Weekly Syllabus

Week of Monday, August 25 through Friday, August 29

Welcome to the class! I look forward to working with you as we study the judicial process and how the Constitution has been interpreted in the years since 1945. This course will be very challenging--you will be doing the kind of work that law students do. Please plan to allocate approximately 45 minutes to an hour each night for homework, and keep a dictionary close by. But I promise that if you keep up with the work and conference when you are confused that you will find this to be an extremely rewarding experience.

Monday, August 25, 2014 (30 min)

Topic:  Brief description of class and Mr. Lewis.  Demonstration of class forum.

Homework: Read the United States Constitution. You can find a link to it on the class forum.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 (50 min)

Topic: Refresher class about the U.S. Constitution.

Homework: Read the two handouts on the class forum.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014 (40 min)

Topic: More about the Constitution. Discussion of how the Judicial system works. Discussion of the reading. 

Homework: Finish the reading if necessary.

Thursday, August 28, 2014 (50 min)

Topic: More discussion of the two packets, the court system and how the Supreme Court works.  Introduction to our first case. 

Homework: Please read the articles I handed out in class. We will discuss them tomorrow.   

Friday, August 29, 2014 (40 min)

Topic: Discussion of the reading. We will read the syllabus of our first case together in class.

Homework: Read the case United States v. Eichmann (1990) 496 US 310. We will discuss it on Monday. Make sure to read the opinion and the dissent.  On Monday we will collaborate on a “brief” of the case.