Judicial Process and Behavior
Political Science 4740
Spring 2013
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 12:20-1:10
Baldwin Hall 305
Dr. Karen P. Owen
103 E Baldwin Hall
Office Hours: Wednesdays 9:30am to 11:00 am
or by appointment
Office Phone: 706-542-2057
Email: kpowen@gmail.com
______________________________________________________________________________
Course Overview
This course is intended to familiarize students with the organization of the American court
system (both state and federal), the function of courts in our society and democracy, and the role
of various players (such as judges, litigants, and lawyers) in the legal process. The course will
also examine theories of judicial decision making, explore the manner in which judges make
public policy, and evaluate the efficacy and/or desirability of judicial policy making. In addition
to the overview of the American legal system and judicial policy making, we will study the
processes surrounding civil and criminal litigation.
Required Texts
Baum, Lawrence. 2013. American Courts: Process and Policy, 7th Edition. Boston:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
O’Brien, David M. 2009. Judges on Judging: Views from the Bench. 3rd Edition,
Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Walker, Thomas G. 2009. Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case.
Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Scalia, Antonin. 1997. A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law. Princeton
University Press.
Course Expectations and Evaluation
Classes will be conducted primarily in a lecture/discussion format. I expect that each student
will behave professionally. You are responsible for all material in the textbooks and in lectures,
even if you miss a class. All assignments should be read by the first date listed for them on the
syllabus. Reading is necessary to succeed in this course! Not all reading assignments will be
discussed in class; nonetheless you are responsible for them. If you have questions about
materials not discussed, do not hesitate to ask about them. Students are strongly encouraged to
participate in class and to interrupt lectures with questions.
Attendance & Participation
I expect students will be on time and be prepared to stay for the entire class. Class attendance is
more than mere reinforcement of material you may have read in the assigned chapter(s). Students
must attend class regularly to participate in discussion and ask for clarifications on the material.
Grade Evaluation
1. Participation/Class Attendance/Quizzes (10% of final grade)
Students will be required to attend and actively participate in class discussion. Obviously
if you are absent, you cannot participate. Class attendance is a necessary but not a
sufficient condition for a good participation grade, you must participate in the discussions
to do well on this component (5% of grade). Two quizzes will be administered during
the semester (5% of grade). Each quiz will be over the materials assigned but not yet
discussed. Thus it is imperative that students have read the materials if they are to do
well on the quizzes.
2. Examinations (65% of final grade)
Materials for all exams will be taken from the reading assignments, lectures, and special
presentations.

Midterm Exam (30% of the final grade): The midterm exam will be Friday,
March 1. The exam will consist of short answer questions and essay questions.
If a student is unable to take an exam on the scheduled date, he/she should contact
the instructor beforehand. Missed exams will only be excused for a documented
illness (documentation from a physician) or death in the family. There will be no
make-up exams. If you are excused from this exam, the final exam will be
weighted accordingly.

Final Exam (35% of the final grade). The final is scheduled for Wednesday,
May 1 from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The final will consist of multiple choice,
short answer questions and essay questions. The final exam is cumulative,
covering all materials from readings and lectures.
3. Term Paper (25% of final grade)
The remainder of your grade will be based on an 8 to 10 page research paper. Students
will need to submit a topic for approval. All paper topics must be approved. Any paper
submitted that has not been approved will not be graded. The paper proposal should
provide enough detail for me to determine what you are going to write about and how
you propose to go about it. This will take at least a paragraph and perhaps a page to set
forth. More information regarding the research papers will be discussed in class.
Final course grades will be assigned as follows: 100-93 = A, 90-92 = A-, 87-89 = B+, 83-86 = B,
80-82 = B-, 77-79= C+, 73-76 = C, 70-72 = C-, 60-69 = D, and 59-0=F.
There will be no extra credit given. Please do not ask!
Disabilities
Students with disabilities of any kind are strongly encouraged to notify the instructor and the
Office for Disability Services at the beginning of the semester, so appropriate accommodations
can be made.
Academic Honesty
All University policies relating to academic honesty will be upheld in this course. Cheating and
plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students caught cheating or plagiarizing will receive an F for
the course and their names will be forwarded to the University. An outline of the Academic
Honesty Policy is available at The Vice President of Academic Affairs’ Website
(http://www.uga.edu/vpaa/polproc/ahpol/main.html).
Instructor Availability
If you would like to speak with me outside of class time, feel free to stop by my office (103 E
Baldwin Hall) during scheduled office hours or schedule an appointment. To ensure that I am in
my office on a given day, please email me ahead of time to set up a specific time to meet. I
generally respond quickly to email inquiries.
Tentative Course Schedule
January 7
Introduction/Overview of Course
January 9-11
Governmental Structure/ History of Courts
Baum, Chapter 1
United States Constitution
Federalist No. 78 (in Baum, Appendix B)
January 14-18
Sources of Law and their Hierarchy
- Precedents and Statutes
O’Brien, pgs, 13-31 and Chapter 14
January 21
Martin Luther King, Jr. HOLIDAY
January 23-25
Jurisprudence
“Historical, Jurisprudential, and Multidisciplinary Influences on Law,” in
Kuklin, Bailey and Jeffrey W. Stempel, Foundations of the Law: An
Interdisciplinary Jurisprudential Primer, Chapter 6 (West 1994).*
January 28-30
Organization of State and Federal Courts
Baum, Chapter 2
O’Brien, Chapter 6 & 32 and pages, 299-304
January 30
Court Organization (cont)
Research Paper Proposal DUE
February 1-4
State and Federal Jurisdiction
- Subject-Matter and Personal Jurisdiction
Excerpts from Burnham, William. 2011. Introduction to the Law and
Legal System of the United States, West Group.*
February 6-8
Legal Actors (Judges, Lawyers, and Litigants)
Baum, Chapters 3 & 5 QUIZ
February 11-15
The Trial Process/Adversary Justice
Baum, Chapter 6 & 7
O’Brien, Chapter 5
February 15
Final Date to Change Research Paper Topic
February 18-22
The Appellate Process/Adversary Justice
Baum, Chapter 8
O’Brien, Chapter 9
February 25-27
Trial Procedures
March 1
MIDTERM EXAM
March 4-8
Stages of a Trial
Walker, all
March 11-15
SPRING BREAK
March 18
Criminal Law – The Death Penalty & The U.S. Supreme Court
Discuss the Walker book
O’Brien, Chapter 2
March 20-22
Judicial Selection
Baum, Chapter 4
O’Brien, Chapter 3
March 25-29
Courts as Policy-Makers (Legitimacy and Capacity)
Smith, Christopher E. Courts and Public Policy. Chapters 1-3*
Baum, Chapter 9 (pages 288-310)
O’Brien, Chapters 15 & 24
April 3
Research Papers DUE
April 1-5
Judicial Decision Making I: Original Intent, Strict Constructionism
O’Brien, pages 133-137 and chapters 18 & 21
Scalia’s A Matter of Interpretation, Introduction and Scalia chapter
April 8-15
Judicial Decision Making II: Living Constitutionalism, Strategic Choice
QUIZ
Scalia’s A Matter of Interpretation, remaining chapters
O’Brien, Chapters 20 & 22
April 17-22
Judicial Decision-Making – Constraints and the Social Science view
O’Brien, Chapter 7
Carp, Stidham, and Manning. Judicial Process in America, chapters 12
and 13*
April 24-29
The Courts and Their Impact on American Society
Baum, Chapter 9 (pages 311-318)
Baum, Lawrence. 2010. The Supreme Court, Chapter 6: “The Court’s
Impact.” *
May 1
12:00 to 3:00 pm
FINAL EXAM
The course syllabus is a general plan for the course. Deviations announced to the class by the
instructor may be necessary.
*These are readings that will be provided to you before the assigned class.