Professor Halper
Thomas.Halper@Baruch.cuny.edu
646-312-4413
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Spring 2014
I
The American Court System
II
Natural law and positivism
A.
King, Excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)
B.
Calder v. Bull (1798)
*C.
Becker, The Declaration of Independence (1922)
*D.
Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955)
*E.
Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
(1967)
F.
Bentham, Anarchical Fallacies (1816)
G.
Holmes, Natural Law (1918)
H.
Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1859)
I.
Holmes, The Path of the Law (1897)
J.
Chafee, Do Judges Make or Discover Law? (1947)
III
Construing the law
A.
Reading
1. Kerr, How to Read a Legal Opinion (2007)
A.
The British view
1.Zander, The Law-Making Process (1980)
C.
Textualism
1.
literalism
a.
Roberts, J., United States v. Butler (1936)
2.
absurdity doctrine
a.
United States v. Kirby (1868)
*b.
Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States
(1892)
3.
vagueness
*a.
Bailey v. United States (1993)
*b.
Muscarello v. United States (1998)
*c.
Babbit v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for
a Greater Oregon (1995)
4.
ambiguity
*a.
Hackworth v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.
(2007)
*b.
Mallard v. U.S. District Court (1989)
5.
original public meaning
a.
Hamilton, Federalist 81 (1787)
b.
Madison, letter to Henry Lee (1824)
c.
Sipress, cartoon
d.
Black, J., Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
e.
Black, J., In re Winship (1970)
1
f.
D.
E.
F.
IV
The Supreme Court’s Citations to the Federalist
Papers (2014)
Intent
1.
Kay, Adherence to the Original Intentions in
Constitutional Adjudication (1988)
2.
Breyer, On the Uses of Legislative History in
Interpreting Statutes (1992)
3.
Scalia, A Matter of Interpretation (1997)
4.
Gluck & Bressman, Statutory Interpretation from the
Inside (2013)
*5.
Katz v. United States (1967)
*6.
United States Workers v. Weber (1979)
History and precedent
1.
Holmes, The Common Law (1881)
2.
Zander, The Law-Making Process (1980)
3.
Berman, Greiner, & Saliba, The Nature and Functions
of Law (1996)
*4.
Scott v. Sandford (1857)
*5.
Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008)
6.
Levi, An Introduction to Legal Reasoning (1949)
*a. California v. Carney (1985)
7.
Llewellyn, The Bramble Bush (1951)
*8.
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v.
Casey (1992)
9.
The Supreme Court’s Reversal of Precedent in
Historical Perspective (2010)
*10. Gonzalez v. Carhart (2007); Stemberg v. Carhart
(2000)
*11. Brown v. Bd. of Educ. (1954); Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
Extra-constitutional considerations
1.
Foreign and international law
a.
Kennedy, J., Roper v. Simmons (2005)
2.
Moral principles or disgust
a.
Frankfurter, J., Rochin v. California (1952)
*b.
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
c.
Kennedy, Interview (2005)
d.
Hand, A Personal Confession (1958)
3.
Declaration of Independence
a.
Black, A New Birth of Freedom (1997)
Judicial review
*A. Dr. Bonham’s Case (1610)
B. Thorne, Dr. Bonham’s Case (1938)
C. Barry, The Council of Revision and the Limits of Judicial
Powers (1987)
D. Hamilton, Federalist 78 (1787)
E. White, John Marshall and the Genesis of the Tradition
(2006)
2
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
*K.
*L.
M.
N.
O.
V
Article III (1787)
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
White, John Marshall and the Genesis of the Tradition
(2007)
Holmes, John Marshall (1901)
Beard, Usurper or Grantee? (1912)
Brown, Charles Beard and the Constitution (1956)
McDonald, We the People (1958)
Decisions of the Supreme Court Overruled and Acts of
Congress Held Unconstitutional, 1789-2010
Eakin v. Raub (1825)
Kommers & Finn, Judicial Review in Comparative Perspective
(1998)
Judicial activism and self-restraint
A.
Hook, A Brief Life of James Bradley Thayer (1993)
B.
Thayer, The Origin and Scope of the American Doctrine of
Constitutional Law (1893)
C.
Thayer, John Marshall (1901)
D.
Bickel, The Least Dangerous Branch (1962)
E.
Strum, Louis D. Brandeis (1984)
F.
Hand, The Contribution of an Independent Judiciary to
Civilization (1944)
G.
Monaghan, Our Perfect Constitution (1981)
H.
Biden, Promises to Keep (2008)
I.
Posner, What Am I, a Potted Plant? (1987)
J.
Rostow, The Democratic Character of Judicial Review
(1952)
K.
Ely, Democracy and Distrust (1980)
VI
Implied powers and national supremacy
A.
Articles of Confederation (1781)
B.
Virginia Resolutions (1798)
A.Diamond, The Ends of Federalism (1973)
B.Grodzins, The Federal System (1957)
C.Mullin, Federalism (2008)
D.Jefferson and Hamilton on the Bank of the United States (1791)
E.Article I, section 8
F.Madison, Federalist 44
G.McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
J.
A Living Constitution?
1.
Brennan, The Constitution of the United States:
Contemporary Ratification (1985)
2.
Edwards v. A.G. of Canada (1930, Judicioal Commiottee
of the Privy Council, U.K.)
3.
Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921)
4.
Scalia, Constitutional Interpretation the Old
Fashioned Way (2005)
3
K.
VII
Pre-emption
1.
Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. (1947)
2.
Pennsylvania v. Nelson (1957)
3.
Congress Reacts to Nelson (1956, 1958)
*4.
Riegel v. Medtronic (2008)
*5.
Wyeth v. Levine (2009)
6.
Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting (2011)
7.
Arizona v. Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona (2013)
The Supreme Court and other branches
A.
Separation of Powers
1.
Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
2.
Madison, Federalist 51 (1787)
3.
Diamond, The Founding of the Democratic Republic
(1979)
B.
The Dahl theory
A.
Weber, Economy and Society (1978)
B.
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1832)
C.
Dahl, Decision-Making in a Democracy (1958)
4.
Casper, The Supreme Court and National Policy Making
(1976)
5.
Linos & Twist. Can the Court Change Americans’ Views?
(2013)
C.
The Supreme Court and Congress
A.
Ex parte McCardle (1869)
B.
The Senate Debates the Helms Amendment (1981)
C.
A Sample of Congressional Proposals Aimed at
Eliminating the U.S. Supreme Court’s Appellate
Jurisdiction (1997)
D.
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha
(1983)
D.
The Supreme Court and the President
A.
Article II
B.
Hamilton, Federalist 70 (1788)
C.
Patrick Henry, Speech against Ratification (1787)
D.
Cronin, The State of the Presidency (1977)
E.
Lincoln, Letter to Hodges (1864)
F.
Diamond, Lincoln’s Greatness (1980)
G.
Dahl, Myth of the Presidential Mandate (1990)
H.
Roosevelt, The Stewardship Theory (1908)
I.
Neustadt, Presidential Power (1986)
J.
Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers (1916)
11. Mississippi v. Johnson
(1869)
12. Wildavsky, The Two Presidencies (1966)
13. National Archives, Brief Overview of the World War II
Enemy Alien Control Program
14. Evacuation of Japanese-Americans (1942)
15. Robinson, By Order of the President (2001)
16. Hirabayashi v. United States (1943)
17. Korematsu v. United States (1944)
4
18. Goldstein, Fred Korematsu, 86, Dies (2005)
Ex parte Vallandigham (1864)
20. Walker,
American Politics and the Constitution (1978)
21. Ex parte Milligan (1866)
22. Ex parte Quirin (1942)
23. Mueller & Stewart, Terror, Security and Money (2011)
24. Goux, Egan & Citrin, The War on Terror and Civil
Liberties (2008)
25. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)
26. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006)
27. Donovan, The Tumultuous Years (1982)
28.
President Truman Justifies Seizure (1952)
29. Steel Seizure Case: Oral Argument before the District
Court (1952)
30. Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer(oral arguments,
conference & opinion)(1952)
31. J.F.K. Turns to the C.I.A. to Plug a Leak (2007)
32. Constitutional History: Unraveling the Watergate
Affair
33. Nixon, Executive Privilege (1973)
34. Nixon
and Dean, Transcript (1973)
35. United States v. Nixon (oral argument, conference &
opinion) (1973)
36. Nixon and Frost Interview (1977)
37. Clinton v. Jones (1997)
38. The Presidential Line-Item Veto
39.
Clinton v. New York City (1998)
40. Bush v. Gore (2000)
41. Gibson, Caldeira, & Spence, The Supreme Court and the
US Presidential Election of 2000 (2003)
42.
Norden & Iyler, Design Deficiencies and Lost
Votes (2011)
43. Glanton, O’Connor
Questions Court’s Decision to Take Bush v. Gore (2013)
44. Hirshman, When Justice O’Connor Thought a Bush
Was “Vital for the Court” (2013)
VIII Commerce
A.
Madison, Federalist 42 (1787)
B.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
C.
Willson v. Black Bird Creek Marsh Co. (1829)
D.
Paul v. Virginia (1869)
E.
Kidd v. Pearson (1888)
F.
United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895)
G.
A digression: State police power/liberty of contract
1.
Commonwealth v. Pullis (1806, Mayor’s Court of
Philadelphia, Cordwainer’s Case)
*2.
Commonwealth v. Hunt (1840, Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts)
3.
Godcharles v. Wigeman (1886, Pennsylvania Supreme
5
Court)
Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897)
Abrams, Lochner v. New York and Kennedy v. Louisiana
(2011)
6.
Lochner v. New York (1905)
H.
National police power
1.
Champion v. Ames (1903)
2.
Crossen, Lemonade Stands? Children Used to Toil 14
Hours, Every Day (2007)
3.
Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
4.
Benson, The New Centralization (1941)
*5.
Greve, The Upside-Down Constitution (2012)
Intrastate commerce
1.
Comingling
Southern Railway v. United
States (1911)
2.
Stream of commerce
a.
Swift & Co. v. United States (1905)
Simultaneous control
a.
Houston, East & West Railway v. United States
(the Shreveport Rate case) (1914)
The New Deal years - plus a postscript
1.
Hoover, Radio Address on Unemployment Relief (1931)
2.
Schecter Poultry v. United States (1935)
3.
A digression: Nondelegation
a.
Chevron, U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense
Council (1984)
b.
Vermeule, The Administrative State (2014)
4.
George Sutherland
5.
Carter v. Carter Coal Co. (1936)
6.
Huebner, The First Court-Packing Plan (2013)
7.
Roosevelt, Fireside Chat on the “Court-Packing” Bill
(1937)
8.
Hughes, Autobiographical Notes (1973)
9.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Rejects Roosevelt’s
Proposal (1937)
10. NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. (1937) (oral
argument & opinion)
11. United States v. Darby (conference & opinion) (1941)
12. Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
Civil rights
1.
The Negro Motorist Green Book (1948)
2.
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States
(1964)(conference & opinion)
Crime
1.
Perez v. United States (1971)
2.
Dean, The Rehnquist Choice (2001)
3.
United States v. Lopez (1995)
4.
United States v. Morrison (2000)
4.
5.
I.
a.
3.
J.
K.
L.
6
5.
Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
M. Health Care
1. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
(2013)
IX
X
B.
The Takings clause
A.
Amendment V
*B.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR v. Chicago (1897)
C.
Mugler v. Kansas (1887)
D.
Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon (1922)
E.
Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City (1978)
F.
Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff (1984)
G.
Kelo v. New London (2005)
H.
Stevens, Judicial Predilections (2005)
I.
Somin, The Kelo Condemnation Site Still Lies Empty (2013)
J.
Nadler, Diamond & Patton, Government Takings of Private
Property (2008)
*K.
Goldstein v. N.Y.S. Urban Development Corporation (2009,
N.Y. Court of Appeals)
Segregation and its removal
A.
Background: Slavery
1.
Global Slavery Index, What Is Modern Slavery? (2013)
2.
Ellis, Founding Brothers (2000)
3.
Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
(1852)
4.
Marshall, Reflections on the Bicentennial of the
United States Constitution (1987)
5.
Madison, Federalist 54 (1787)
6.
Slave Populations in the Southern States (1860)
7.
Calhoun, Speech on the Reception of Abolition
Petitions (1837)
8.
Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South (1850)
9.
Slavery and the Bible (1859)
*8.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842)
*9.
Strader v. Graham (1851)
10. Constitution of Indiana, Article XIII (1851)
11. Swisher, Roger B. Taney (1935)
12. Scott v. Sandford (1857)
13. Hughes, The Supreme Court of the United States (1928)
14. Black Code of Mississippi (1865)
15. The Civil War Amendments (1865, 1868, 1870)
A digression: privileges and immunities
*1. Corfield v. Coryell (1823, U.S. Court of Appeals)
*2. Doe v. Bolton (1973)
3. Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
*4. Saenz v. Roe (1999)
C.
The imposition of segregation
1.
Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886)
7
2.
D.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
E.
Oberst, The Strange Career of Plessy v. Ferguson
(1973)
3.
Clarke, Without Fear or Shame (1998)
4.
Washington, Atlanta Exposition Speech (1895)
5.
DuBois, Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others (1903)
6.
White: John Marshall Harlan I: The Precursor (2006)
7.
Harlan, Some Memories of a Long Life (2002)
8.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
9.
Williams v. Mississippi (1898)
10. Cumming v. Richmond County Bd. of Educ. (1899)
11. Berea College v. Kentucky (1908)
*12. Giles v. Harris (1903)
13. Gong Lum v. Rice (1927)
The beginning of removal
1.
McCabe v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (1914)
2.
Buchanan v. Warley (1917)
*3.
Nixon v. Herndon (1927)
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938)
The Oval Office: FDR Meets with Civil Rights Leaders
(1940)
Bluford, The Lloyd Gaines Story (1959)
Sipuel v. Bd. of Regents, University of Oklahoma
(1948)
Thomas, Ada Fisher; Broke a Law School Color Barrier
(1995)
Marshall to Henry Moon (1948)
McLaurin v. Bd. of Regents, University of Oklahoma
(1950) (conference & opinion)
Marshalling Justice (1948)
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
Irons, Jim Crow’s Schools (2004)
Vose, Litigation as a Form of Pressure Group Activity
(1958)
Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes (2011)
Brown and its aftermath
1.
Murakami, Desegregation (2008)
2.
Klarman, Why Brown v. Board of Education Was a Hard
Case (2004)
3.
Government’s Brief in Brown (1952)
4.
Marshall to His Legal Team (1954)
5.
Yalof, Pursuit of Justices (1999)
6.
Rehnquist, A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases
(1952)
7.
Dean, The Rehnquist Choice (2001)
8.
Faigman, Laboratory of Justice (2004)
9.
Brown v. Bd. of Educ., Topeka, I (1954) (conferences
& opinion)
10. Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)
11. The President Responds to Brown v. Bd. of Educ. (1954)
8
12.
13.
14.
15.
F.
G.
XI
A.
1.
1.
2.
3.
2.
Murakami, Desegregation (2008)
Marshall to His Legal Team (1954)
Powe, The Warren Court and American Politics (2002)
Brown v. Bd. of Educ., Topeka, II (1955) (conference
& opinion)
16. Southern Manifesto (1956)
*17. Cooper v. Aaron (1957)
18. Judge Jolts Little Rock (2011)
19. Barnes, Federal Supervision of Race in Little Rock
Schools Ends (2007)
*20. Griffin v. Prince Edward County School Bd. (1964)
21. Percentage of Black Students Attending School with
Whites in South, 1954-1972
22. Caro, Lessons in Power (2006)
23. Loevy, The Presidency and Domestic Policy: The Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (1985)
24. Race Discrimination in Education
*25. Green v. New Kent County School Bd. (1968)
26. Cleghorn, The Segs (1964)
27. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Bd. of Educ. (1971)
(conference & opinion)
28. Wible, Going Backwards (2013)
29. North Carolina Bd. of Educ. v. Swann (1971)
30. Swann: The Reaction in Congress (1971)
31. Murakami, Desegregation (2008)
32. Rosenberg, Substituting Symbol for Substance (2004)
33. Missouri v. Jenkins (1995)
Desegregation and the North
1.
Roberts v. Boston (1849, Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts)
2.
Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver (1973)
(conference & opinion)
3.
Brooke, Court Says Denver Can End Forced Busing (1995)
4.
Milliken v. Bradley (1974) (conference & opinion)
5.
Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier (1985)
6.
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle
School District No. 1 (2007) (oral arguments &
opinions)
Voting
1.
Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
Affirmative action
Origins
United States v. Carolene Products (1938)
Johnson, Howard University Commencement Speech
(1965)
Diamond, The American Idea of Equality (1976)
Katznelson, When Affirmative Action Was White (2005)
Kochhar, Fry & Taylor, Wealth Gaps Rise (2011)
9
6.
7.
8.
B.
1.
2.
*3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
C.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
D.
*1.
2.
XII
Hernandez v. Texas (1954)
New America Media, Deep Divisions, Shared Destiny
(2007)
Le & Citrin, Affirmative Action (2008)
Higher education
Regents, University of California, Davis v. Bakke
(1978) (oral argument & opinions)
Liptak, A Hereditary Perk the Founding Fathers Failed
to Anticipate (2007)
Karabel, The Chosen (2005)
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) (oral argument &
opinions)
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
A conversation with Clarence Thomas (2007)
Fisher v. University of Texas (2013)
Sander & Taylor, The Painful Truth about Affirmative
Action (2012)
Lederman, Higher Ed: Engine of Inequalty
Employment
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) (conference &
opinions)
Washington v. Davis (1976)
United Steelworkers v. Weber (1979)
Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
Set asides
Metro Broadcasting v. FCC (1990)
Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995)
State action
A.
Harlan, Some Memories of a Long Life (2002)
B.
Civil Rights Cases (1883)
C.
Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis: (1972) (conference &
opinions)
D.
Instrumentality approach
1.
Smith v. Allwright (1944) (conference & opinions)
E.
Color of law approach
1.
Screws v. United States: Supreme Court Conference
(1945) (conference & opinions)
2.
United States v. Price (1966)
G.
Other public action as state action
1.
Shelley v. Kraemer: Supreme Court Conference (1948)
(conference & opinion)
2.
Barrows v. Jackson (1953)
3.
Reitman v. Mulkey (1967)
4.
DeShaney v. Winnebago Department of Social Services
(1989)
*5
Castle Rock v. Gonzalez (2005)
10
11
Constitutional Law
SPRING 2014
Professor Halper
12