. Understanding and analyzing the scope and limits of some of the most important individual rights protected by the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, including Due Process and Equal Protection rights (O1, O2, O6)

• CLO3*. Becoming familiar with the key concepts, vocabularies, principles and tensions that constitute the field of Constitutional Law (O1, O2, O3)

• CLO4*. Acquiring the analytical skill set to apply Constitutional Law to varied factual settings (O1, O2, O3, O4)

• CLO5. Developing the ability to: evaluate substantively the validity, logical consistence, intellectual honesty, rigor, “correctness” or desirability of judicial opinions, arguments or approaches to Constitutional Law problems (Critical Thinking); and dream up new ways of tackling old problems in our social order (Creative Thinking) (O1, O2, O5, O6)

* Objectives marked with an asterisk are the minimum learning objectives delivered by every section of this course. Objectives not so marked are additional objectives of this section.

Program Outcomes, Course Learning Objectives, and Assessment Mapping

4. Required Texts

There is no casebook to purchase for this course. The required text is the course website, WikiFramers — Constitutional Law, at https://course.wikiframers.org/conlaw. The website carries the assigned judicial opinions, together with the notes, questions, problems and commentary that accompany them, organized into the numbered Modules set out in the Syllabus below. Materials are posted Module by Module as the semester proceeds: the materials for a given Module will be posted, and their availability announced in Canvas, no later than one week before the first class session on that Module. The website will be available to you from the first class session. It is free, it is built for reading on a phone, and it prints cleanly if you prefer paper. Nothing on it needs to be purchased, borrowed or shared.

The Professor may also choose to assign and use all kinds of other resources such as news clippings, articles, handouts, video resources, Internet tools, and the like, to supplement the required text, as he may deem necessary and convenient throughout the course. Those supplemental materials are posted on the Canvas course page.

5. Recommended Texts and Learning Aides

Different Students learn in different ways, and some of you may find more or less helpful other texts and learning aides that are out there at your disposal. The Professor has found the following resources particularly useful in the past, and therefore recommends them as possible learning aides and supplemental reading materials. However, you need not purchase any of these books; they are only recommended aides and should be easily available in the library.

• Erwin Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (7th ed. 2023)

• John E. Nowak and Ronald D. Rotunda, Constitutional Law (8th ed. 2010)

• Laurence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law (3d ed. 1999) (Volume 1 only; Volume 2 was never published)

• The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History (Michael Kazin, Rebecca Edwards & Adam Rothman eds., 2011)

• Constitutional Law Stories (Michael C. Dorf ed., 2d ed. 2009)

• Steven L. Emanuel, Strategies & Tactics for the MBE

6. Canvas

All Students are required to sign up and participate in the Canvas course page for Constitutional Law. The Canvas Learning Management System is accessible via the Touro One website. A detailed Canvas Guide for Students is available here, https://touro.instructure.com/courses/996, or here, https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvastraining/studentguide/index.html#/?_k=3dqb6j.

Two sites, and it is worth being precise about which does what. You read on the course website and you submit on Canvas. The assigned opinions, the notes and problems that accompany them, this Constitution and Syllabus, the visual aids and the course-long materials all live on WikiFramers — Constitutional Law. It needs no login, it works on a phone, and it does not disappear when this Canvas shell is archived at the end of the term. In the Canvas course page you will find the Quizzes, the Discussion Boards, the Essay Assignment and the other graded activities, the recordings of our class sessions, practice questions, interesting Web Links and Legal News, and anything else the Professor might deem cool and relevant as the semester progresses. Canvas also carries a module-by-module set of links back to the corresponding pages on the course website, so you can start in either place.

The Professor will post quizzes, assignments, and additional reading materials and handouts in Canvas. The Professor will make all types of announcements and assignments through both the Canvas page and the e-mail addresses associated with your Canvas accounts. Canvas and e-mail will be, apart from class meetings, our principal means of communication and notification. All Students will be expected to keep up to date on developments in the Canvas page and will be responsible for all assignments and quizzes posted on Canvas or notified via e-mail.

The Professor may also utilize other technological tools to stimulate the Students’ Critical and Creative Thinking.

7. Reading Assignments

The Syllabus identifies the subject areas that we will cover and the corresponding Modules on the course website, as well as any supplemental reading materials that I have identified and chosen to assign at this time (additional supplemental reading materials may be assigned as the semester progresses). Each Module page on the website states its own reading list, in assigned order. Because we naturally will spend more time on some areas than others, the rate of our progress through the materials will vary depending, in part, on our class discussions. I will expect you to stay ahead of the class in your reading, which will follow the order set out in the Syllabus (I will notify you of any departures from the Syllabus). You should expect each Module to run roughly 90 to 180 minutes of reading, and us to cover about one Module for every two and a half hours of class time. In addition, the Syllabus implies approximate class time devoted to each segment of the course. The pace will probably start out relatively slow and then pick up speed as we develop basic points of knowledge. I may also announce assignments from time to time in class, via e-mail and in Canvas.

Generally, this course’s pace is designed to emphasize quality over quantity. Some of the assigned readings on the course website will be covered in depth, and some not, depending on the complexity and importance of the material, and on the progression of the class as a whole. However, for exam purposes, all Students are responsible for reading and analyzing all of the assigned required materials, including the notes, questions, problems and commentaries that are presented between the cases.

In addition, we may use all kinds of other resources such as news clippings, articles, handouts, video resources, Internet tools, and the like, to supplement the required text.

Use the Syllabus to read ahead or to anticipate future readings. Furthermore, you must ascertain missed information for any days you are absent. You may also want to consider using the Syllabus as a general outline to help you structure your own study outline for the final examination.

8. In-Class Use of Electronic Devices and Netiquette

Laptop computers and other devices such as e-tablets, e-readers and smartphones may only be used during class for class purposes, such as to participate in the quizzes and polls taken during class (except in case of a real emergency). Students may not make their own recordings (audio, video or both) of class sessions, except with the express consent of the Professor or as an approved disability accommodation. Class sessions at the Central Islip campus are recorded by Information Technology through YuJa as a matter of Law Center policy, and those recordings are ordinarily posted in the Canvas site for the course. The Professor reserves the discretion not to post a particular recording, and will in all events make recordings available to any Student whose approved accommodation requires access to them. Please bear in mind that the classroom microphones are sensitive and pick up conversation throughout the room: anything said in the classroom while a session is being recorded may end up in the recording.

Students should always respect the following Netiquette guidelines (© 2016 Online Education Blog of Touro College):

• Before posting your question to a discussion board, check if anyone has asked it already and received a reply. Just as you would not repeat a topic of discussion right after it happened in real life, do not do that in discussion boards either.

• Stay on topic — Do not post irrelevant links, comments, thoughts, or pictures.

• Do not type in ALL CAPS! If you do, it will look like you are screaming.

• Do not write anything that sounds angry or sarcastic, even as a joke, because without hearing your tone of voice, your peers might not realize you are joking.

• Always remember to say “Please” and “Thank you” when soliciting help from your classmates.

• Respect the opinions of your classmates. If you feel the need to disagree, do so respectfully and acknowledge the valid points in your classmate’s argument. Acknowledge that others are entitled to have their own perspective on the issue.

• If you ask a question and many people respond, summarize all answers and post that summary to benefit your whole class.

• Be brief. If you write a long dissertation in response to a simple question, it is unlikely that anyone will spend the time to read through it all.

• Run a spelling and grammar check before posting anything to the discussion board. It only takes a minute, and can make the difference between sounding like a fool and sounding knowledgeable

Failure to follow directions in this regard can subject Students to the same range of penalties to which they might be subject for failing to follow any other requirement on classroom attendance and participation.

Violations of this policy are, by definition, examples of extremely unprofessional behavior and therefore will adversely affect final grades. See Const. for Constitutional Law, art. III, § 6.

9. Attendance

Pursuant to the Touro Law Center Student Handbook, and consistent with American Bar Association Standard 308, which requires every law school to adopt, publish and adhere to sound academic standards “including those for regular class attendance,” the faculty requires that each Student attend classes regularly. Regular attendance is defined as attending at least 85% of scheduled class hours. Allowable absences are calculated at 15% of the number of class hours per course per semester. There are no excused absences, except as the Law Center’s policies or applicable law may otherwise require in a particular case. A roster will be circulated each class period; if you fail to sign it, you will be counted absent. The Professor will not be responsible for “seeing you were there” on any given day. Attendance will be recorded and counted based solely on whether a Student signs or does not sign the daily attendance roster.

Students must keep track of their absences. The Professor is under no obligation to notify Students when their absences exceed, or are about to exceed, the limits noted above.

Any Student who misses more classes than allowed by the attendance policy shall not be permitted to take the final examination or submit additional work, and a grade of “NC”, “W”, “WNA” or “WF” shall be given, as established by the applicable policies and guidelines.

Students are expected to be on time to class. However, it is better to come to class late than not at all. You may walk in late if you have a good reason, as long as you do not abuse this privilege, and you enter the classroom in a way that does not disrupt the class.

Independently of the attendance policy, your attendance to class will also be taken into account by the Professor when determining your class participation grade, and will affect final grades. See Const. for Constitutional Law, art. III, §§ 5 and 6.

10. Expectations

Of the Professor:

• If you get stuck or have a question, please contact me anytime. I do use the announcements feature if I need to make a change or get the class information fast. I try to respond to each student who reaches out for help or has a question within 24 hours.

• I monitor this course daily. I actively read, observe and participate with each of your submissions. I am constantly watching and doing.

• I try to turn around grades or assignments quickly and provide feedback either in writing, audio, or live.

• I use the course rubrics to assess your participation and learning.

• When grading assessments that are worth more than 25% of the final grade, I will use mechanisms provided by Touro Law Center to ensure anonymity, as required by the Student Handbook. That commitment attaches to each individual assessment and not to a category of assessments taken together. Class participation, Discussion Board activity, and any other component that by its nature depends on my knowing who you are, cannot be and is not graded anonymously; no such component is worth more than 25% of your final grade.

Of the Students:

• Budget a minimum of 12 to 15 hours per week for this course. American Bar Association Standard 310 defines a credit hour as not less than one hour of classroom instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week, which for a four-credit course is roughly twelve hours a week before anything else is counted. Students will do extensive reading and writing of quality. This includes developing the habit of citing your sources using correct formatting in all your assignments.

• Although the Canvas component of this course offers a great deal of flexibility, in that Students may log onto the course’s Canvas site and participate at any time during the day or night, this course is not self-paced. Students are expected to participate regularly and continually throughout each module in the course. We have deadlines for discussion postings, quizzes, written assignment submissions and the completion of other learning activities. I recommend logging into the Canvas website for the course at least three to four times a week. This is the standard for full engagement in the readings, assignments and discussions.

• Take the time to read through the entire syllabus, as well as module instructions before contacting me. If you need immediate assistance, start with the “Ask Your Peer, Ask Your Professor” area set up for public questions.

• Try to work ahead: I strongly recommend that you try to get a running start on the course readings so that you can stay apace of the module and assignment readings. If you fall behind, you will have considerable difficulty catching up, because multiple assignments are due in each module.

• Edit your work before you submit a posting or assignment. It is expected that you will carefully read and edit your work prior to sending it. Every discussion posting should first be composed using a word processor to prevent grammar and spelling errors, and creating a compelling comment or response. Further, you should also retain a copy of your work if something goes wrong with the system.

• Use the conventions of academic writing. “Chat style” language is not acceptable.

• Be sure you are familiar with how to submit assignments through Canvas.

• Have a plan if your computer crashes, or if your Internet connection fails. These events do not excuse you from your course responsibilities. You can reach the course’s Canvas site from any computer that has an Internet connection. I suggest that you develop a plan now for events such as these.

11. Academic Integrity

Students should always comply with Touro University’s Academic Integrity Policy, which can be found here: https://www.touro.edu/students/policies/academic-integrity/.

12. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Touro University complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which protect persons from discrimination on the basis of disability in all its programming. The University is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities who request them and supply appropriate documentation. Policies and procedures ensure that students with a disability will not, on the basis of that disability, be denied full and equal access to our programs or otherwise be subjected to discrimination. The University has a centralized Office of Student Disability Services. (“OSDS”). Touro Law Center students with disabilities seeking reasonable accommodations should do so through the OSDS Coordinator for Touro Law Center, Heather DePierro, Assistant Dean for Student Services at hdepierr@tourolaw.edu. For further details, see https://www.touro.edu/departments/student-disability-services/.

13. Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Reporting

Touro Law Center is committed to providing a safe learning environment that is free of all forms of discrimination and harassment for all students. Discrimination and sex-based harassment of any kind, are antithetical to the law school’s mission and core values, violate law school policies, and may also violate federal and state law. Compliance with Touro’s policies and procedures is a necessary step in achieving a safe environment in our educational community. For further details, see the Title IX Grievance Policy: https://www.touro.edu/title-ix-policy/.

14. AI Policy

Generative AI is software (i.e. Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT) that can perform advanced processing of text at skill levels that appear similar to a human’s. Generative AI software is quickly being adopted in legal practice, and many internet services and ordinary programs may or will soon include Generative AI software. At the same time, Generative AI presents risks to our shared pedagogical mission.

Touro University policies prohibit using material created using Generative AI and other emerging technologies without appropriate authorization and acknowledgment and the representation of that material as one’s own original work. See the full policy at:

https://www.touro.edu/students/policies/academic-integrity/artificial-intelligence-ai-addendum/

Law school instructors have discretion to authorize the use of Generative AI in their courses, provided that they include their AI policy in the syllabus and give students specific instructions related to AI, in writing, prior to the issuance of any assignment. Nevertheless, students shall not:

• Use Generative AI for any purpose on an in-class exam.

• Employ Generative AI for a use that would constitute plagiarism if the Generative AI source were a human or organizational author.

The use of Generative AI software may result in lower quality work product because of a limited amount of source material, an inability to determine what sources the material generated by the AI software is taken from, and the potential for the creation of material by the Generative AI from sources that do not exist.

AI Stoplight Designation for This Course. Touro Law Center uses a “stoplight” framework to tell Students when and how AI tools may be used. The designations for this course are the following, and they control over any general impression you may have formed about AI use in law school:

• Red Light — AI use is prohibited. The Final Examination, all Quizzes, and any other assessment identified as closed-book or timed. No Generative AI may be used for any purpose, at any stage, on this work.

• Yellow Light — AI use is permitted with disclosure. The Essay Assignment and the Discussion Boards. You may use Generative AI for brainstorming, outlining, and editing, but the analysis and the prose you submit must be your own, every authority you cite must be read and verified by you in the original, and you must append a short note stating what tools you used and how. Submitting AI-generated text as your own writing is plagiarism under the University’s Academic Integrity Policy.

• Green Light — AI use is permitted without disclosure. Your private study and preparation: generating practice questions, quizzing yourself, asking for explanations of material you have already read, and building your own outlines for your own use. Bear in mind that Generative AI is unreliable on citations and on the current state of constitutional doctrine, and that you, not the software, will be examined.

If you are unsure which color applies to a particular task, ask the Professor before you use the tool, not after.

Student Resources

II. The Executive Power

1. The Professor

The executive Power shall be vested in the Professor. The Professor shall be the Commander in Chief of Constitutional Law. This is not a democracy. Nor is it a Republican form of government, as you might have noticed. The Professor still reserves the right to, from time to time, learn something from the Students and put it to good use by applying the lessons learned to the betterment of the course.

2. Delivery Method and Class Sessions

This course is a four-credit course delivered in a traditional, in-person format. Class sessions meet at the Central Islip campus, in Room 410, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10:30 am to 12:35 pm. There will be one ten-minute break during each class session. The twenty-six class sessions are scheduled for the following dates:

Tuesdays: 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3, 11/10 and 11/17.

Thursdays: 8/27, 9/3, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19 and 11/24.

Note that Tuesday, November 24 follows a Thursday class schedule, and that this course therefore meets on that date. Note also that Thursday, October 1 and Tuesday, December 1 follow a Friday class schedule, and that this course therefore does not meet on either of those dates. All class sessions at the Central Islip campus are recorded automatically by Information Technology through YuJa, and the recordings are ordinarily posted in the Canvas site for the course.

Although every class session meets in person, a substantial part of the work of this course happens between class sessions. The assigned readings live on the course website, and the Canvas site carries the graded Quizzes, the Discussion Boards, and the other activities described below. Those website readings and Canvas activities are a required part of the regular workload and instruction in this course, not an optional supplement to it.

As explained above, Const. for Constitutional Law, art. I, § 9, and below, id. at art. III, §§ 5 and 6, all Students are required to attend class meetings, be duly prepared, and actively and constructively participate in class discussions and activities.

3. Communicating with the Professor

The Professor’s office is located on the Fourth Floor of the Touro Law Center, Suite 411. The Professor’s phone number is 631-761-7119. However, the Professor is much more readily accessible via e-mail: jroig@touro.edu. The course’s Canvas page is also a preferred method of communication.

4. Office Hours

The Professor will make himself available for Office Hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, immediately following class, from 12:45 pm to 2:00 pm, at the Central Islip campus and on Zoom. The Professor will also make himself available at other times and dates, as the Students’ schedules may require. You should contact the Professor beforehand to set up an appointment if you want to come to Office Hours so as to prevent conflicts with other meetings. Said Office Hours may be subject to change, as the need arises. The Professor will also be available at other times by appointment (more easily made by e-mail).

III. The Judicial Power

1. The Professor

The judicial Power shall be vested in one supreme Professor. This is not a democracy … well, at this point I think you catch the drift. The Professor is also Judge, Jury and Executioner.

2. Grading

And now, finally, what you have all been waiting for. Your performance in Constitutional Law shall be graded based on the following:

• Quizzes (30%)

• Class Participation and Assignments (30%)

• Final Examination (40%)

This course, then, “shall utilize both formative and summative assessment methods … to measure and improve student learning and provide meaningful feedback to students.” ABA Standard 314.¹

3. Quizzes and Essay Assignment

There will be multiple Quizzes during the course of the semester. These Quizzes will be short and timed, and will be comprised of several questions. They will be administered and graded in compliance with all applicable Touro Law Center policies. You will be tested on everything discussed in class, and on all assigned required readings, whether or not they were discussed in class. Your performance in the quizzes will account for 30% of your total grade.

There will also be one or more Assignments, including at least one Essay Assignment. Detailed instructions will be provided with each Assignment. Together with your Class Participation and Discussion Board activity, the Assignments will account for 30% of your total grade. Within that 30%, the Assignments and the Class Participation and Discussion Board component count in approximately equal parts, and no single component of that 30% is worth more than 25% of your final grade.

4. Final Examination

The final examination will be comprised of several multiple choice, essay and/or short answer questions. It will be administered in person and it will be a closed book exam. It will be proctored and administered through ExamSoft, as required by Touro Law Center for proctored final examinations. It will be conducted and graded in compliance with all applicable Touro Law Center policies. You will be tested on everything discussed in class, and on all assigned required readings, whether or not they were discussed in class. Your score on the final examination will account for 40% of your final grade. Your score on the final examination will be based on the Grading Criteria described below. Const. for Constitutional Law, art. III, § 6.

5. Class Participation and Discussion Boards

The Professor will monitor student participation and engage in written exchanges with the Students through Canvas Discussion Boards. Your participation in these Discussion Boards, along with your general participation both during class and outside of class, are required and, together with the Assignments, will account for 30% of your final grade. This portion of your grade will be based on the degree of effort and thoughtfulness shown in your comments and posts (it is not simply about word count; a short but thought-out response is much better than a long-winded but superficial or repetitive post), instead of on the correctness of your comments or posts.

Additionally, pursuant to the Touro Law Center Student Handbook, the Professor may raise or lower a Student’s grade by 1/3 of a grade (bump) based on classroom attendance and/or participation. Your Class Participation bump will be based on the Grading Criteria described below, Const. for Constitutional Law, art. III, § 6, on your attendance to class, id. at art. I, § 9, and on your active and constructive participation in both class discussions and other activities inside or outside of class, such as Canvas activities, pursuant to the following rubric:

6. Grading Criteria

Some of the Grading Criteria that will be used when assessing your performance in this course closely follow the goals and expected learning outcomes of the course, and are the following:

• The Big Picture: Ability to understand and analyze the powers of the three branches of the federal government and the relation between federal and state governments

• Raw Specific Knowledge: Familiarity with the key concepts, vocabularies, principles and tensions that constitute the field of Constitutional Law

• Practical Application: Ability to apply Constitutional Law to varied factual settings

• Critical Thinking: Quality of substantive evaluation of the validity, logical consistence, intellectual honesty, rigor, “correctness” or desirability of judicial opinions, arguments or approaches to Constitutional Law problems

• Creative Thinking: Capacity to dream up new ways of tackling old problems in our social order

In addition, the Professor will also include in his Grading Criteria the following aspects that are essential to your development as a successful attorney:

• Preparedness: Being prepared is an absolute must for every Student every time the class meets, and for every attorney every time he faces a legal situation. Preparedness does not mean knowing the “right” answer to any particular question; rather, it means being able to display a thoughtful and reflective familiarity with all assigned materials. Accordingly, the emphasis in class discussion will be on Critical and Creative Thinking. Critical and Creative Thinking includes the ability to go beyond the face of the readings to analyze the relevant issues from an independent perspective. However, Students will find it remarkably difficult to display Critical and Creative Thinking if they are unprepared. Unpreparedness is, of course, seriously unprofessional behavior and therefore will adversely affect final grades. Students are encouraged to bear in mind, both in this course and throughout their lives, the words of Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

• Professionalism: As you know, advance preparation for important meetings, consistent punctuality at all professional events, and attentive, informed participation in substantive discussions, are all key hallmarks of a successful professional in law practice. They are also important features of your legal education and your performance during law school. Therefore, please recognize from the outset that our time together in the classroom is especially important from this “professionalism” perspective. Professionalism includes attendance, punctuality, attentiveness, preparedness and participation. But professionalism also includes civility and courteousness, respecting others’ opinions and comments, treating the Professor, other Students and other Touro Law Center personnel with the respect their dignity deserves, and abiding to all policies concerning discrimination and harassment of all kinds. This evaluation structure is designed to provide a fair assessment method that considers each Student’s performance in each part of the course throughout the entire semester. This approach is designed to reward professional behavior during the entire semester and to discourage unprofessional behavior at all times.

When grading assessments that are worth more than 25% of the final grade, I will use mechanisms provided by Touro Law Center to ensure anonymity, as required by the Student Handbook. That commitment attaches to each individual assessment and not to a category of assessments taken together. Class participation, Discussion Board activity, and any other component that by its nature depends on the Professor knowing who you are, cannot be and is not graded anonymously; no such component is worth more than 25% of your final grade.

7. Ungraded Quizzes and Feedback Loops

The Professor reserves the right to give periodic unannounced and ungraded quizzes, or use other techniques, such as Polls and Forums, to establish feedback loops through which both the Professor and the Students may determine how they are all doing in the course.

IV. Amendments

The Professor, whenever he deems it necessary, shall approve Amendments to this Constitution and to the Syllabus, which shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Professor.

V. Supremacy

This Constitution, and the Laws of Constitutional Law which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the Professor, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Students in every Section shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Heads and Idiosyncrasies of any Students to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Bill of Rights

Preamble

The Students shall have no rights, only responsibilities. The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution is only applicable to State Action. There will be no State Action in this course, so the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution has no applicability here. Sorry.

OK, fine, there shall be a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

The Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

Amendment I

The Professor shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of the Students to speak their minds in a civil and courteous manner; or the right of the Students peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Professor for a redress of grievances. The right of the Students, and of the Professor, to make all kinds of creative arguments, no matter how outrageous or unconventional, shall not be abridged, as long as such expression is based on sound logic, intellectual honesty and rigor, and is not an attempt to intimidate, violently attack, belittle, demean or humiliate others. Ad hominem attacks will not be tolerated. All logical fallacies will be pointed out. See Neal Ramee, Logic and Legal Reasoning: A Guide for Law Students (2002), https://caplaw.com/sites/rll3e/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2022/12/Ramee-Logic-Guide-revdec22.pdf (linked from the course website); Jesse Richardson et al., Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies, https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com (last visited Aug. 20, 2026) (also posted on the Canvas course page). All personal opinions expressed must be relevant to the pertinent legal analysis being discussed. All points of view shall be respected and considered, bearing in mind, however, that ignorance is not a point of view.

Amendment II

There will be no arms of any kind in class. In this course, the pen shall and must truly be mightier than the sword.

Amendment III

No Student shall in time of class be quartered in any place other than the classroom, nor in time of study be quartered anywhere except the Library.

Amendment IV

The right of the Students and the Professor to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, for the Professor to intrude into Students’ study habits. As a result, Students shall be solely responsible for being prepared for class, for their performance in this course, and for their choice to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them by the Professor and the Touro Law Center.

Amendment V

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the Professor.

Amendment VI

The powers not specifically delegated to the Professor by the Constitution, nor specifically prohibited by it to the Professor, are reserved to the Professor.

Syllabus

(This Syllabus is subject to change. See Const. for Constitutional Law, art. IV. There is no casebook to purchase for this course. All principal readings are published on the course website, WikiFramers — Constitutional Law, at https://course.wikiframers.org/conlaw, and are organized into the numbered Modules set out below. Each Module page carries its own reading list, in assigned order, together with the notes, questions and problems that accompany the cases. Everything the Syllabus assigns is on the course website. Modules vary in length; most run between 90 and 180 minutes of reading.)

Every Module’s reading list is published in full below. Within a list, a case named without a marker is assigned as an opinion and is to be read in its entirety. A case marked (edited) is assigned as an opinion that the Professor has cut for length; the edited text on the course website is the assigned text. A case marked (note) is not assigned as an opinion at all: its holding, its facts to the extent they matter, and its place in the doctrinal line are given in a note written for this course, and you are responsible for that note exactly as you are responsible for an assigned opinion. Most Modules close with a Current case — a recent decision, usually from a federal court of appeals, chosen because it shows the doctrine you have just read being applied at its live edge. Current cases are assigned as opinions. You are responsible for all assigned required materials, including the notes, questions, problems and commentary that accompany the cases, whether or not we discuss them in class. Const. for Constitutional Law, art. I, § 7. Reading lists remain subject to the amendment power, Const. for Constitutional Law, art. IV; any amendment will be posted on the course website and announced in Canvas well in advance of the affected class sessions.

Course-Long Materials (course website)

The Constitution of the United States of America; The Declaration of Independence (National Archives transcript, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript); The Federalist Papers; User’s Mini-Guide Materials --- the Mini-Guide itself, Basic Learning Outcomes, Constitutional Law & Lawyering Skills, the Model Constitutional Law Case Brief and the Multiple Choice Question Worksheet; Biographical Notes on Selected U.S. Supreme Court Justices, together with a course-written supplement covering the four Justices appointed since that document was written. With the exception of the Declaration, which is linked at the National Archives, all of these are on the course website. Neal Ramee, Logic and Legal Reasoning: A Guide for Law Students, and Jesse Richardson et al., Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies, are the work of others; they are linked from the course website at their own homes rather than copied onto it.

Particular numbers of The Federalist are assigned with the Modules where they do work. They are short, they are in the public domain, and they are the best surviving record of what the people who wrote this document thought they were doing. Read them as advocacy, because that is what they are.

Part One — The Structure of Government

Module 1 — Introduction to Constitutional Law and the Power of Judicial Review

Topics: The Constitution as text and as a plan of government. How to read a constitutional opinion; the right / remedy / jurisdiction template. The source and scope of judicial review. Review of state court judgments. Criminal prosecution of a former President; official-act immunity.

Principal readings (course website): Marbury v. Madison (edited); Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (edited); Cohens v. Virginia (note); Trump v. United States (edited); Trump v. CASA, Inc. (note); Washington v. Trump (note); Trump v. Barbara (edited).

Also assigned (course website): The Constitution of the United States; The Federalist No. 78 (Hamilton), “The Judiciary Department”; Neal Ramee, Logic and Legal Reasoning: A Guide for Law Students; Jesse Richardson et al., Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies; Introduction to the Opinion of the Court in the Health Care Case (National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius).

Module 1A — Constitutional Interpretation; The Power of Political Control over the Supreme Court

Topics: The sources of judicial decisions. Politics versus law; judgment versus will. Natural law and natural rights. The personal element in judging. Congressional control over the Court’s appellate jurisdiction.

Principal readings (course website): Calder v. Bull; Ex parte McCardle; Ex parte Yerger (note); United States v. Klein (note); Patchak v. Zinke (note).

Current case: Johnson v. United States Congress, No. 23-10682 (11th Cir. Aug. 19, 2025), cert. granted, No. 25-735 (U.S. Apr. 6, 2026) (whether Congress may strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over a class of constitutional claims while leaving the underlying right formally intact). Note the posture, because it changes what you are reading. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case and has not yet heard it; argument is set for October 5, 2026. The assigned text is therefore the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion, and it is assigned knowing that it may not survive the Term. Read it as the best available statement of the law rather than as the law, and come prepared to say how you would argue it on either side in October.

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 51 (Hamilton or Madison), “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments”; The Federalist No. 81 (Hamilton), “The Judiciary Continued, and the Distribution of Judicial Authority”; User’s Mini-Guide Materials — User’s Mini-Guide, Basic Learning Outcomes, Constitutional Law & Lawyering Skills, Model Constitutional Law Case Brief, Multiple Choice Question Worksheet; Biographical Notes on Selected U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

Module 2 — Default Rules of Government Power: The Police Power; Federalism; The Necessary and Proper Clause

Topics: Defining the police power of the States. Limiting the police power through due process: the rise and fall of economic substantive due process. The framework for federal enumerated powers; implied powers and the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Principal readings (course website): Commonwealth v. Alger (note); Jacobson v. Massachusetts; Allgeyer v. Louisiana (note); Lochner v. New York; Muller v. Oregon (note); Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (note); West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish; United States v. Carolene Products Co.; Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. (note); McCulloch v. Maryland (edited); United States v. Comstock (note).

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 44 (Madison), “Restrictions on the Authority of the Several States.” This is the contemporaneous defense of the Necessary and Proper Clause against the charge that it swallowed the enumeration. Read it before McCulloch and decide whether Marshall is following Madison or improving on him.

Module 2A — The Takings Clause

Topics: Text and applicability. What counts as property. Possessory takings. Regulatory takings. Exactions. Public use. Just compensation.

Principal readings (course website): Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp.; Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (note); Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon (note); Miller v. Schoene (note); Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City; Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council; Horne v. Department of Agriculture (note); Palazzolo v. Rhode Island (note); Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (note); Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (note); Dolan v. City of Tigard (note); Sheetz v. County of El Dorado (note); Kelo v. City of New London; Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington (note).

Current case: BBLI Edison, LLC v. City of Chicago, No. 25-1713 (7th Cir. July 22, 2026) (Scudder, J.) (tenant relocation-assistance ordinance challenged as a physical and a regulatory taking).

Module 3 — The Commerce Clause

Topics: The initial era and the definition of the commerce power. The 1890s to 1937: a limited federal commerce power. 1937 to the 1990s: the broad commerce power. The 1990s to the present: narrowing the commerce power.

Principal readings (course website): Gibbons v. Ogden; United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (note); Champion v. Ames (note); Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States (The Shreveport Rate Case) (note); Hammer v. Dagenhart (note); NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. (note); United States v. Darby (note); Wickard v. Filburn; Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (note); Katzenbach v. McClung (note); Perez v. United States (note); United States v. Lopez; United States v. Morrison (note); Gonzales v. Raich; National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (edited).

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 42 (Madison), “The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered.” Madison devotes a few paragraphs to the commerce power and treats it as uncontroversial. Ask why the clause that generated the least argument in 1788 generated the most in the two centuries after.

Current case: Canna Provisions, Inc. v. Bondi, 138 F.4th 602 (1st Cir. May 27, 2025), cert. denied, No. 25-518 (U.S. Dec. 15, 2025) (an as-applied challenge asking whether Raich survives the changed federal and state regulatory landscape).

Module 3A — The Tenth Amendment

Topics: The Tenth Amendment as a constraint on Congress. The anti-commandeering principle: legislatures, executive officers, and the difference between commandeering and preemption. Political accountability as the doctrine’s justification, and its critics.

Principal readings (course website): National League of Cities v. Usery (note); Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (note); New York v. United States (edited); Printz v. United States (edited); Reno v. Condon (edited); Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (edited).

Current case: City & County of San Francisco v. Trump, No. 25-cv-01350-WHO (N.D. Cal. Apr. 24, 2025) (Orrick, J.) (conditions on federal funds to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, analyzed under the anti-commandeering principle and the Spending Clause).

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 45 (Madison), “The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments Considered.” This is the source of the line that the federal powers are “few and defined” while those remaining with the States are “numerous and indefinite.” Every anti-commandeering opinion you are about to read leans on it. Read it and decide whether it will bear the weight.

Module 4 — The Taxing and Spending Power

Topics: The purposes for which Congress may tax and spend. Conditions on grants to State governments. The taxing power after NFIB.

Principal readings (course website): United States v. Butler; Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (The Child Labor Tax Case) (note); Chas. C. Steward Machine Co. v. Davis (note); Helvering v. Davis (note); Sabri v. United States (note); South Dakota v. Dole; National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (redux) (edited).

Current case: Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections & Public Safety, No. 23-1197 (U.S. June 23, 2026) (what a private plaintiff may recover when a State accepts federal funds subject to a statutory condition).

Module 5 — The Federal Executive Power: Inherent Presidential Power; The Constitutional Problems of the Administrative State

Topics: Inherent presidential power and the Youngstown framework. Executive privilege. The nondelegation doctrine and its demise. The major questions doctrine. The legislative veto and its demise.

Principal readings (course website): Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer; United States v. Nixon (note); A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (note); Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan (note); Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (note); Gundy v. United States (note); FCC v. Consumers’ Research (note); Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (note); SEC v. Jarkesy (note); West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (note); Biden v. Nebraska; Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha; Clinton v. City of New York (note).

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 70 (Hamilton), “The Executive Department Further Considered.” Hamilton argues that energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government, and that a single executive is more accountable than a plural one because blame cannot be diffused. Both halves of that claim are contested in every case in this Module.

Current case: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287 (U.S. Feb. 20, 2026) (consolidated with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., No. 25-250) (whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorizes tariffs; Youngstown and the major questions doctrine applied together).

Module 5A — Appointment and Removal

Topics: The appointment power and recess appointments. The removal power. Independent agencies and unitary executive theory.

Principal readings (course website): Myers v. United States (note); Humphrey’s Executor v. United States; Wiener v. United States (note); Buckley v. Valeo (note); Bowsher v. Synar (note); Morrison v. Olson; Edmond v. United States (note); Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (note); NLRB v. Noel Canning (note); Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission (note); Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Collins v. Yellen (note); United States v. Arthrex, Inc. (note); Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. (note).

Current case: Trump v. Slaughter, No. 25-332 (U.S. June 29, 2026) (edited) (the removal protection upheld in Humphrey’s Executor).

Module 6 — The Federal Executive Power, Part II: Foreign Affairs, War, and Immigration

Topics: Are foreign policy and domestic affairs different? Treaties and executive agreements. War powers. Detention and the war on terrorism. Presidential power over immigration. The domestic use of the militia and the armed forces.

Principal readings (course website): United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (note); Missouri v. Holland (note); Dames & Moore v. Regan (note); Zivotofsky v. Kerry (note); Medellín v. Texas (note); Ex parte Milligan (note); Ex parte Quirin (note); Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (edited); Boumediene v. Bush (note); Trump v. Hawaii (edited).

Current case: Newsom v. Trump, No. 25-3727 (9th Cir. June 19, 2025) (per curiam) (federalization of a State’s National Guard under 10 U.S.C. § 12406).

Also assigned: War Powers Resolution, 50 U.S.C. ch. 33.

Module 6A — The Federal Executive Power, Part III: Immunity from Suit and Impeachment

Topics: Immunity of a sitting or former President from civil suit. Absolute immunity for acts within the outer perimeter of official responsibility, and the absence of immunity for unofficial conduct. Temporary immunity, deferral, and the burdens litigation places on the office. Impeachment: the standard, the process, the role of the Chief Justice, and the relationship between impeachment and criminal prosecution.

Principal readings (course website): Clinton v. Jones (edited); Nixon v. Fitzgerald (note); Impeachment (note).

Current case: Lee v. Trump, No. 21-cv-00400 (D.D.C. Mar. 31, 2026) (Mehta, J.) (whether the immunity recognized in Trump v. United States reaches conduct undertaken as an office-seeker rather than as an office-holder).

Module 7 — Preemption of State and Local Laws

Topics: Express preemption. Conflicts preemption. Obstacle preemption. Field preemption.

Principal readings (course website): Hines v. Davidowitz (note); Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. (note); Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul (note); Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Commission (note); Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Association (note); Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council (note); Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly (note); Wyeth v. Levine (note); Arizona v. United States.

Current case: Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, No. 24-1068 (U.S. June 25, 2026) (whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims).

Module 7A — The Dormant Commerce Clause

Topics: Why a dormant Commerce Clause? Determining whether a law is discriminatory; facially discriminatory and facially neutral laws. Analysis of discriminatory laws. Analysis of non-discriminatory laws. Extraterritorial effects. Exceptions: congressional approval and the market participant doctrine.

Principal readings (course website): City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey; Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison (note); Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission (note); Maine v. Taylor (note); West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy (note); Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (note); Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc.; Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland (note); Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co. (note); Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc. (note); National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (edited); Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. v. State Board of Equalization of California (note); Reeves, Inc. v. Stake (note); White v. Massachusetts Council of Construction Employers, Inc. (note); South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke (note).

Current case: Peridot Tree WA, Inc. v. Washington State Liquor & Cannabis Control Board, Nos. 24-3481 & 24-7196 (9th Cir. Jan. 2, 2026) (Bress, J.) (whether the dormant Commerce Clause applies at all to a market Congress has made federally unlawful; note the split with the First and Second Circuits).

Module 8 — Limits on the Federal Judicial Power

Topics: The prohibition of advisory opinions. Standing: constitutional and prudential requirements. Ripeness. Mootness.

Principal readings (course website): Hayburn’s Case (note); Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc. (note); Nashville, C. & St. L. Ry. v. Wallace (note); Allen v. Wright; Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife; Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency; City of Los Angeles v. Lyons (note); Clapper v. Amnesty International USA (note); TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez; Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (note); Linda R. S. v. Richard D. (note); Warth v. Seldin (note); Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization (note); Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. (note); Singleton v. Wulff (note); Barrows v. Jackson (note); Craig v. Boren (note); Gilmore v. Utah (note); United States v. Richardson (note); Flast v. Cohen (note); Poe v. Ullman (note); Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner (note); United Public Workers v. Mitchell (note); Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (note); Moore v. Ogilvie (note); DeFunis v. Odegaard (note); Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (note); United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty (note).

Current case: California v. Trump, Nos. 26-1774 & 26-1779 (1st Cir. July 25, 2026) (state standing to challenge an executive order, and the scope of the remedy).

Part Two — Individual Rights

Module 9 — Introduction to Fundamental Rights; The State Action Doctrine

Topics: The concept of fundamental rights; the Ninth Amendment. The requirement of state action. The public functions exception. The entanglement exception; entwinement.

Principal readings (course website): The Civil Rights Cases (United States v. Stanley); Marsh v. Alabama (note); Terry v. Adams (note); Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co. (note); Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck; Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority (note); Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis (note); Shelley v. Kraemer; Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (note); Lindke v. Freed (note).

Current case: Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliff, Nos. 21-55118 & 21-55157 (9th Cir. May 14, 2025) (Lindke applied on remand to a public official’s social media account).

Module 10 — Equal Protection: A Framework for Analysis; Rational Basis; Classifications Based on Race to Brown

Topics: The three-question framework for equal protection analysis. The rational basis test: legitimate purpose, reasonable relationship, tolerance for under- and over-inclusiveness. Race discrimination before the Civil War Amendments. Strict scrutiny for race and national origin. Facial racial classifications and separate-but-equal.

Principal readings (course website): Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York (note); New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer (note); U.S. Department of Agriculture v. Moreno (note); City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc.; Romer v. Evans; Dred Scott v. Sandford (edited); Strauder v. West Virginia (note); Plessy v. Ferguson (note); Korematsu v. United States (note); Loving v. Virginia; Brown v. Board of Education; Bolling v. Sharpe (note).

Current case: Talbott v. United States, No. 25-5087 (D.C. Cir. June 1, 2026) (the level of scrutiny owed a classification defended as a military judgment).

Also assigned (course website): The Federalist No. 10 (Madison), “The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection.” You read footnote four of Carolene Products in Module 2; this is the argument it answers. Madison’s cure for faction is structural — an extended republic large enough that no single interest can command a majority — and it is a cure that works by making minorities safe without any court doing anything. Stone’s cure is judicial. Decide whether Stone is completing Madison’s argument or conceding that it failed, and notice which kinds of minority Madison’s mechanism was never going to protect.

Module 11 — Equal Protection: Remedies for Segregation; Proving a Classification; Affirmative Action

Topics: Remedies for segregation and their limits. Facially neutral laws with discriminatory impact; the requirement of discriminatory purpose and how it is proven. Racial classifications benefiting minorities; race in university admissions.

Principal readings (course website): Green v. County School Board of New Kent County (note); Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (note); Milliken v. Bradley (note); Yick Wo v. Hopkins (note); Washington v. Davis; Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (note); Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney (note); McCleskey v. Kemp (note); Trump v. Hawaii (redux) (note); Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co.; Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña (note); Grutter v. Bollinger (note); Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (note); Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (edited); Louisiana v. Callais, Nos. 24-109 & 24-110 (U.S. Apr. 29, 2026) (edited).

Current case: Sargent v. School District of Philadelphia, No. 24-3112 (3d Cir. Feb. 2, 2026) (whether a facially neutral geographic criterion was adopted as a proxy for race).

Module 11A — Equal Protection: Gender; Alienage; Age; Disability; Wealth; Sexual Orientation

Topics: The emergence of intermediate scrutiny for sex classifications; gender classifications benefiting women. Strict scrutiny for alienage and its exceptions; undocumented noncitizens. Classifications receiving only rational basis review.

Principal readings (course website): Reed v. Reed (note); Frontiero v. Richardson (note); Craig v. Boren; United States v. Virginia; Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County (note); Rostker v. Goldberg (note); Califano v. Webster (note); Sessions v. Morales-Santana (note); Graham v. Richardson (note); Foley v. Connelie (note); Ambach v. Norwick (note); Plyler v. Doe; Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia (note); San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (note); United States v. Skrmetti (note).

Current case: West Virginia v. B.P.J., No. 24-43 (U.S. June 30, 2026) (consolidated with Little v. Hecox, No. 24-38) (whether a classification by sex assigned at birth is subject to intermediate scrutiny, and whether it survives).

Module 12 — Procedural Due Process

Topics: The difference between substantive and procedural due process. What counts as a deprivation of life, liberty or property. Liberty and property interests and the entitlement theory. What process is due: the balancing of private interest, risk of erroneous deprivation, and governmental interest. Due process and post-conviction access to evidence.

Principal readings (course website): Goldberg v. Kelly; Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth (note); Perry v. Sindermann (note); Goss v. Lopez (note); Paul v. Davis (note); Mathews v. Eldridge; Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill (note); District Attorney’s Office for the Third Judicial District v. Osborne (note).

Current case: Chianne D. v. Harris, No. 3:23-cv-985 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 6, 2026) (the notice a State must give before terminating a statutory benefit).

A note on coverage. The substantive due process material --- unenumerated fundamental rights, family autonomy, reproductive autonomy, medical care decisions, sexual autonomy, arms, travel, voting and education — together with state sovereign immunity and congressional power under the Civil War Amendments, is covered in First Amendment Law rather than here. Every student in this course is required to take First Amendment Law, so no one loses this material; it reaches you in the other half of the sequence rather than in this one. The economic substantive due process line, from Allgeyer and Lochner through West Coast Hotel and Carolene Products, remains in this course and is taken up in Module 2, because it is where the tiers of scrutiny were built and you need it here. If you have transferred in, or if your sequence differs for any other reason, see the Professor and we will make sure you are not left with a gap.