Spring 2002 Advanced Constitutional Law: Theories of the Constitution Professor Jack M. Balkin

 

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Advanced Constitutional Law: Theories of the Constitution

Professor Jack M. Balkin

Yale Law School

Syllabus

 

Assigned texts:

1. Jack M. Balkin, ed., What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said (NYU Press 2001)
2. Mark Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts (Princeton University Press 1999).
3. Supplemental Materials (noted as “Supp.”)

 

I. Constitutional Interpretation (weeks 1-3)

A. Introduction
The Constitution of the United States, Supp., pp.
Bobbitt, The Modalities of Constitutional Interpretation, from Constitutional Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Balkin and Levinson, Constitutional Grammar, Supp., pp.
New York Times v. Sullivan, Supp., pp.

B. A case study in constitutional interpretation: Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe
Balkin, Brown v. Board of Education: A Critical Introduction, from What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said, pp. 3-74
Revised Opinions in Brown v. Board of Education, from What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said, pp. 77-200
Comments from the Contributors, from What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said, pp. 201-213

C. Race and the original understanding
Note on Brown and the Original Understanding from Brest Levinson, Balkin and Amar, Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking (4th ed. 2000)(hereinafter BLBA), Supp., pp.
Note on the Enduring Significance of Brown: “Can Courts Bring About Social Change?” from BLBA, Supp., pp.
Note on Affirmative Action and Original Intention from BLBA, Supp., pp.

D. How doctrine articulates and alters constitutional norms
Loving v. Virginia, Supp., pp.

E. Constitutional interpretation in time of emergency
Korematsu v. United States, Supp., pp.
Note on Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus, Supp., pp.
Note on Lincoln the Great Emancipator, Supp., pp.

II. Theories of Constitutional Change (week 4)

A. The Basic Problem
Levinson, How Many Times Has the Constitution Been Amended?, Supp., pp.

B. Constitutional Moments
Ackerman, Higher Lawmaking, Supp., pp.
Ackerman, A Generation of Betrayal, Supp., pp.
Ackerman, Revolution with a Human Face, Supp., pp.
Ackerman, We the People: Transformations (On the Compromise of 1877), Supp., pp.
Griffin, Constitutional Theory Transformed, Supp., pp.

C. Partisan entrenchment in the judiciary
Balkin and Levinson, Understanding the Constitutional Revolution, Supp., pp.

D. Case study: The fate of Roe v. Wade
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Supp., pp.

III. Interpreting the Constitutional Text (week 5)

A Construction in favor of justice
Frederick Douglass, The Constitution of the United States: Is it Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? (Glasgow Address), from BLBA, Supp., pp.

B. Textualism as a mode of constitutional argument
Amar, The Document and the Doctrine, Supp., pp.

C. Interpretation through the use of paradigm cases
Rubenfeld, Freedom and Time (excerpts), Supp., pp.

IV. The Use of History in Constitutional Interpretation (weeks 6-7)

A. Original Understanding
Scalia, Originalism: The Lesser Evil, Supp., pp.
Scalia, “Common Law Courts in a Civil Law System,” from A Matter of Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Tribe, Comment, from A Matter of Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Dworkin,Comment, from A Matter of Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Scalia, Response, from A Matter of Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Brest, The Misconceived Quest for the Original Understanding, Supp., pp.
Whittington, The Nature and Limits of Originalist Jurisprudence, from Constitutional Interpretation, Supp., pp.
Levinson, The Limited Relevance of Originalism in the Actual Performance of Legal Roles, Supp., pp.
Marshall, Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, Supp., pp.

B. Case studies in originalist argument
Note on The Legal Tender Cases and the Constitutionality of Paper Money, Supp., pp.
Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell, Supp., pp.
Levinson, Book Review of Carl Bogus, The Second Amendment in Law and History, Supp., pp.
Farber, Disarmed by Time: The Second Amendment and the Failure of Originalism, Supp., pp.
Amar, The Second Amendment: A Case Study in Constitutional Interpretation, Supp., pp.

C. “Soft” Originalism
Lessig, Fidelity and Constraint, Supp., pp.
Klarman, Antifidelity, Supp., pp.
Dorf, A Nonoriginalist Perspective on the Lessons of History, Supp., pp.

D. Synthetic Interpretation
Ackerman, We the People Volume I: Foundations (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Siegel, She the People, Supp., pp.
United States v. Morrison, Supp., pp.

V. Nonoriginalist Uses of History and Narrative in Constitutional Interpretation (weeks 7-8)

A. Precedent and tradition
Strauss, Common Law Constitutional Interpretation, Supp., pp.

B. Case studies on the meaning of “the traditions of our people.”
Buck v. Bell, Supp., pp.
Skinner v. Oklahoma, Supp., pp.
Griswold v. Connecticut, Supp., pp.
Michael H. v. Gerald D., Supp., pp.
Balkin, Tradition, Betrayal and the Politics of Deconstruction, Supp., pp.
Washington v. Glucksberg, Supp., pp.

C. Genealogical argument and its relationship to tradition
United States v. Virginia, Supp., pp.

D. Narrative interpretation and the construction of collective subjects
LaRue, Constitutional Law as Fiction (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Balkin, The Declaration and the Promise of a Democratic Culture, Supp., pp.
Franke, The Uses of History in Struggles for Racial Justice: Colonizing the Past and Managing Memory, Supp., pp.
Binder and Weisberg, Narrative Criticism of Law, from Literary Criticisms of Law, Supp., pp.

 
 

VI. Constitutional Interpretation Outside the Courts (weeks 9-10)

A. Introduction
Levinson, Constitutional Faith (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Schauer and Alexander, On Extrajudicial Constitutional Interpretation, Supp., pp.

B. Constitutional construction
Whittington, Constitutional Construction (excerpts), Supp., pp.

C. Constitutional interpretation by the political branches
Post and Siegel, Equal Protection Under Law (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Note: The Reconstruction Power, The Eleventh Amendment, and Sovereign Immunity, Supp., pp.
Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, Supp., pp.

D. Constitutional interpretation by social movements
Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream, Supp., pp.
Susan B. Anthony, Speech After Being Convicted Of Voting In The 1872 Presidential Election, Supp., pp.
Charlton Heston, The Second Amendment: America’s First Freedom, Supp., pp.
Hartog, The Constitution of Aspiration and “The Rights that Belong to Us All”, Supp., pp.
Strauss, The Irrelevance of Constitutional Amendment, Supp., pp.
Siegel, Text in Contest: Gender and the Constitution From a Social Movement Perspective, Supp., pp.
Ackerman, The Broken Engine of Progressive Politics, Supp., pp.
Reed, Popular Constitutionalism: Toward a Theory of State Constitutional Meanings, Supp., pp.

[Additional suggested readings on social movements]
Devins, Social Meaning and School Vouchers, Supp., pp.
Pope, Republican Moments: The Role of Direct Popular Power in the American Constitutional Order, Supp., pp.
Lobel, Losers Fools & Prophets: Justice as Struggle, Supp., pp.

VII. Theories of Judicial Review (weeks 11-13)

A. Origins
Hamilton, Federalist 78, Supp., pp.
Bickel, “The Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty,” from The Least Dangerous Branch, Supp., pp.

B. Judicial Review and Majoritarian Politics
Graber, The Nonmajoritiarian Difficulty, Supp., pp.

C. Fundamental Rights and Justice Seeking
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law (excerpts), Supp., pp.

D. Process
Ely, Policing the Process of Representation, from Democracy and Distrust (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Tribe, The Puzzling Persistence of Process-Based Constitutional Theories (excerpts), Supp., pp.

E. Prudentialism
Bickel, “The Passive Virtues,” from The Least Dangerous Branch, Supp., pp.

F. Minimalism
Sunstein, Leaving Things Undecided, Supp., pp.
Baker v. State, Supp., pp.

G. Case Study: Judicial Review in the 2000 Election
Bush v. Gore, Supp., pp.
Balkin, Bush v. Gore and the Boundary Between Law and Politics, Supp., pp.
Posner, Breaking Deadlock (excerpts), Supp., pp.

H. Against Judicial Review
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away From the Courts

VIII. Constitutional Evil (week 14)
West, Constitutional Skepticism (excerpts), Supp., pp.
Balkin, Agreements with Hell and Other Objects of Our Faith, Supp., pp.
Graber, Desperately Ducking Slavery, from Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil, Supp., pp.
Graber, The Clintonification of American Law: Abortion, Welfare, and Liberal Constitutional Theory, Supp., pp.