LAW641

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IDEAS OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Course Title

IDEAS OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Course Number

641

Min

2

Course Types

Letter Grading, Writing Requirement

Credit Type

GPA SEMINARS

Description

May be used to satisfy the Writing Requirement.

This course is designed as an introduction and study of major ideas-progenitors, influences, posited purposes, and themes-underlying and surrounding the First Amendment, particularly its freedoms of speech and conscience. It does not focus on basic First Amendment black-letter doctrines covered in Constitutional Law II. It instead goes beyond black-letter rules and invites students to think analytically and critically about how and why the First Amendment's protections and notions of free expression have developed and are still developing. The students will be graded on participation and the presentation on and writing of a final paper on a topic of their choosing (with guidance from the instructor), with encouragement towards analyzing a current cultural trend or technological development in light of the discussed First Amendment ideas. Prerequisite: Constitutional Law II.