This course will apply the strengths of political science as a discipline towards understanding constitutional development in the United States. While we will read several Supreme Court decisions, and several class sections may feel like a law school course, we will also examine the many political influences that shape Supreme Court decisionmaking and how constitutional change occurs beyond the federal judiciary. Foundational questions include: 1) Why does the U.S. Supreme Court appear so powerful? 2) How has the Court wielded its power of judicial review, to advance the interests of elected majorities or to protect political minorities? 3) How do political actors outside the Court shape constitutional meaning? 4) How has the authority of the federal government, states, and Native American tribes waxed and waned under the constitutional system? 5) Why has the President become so powerful in conducting war? What limits exist on this authority? 6) To what extent does the Constitution allow for interbranch accountability in the form of investigations and impeachments?
- Teacher: Warren Snead