WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF LAW
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW §476A – Fall 2008
SYLLABUS AND COURSE POLICIES
Professor Todd Brower
E-mail: tbrower@wsulaw.edu
Office hours:
Wednesday
3:00 p.m. -- 5:00 p.m.
The Third Floor Receptionist makes all my
appointments. Please do not call me to
cancel or
to schedule an appointment.
Required books:
Read the original cases listed on the
syllabus.
Recommended Books: Eugene Volokh, ACADEMIC LEGAL WRITING: LAW
REVIEW ARTICLES, STUDENT NOTES AND SEMINAR PAPERS, (3rd Ed.
Foundation Press 2007).
The required cases for that week are to be brought to
all classes. Additional handouts may be assigned.
Course description and objectives:
Sexual Orientation and the Law is a two-unit, graded
course. It fulfills the upper-level writing requirement
for all students.
Students will be required to make two group in-class
presentations, to have responsibility for leading class
discussions and prepare an analytical paper on a topic in
sexual orientation and law
This seminar will examine the relationship between
sexual orientation and the law. The class will focus on the
interaction between the law and broader attitudes about
sexual orientation by closely examining how social,
cultural and political forces shape, and are shaped by,
legal doctrine. Within this rubric, students will explore
subjects across many traditional legal domains - including
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 1.
constitutional, criminal, family and antidiscrimination
law.
Topics may include, for example, regulation of
sexuality and sexual identity; legal recognition of gay and
lesbian families and relationships; the debate over gay
civil rights legislation; and policies relating to gays in
the military, sexuality and schools, and other matters of
contemporary controversy. As students approach these
subjects, the course will situate the legal questions
within larger theoretical debates about law and equality.
Grading:
Grading in this class shall be numerical on a 4.0
scale.
Course grades will be based on the final paper (70%)
and the two in-class presentations (30%). Grading of the
papers is explained in greater detail below.
1) General factors in grading papers: The following
four factors are utilized: 1) organization; 2) research; 3)
creativity; 4) clarity. The paper is to be at least 15 to
20 pages in length, 12 point font, double-spaced (including
footnotes single-spaced at bottom of each page or at end).
2) This is a writing course: As a writing course, the
course requires a number of additional work. It requires
the picking/narrowing of a topic, one to three outlines,
personal or email conversations with your professor
regarding progress and direction, and probably more than
two drafts.
3) Picking a topic: Make your work original. If you
plagiarize another work, I will know, and you will fail the
class -. There are essentially two ways of fulfilling the
writing requirement in this class. First, you can pick a
topic that is relatively new and lacking in substantial
existent scholarly work. Seek to write on a topic that is
interesting to you and relatively unaddressed in legal
academia. Secondly (a little easier and therefore worth a
little less if not done well) is to review the literature
on a topic on which a lot has been written, explain the
various views, take a position on the topic, and defend
that position.
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 2.
4) Research: Good places to start are law review
articles and journals. Once you know what’s out there,
you’ll then get a feel for what you want to add and what
you need to say. You need enough research to support all of
your propositions and your legal arguments. Internet
sources may also help and can be cited via date and URL.
5) The Paper: Organize appropriately, please. First,
the introduction should set a clear road map for the
reader. Second, you should provide enough background
information to let the inexpert reader know what you are
talking about and to give your argument some context.
Third, case law, statutes, law reviews, and journals should
support your argument. Finally, your conclusion(s) should
logically follow from your premises.
6) Footnotes: Quotations, non-original ideas, back-up
for your ideas, and digressions should all be footnoted.
Footnotes serve two major functions: First, they give the
reader the exact sources for your propositions and quotes;
second, they be used to digress from the text. Anything
that doesn’t fit neatly into the text may be discussed in
the footnotes. Related issues may be identified and
discussed. Footnotes provide a great opportunity to discuss
your personal opinions and views on the issues without
taking away from your legal arguments in the text. As a
general rule of thumb, there should be at least 50
footnotes per 10 pages; while not carved in stone, this
number should serve as a guideline; you will not be graded
so much on the number of footnotes as on their appropriate
use.
7) Editing: The editing stage is the most important
stage in writing. Great papers are not written in one
draft. Use the editing process to make sure that all of
your citations are correct, to fix any transitional errors
or “flow” problems throughout your text, and edit to
correct any spelling and grammatical issues you may
encounter. Furthermore, use the editing process to fill in
gaps in your argument and to add additional ideas that may
occur to you upon rereading your paper.
8) Communication: Stay in contact with your professor
and use the first few weeks of class to brainstorm about
ideas.
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 3.
Attendance and Participation
A seating chart will be distributed at the beginning
of the semester. Please print your name legibly in the
seat you choose for your permanent seat. If you wish to
change your seat, please notify me so that the seating
chart can be adjusted accordingly.
This is a small, limited-enrollment seminar.
will participate in each class.
Everyone
Classes begin promptly at the scheduled time. Please
be in your seat for the start of class. Students who
arrive late disrupt the learning process for others. If
you are unavoidably late, please enter quietly through the
rear entrance and take your assigned seat.
I will take attendance at the beginning of each class.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WSU STUDENT HANDBOOK, IF YOU MISS
MORE THAN TWO CLASSES, YOU WILL BE ACADEMICALLY DISMISSED
FROM THE COURSE. Additionally, if you arrive late or
depart early without permission, you may be marked absent
for the entire session.
Assignments:
I have listed the reading assignments for the entire
semester.
Please read the entire assignment before the
first class for each topic.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date
Assignment
Aug. 26
Read these cases:
Harms v. Sprague,
105 Ill. 2d 215,
473 N.E.2d 930
(1984); In re Will
of Kaufmann, 247
N.Y.S.2d 664, 20
A.D. 464 (1964);
Women’s Catholic
Order of Foresters
v. Heffernan, 206
Ill. App. 70
Presentation
Group
Commenting
Group
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 4.
(1917).
Sept. 2
Sept. 9
Sept. 16
Gay Students Org.
v. Univ. of New
Hampshire, 504
F.2d 652 (1st Cir.
1974); Gay Law
Students Ass’n v.
Pacific Telephone.
and Telegraph, 24
Cal 3d 458, 156
Cal. Rptr. 14, 595
P.2d 592 (1979)
National Gay Task
Force v. Bd. of
Educ. of Okla.
City, 729 F.2d
1270 (10th Cir.
1984); Weaver v.
Nebo Sch. Dist.,
29 F.Supp.2d 1279
(D. Utah 1998);
Rowland v. Mad
River Local Sch.
Dist., 730 F.2d
444 (6th Cir.
1984); Acanfora v.
Bd. of Educ. of
Montgomery County,
491 F.2d 498 (4th
Cir. 1974).
(review principles
of Rust v.
Sullivan, 500 U.S.
173 (1991);
Rosenberger v.
Rector and
Visitors of the
Univ. of Va., 515
U.S. 819 (1995)).
E-mail paper topic
and description to
tbrower@wsulaw.edu
Roberts v. United
States Jaycees,
468 U.S. 609
Group 1
Group 3
Group 2
Group 4
Group 3
Group 5
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 5.
Sept. 23
Sept. 30
Oct. 7
(1984); Hurley v.
Irish-American
Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual Group of
Boston, 515 U.S.
557 (1995); Boy
Scouts of America
v. Dale, 530 U.S.
640 (2000).
Price Waterhouse
v. Hopkins, 490
U.S. 228 (1989);
DeSantis v.
Pacific Telephone
and Telegraph Co.,
608 F.2d 327 (9th
Cir. 1979);
Chambers v. Omaha
Girls Club, Inc.,
834 F.2d 697 (8th
Cir. 1987).
Burns v. McGregor
Elec. Indus.,
Inc., 955 F.2d 559
(8th Cir. 1992);
Oncale v.
Sundowner Offshore
Servs., Inc., 523
U.S. 75 (1998);
Rene v. MGM Grand
Hotel, Inc., 305
F.3d 1061 (9th
Cir. 2002); Dick
v. Phone
Directories Co.,
397 F.3d 1256
(10th Cir. 2005).
1st Draft Due 5
pm. to
tbrower@wsulaw.edu
No exceptions
Oct. 14
Oct. 21
Oct. 28
Group 4
Group 1
Group 5
Group 2
Individual
Conferences
(20 min)
4:00 – 7:20
pm
Individual
Conferences
4:00 – 7:20
pm
No Class
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 6.
Nov. 4
Nov. 11
Nov. 18
Nov. 25
Poe v. Ullman, 365
U.S. 497 (1961);
Griswold v.
Connecticut, 381
U.S. 479 (1965);
Stanley v.
Georgia, 394 U.S.
557 (1969); Bowers
v. Hardwick, 478
U.S. 186 (1986);
Lawrence v. Texas,
539 U.S. 558
(2003).
Loving v.
Virginia, 388 U.S.
1 (1967); People
v. Garcia, 77 Cal.
App. 4th 1269, 92
Cal. Rptr.2d 339
(Cal. App. 2000);
Romer v. Evans,
517 U.S. 620
(1996); Lawrence
v. Texas, 539 U.S.
558 (2003).
Loving v.
Virginia, 388 U.S.
1 (1967); People
v. Garcia, 77 Cal.
App. 4th 1269, 92
Cal. Rptr.2d 339
(Cal. App. 2000);
Romer v. Evans,
517 U.S. 620
(1996); Lawrence
v. Texas, 539 U.S.
558 (2003).
In re Marriage
Cases, 43 Cal.4th
757 [76
Cal.Rptr.3d 683,
183 P.3d 384
(2008); Hernandez
v. Robles, 7
N.Y.3d 338, 855
N.E.2d 1 (2006);
(20 min)
Group 1
Group 4
Group 2
Group 5
Group 3
Group 1
Group 4
Group 2
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 7.
Dec. 2
Dec. 9
Andersen v. King
County, 138 P.3d
963 (Wash. 2006);
Goodridge v. Dept.
of Public Health,
400 Mass 309, 798
N.E.2d 941 (2003).
In re Marriage
Cases, 43 Cal.4th
757 [76
Cal.Rptr.3d 683,
183 P.3d 384
(2008); Hernandez
v. Robles, 7
N.Y.3d 338, 855
N.E.2d 1 (2006);
Andersen v. King
County, 138 P.3d
963 (Wash. 2006);
Goodridge v. Dept.
of Public Health,
400 Mass 309, 798
N.E.2d 941 (2003).
Papers Due 9 am.
Group 5
Group 3
No exceptions (No final)
Sexual Orientation and the Law, Fall 2008, Professor
Brower….page 8.