Course Description
An introduction to legal reasoning, fundamental law and policy argumentative tools, the various types of legal institutions, the administrative state, and the interpretation of statutes and the Constitution. Foundational study will lead to legally sophisticated analyses and discussion concerning recently argued or decided Supreme Court cases.
Athena Title
Foundations of American Law
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in JURI 3233E
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The basic purpose of this course is to help students understand our legal system and the means and merits of legal argument. Students should be able to appreciate the distinction between rhetorical and popular argumentation on disputed issues, as might appear in editorial writing, and legal argumentation. The course culminates with a few weeks’ discussion concerning pending and recently decided Supreme Court cases so that students may appreciate the legal disputes of our time from the legal perspective. • Identify the institutional components of legal systems and their distinctive characters • Construct and critique legal arguments, such abilities, including the identification of issues, analysis of competing but possible legal standards, and application of those standards to specific facts • Deploy the prevailing tools of legal and policy analysis to argue for a legal position • Argue for interpretations of legal materials using the major interpretive methodologies • Argue for legal results based on institutional competencies and arrangements • Characterize in legal terms complex cases before the United States Supreme Court • Recognize the legal implications of pending cases for future but substantively unrelated cases
Topical Outline
I. Introduction to Legal Argument and the Legal System 1. Legal system overview and making sense of the fields of law 2. Legal argument, rules, and standards II. Legal Reasons 1. What’s good? 2. Law and economics 3. Collective action and information problems 4. Behavior and irrationality 5. Fairness and distributive justice 6. Morality III. Legal Institutions 1. Courts 2. Legislatures and public choice 3. The Administrative state IV. Interpretation 1. Textualism, intentionalism, purposivism, originalism, and other interpretive methods 2. Deference and scrutiny V. Application to the Current Supreme Court Docket