Constitutional Law
Professor Jamal Greene
July 15-18, 2013
This is a shortened version of the basic course in constitutional law, which is a foundational course in American law schools. The course explores the basic structure of the
Constitution and the constitutional limitations on state and national governments. One important difference between the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China is that federal judges in the United States are empowered to review the constitutionality of government actions and, if necessary, invalidate those actions. This power, called “judicial review,” is not written into the Constitution, but it is nonetheless central to the American constitutional tradition. This course pays particular attention to the origin and scope of the power of judicial review. Accordingly, many of the assigned readings are opinions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court in the federal system. Reading
Supreme Court opinions will give you a good idea of how constitutional analysis is conducted in
U.S. courts.
The following recommended readings provide background about the American form of government and the origins and structure of the U.S. Constitution:
A
BOUT
A
MERICA
: H
OW THE
U
NITED
S
TATES IS
G
OVERNED
(2005), available at: http://www.america.gov/publications/books/us_governed.html
A
BOUT
A
MERICA
: T
HE
C
ONSTITUTION OF THE
U
NITED
S
TATES OF
A
MERICA
(2004), available at: http://www.america.gov/publications/books/the-constitution-of-the-united-states-of-americawith-explanatory-notes.html
The syllabus that follows indicates which readings are assigned for each of our four days of class. You are expected to complete the assigned readings prior to each class day.

U.S. Constitution & Bill of Rights, xli-lvii
Marbury v. Madison (1803), 1-9
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) (part I), 128-135
Standing, 45-46
Political question doctrine, Baker v. Carr (1962), 103-107
“Horizontal” Separation of Powers
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), 318-322
United States v. Nixon (1974), 327-333
“Vertical” Separation of Powers
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) (part II), 135-138
United States v. Lopez (1995), 184-189
Discrimination
Korematsu v. United States (1944), 756-61
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 770-773
Brown II (1955) and Massive Resistance, 802-806
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1 (2007), 816-823

Kennedy, J., concurrence, 824-827
Due Process
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), 998-1005
Speech/Press
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), 1260-1267
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), 1343-1344
NY Times v. Sullivan (1964), 1462-1465

Religion
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette , (1943), 1294-1297
Employment Division v. Smith (1990), 1676-1680
Lee v. Weisman (1992), 1762-1766