Law and Society

This is a simulation-based course where participants will simulate the roles of lawyers and Supreme Court justices. The central aspect of this course is exploring judicial selection, judicial procedure, and the dynamics of decision-making behavior. How do Supreme Court nominees get on the Court? How do Supreme Court justices accept a case? How do the justices make decisions? The topics covered in this course include oral arguments, opinion writing, and the constraining role of precedent.

Taught by

Ali Masood

Law frames the way we live as a society, from providing practical resolutions to contentious issues to guiding policies that affect how we relate to one another. This course introduces students to various types of law and fields of inquiry that examine how law and society impact one another. Film viewing required.

Taught by

Joyce Kloc Babyak

This course explores the relationship between select outsider religions – Native Americans, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, and new religious movements – and the American state from the beginnings of the nation until the present day. In a country that is premised on the separation of church and state but that also includes diverse religious communities, the place of religion in public life and of the government’s role in regulating and defining religion have long been contested. In this course, we will explore these questions in relationship to immigration, education, national security, first amendment jurisprudence, and more.

Taught by

Shari Rabin

From climate change and poverty, to war and repression, we increasingly seek legal solutions to major global problems. And yet, international law has not developed the kind of enforcement mechanism that anchors domestic regimes. The course explores this paradox while examining what international is, and what its impact on global politics can be.

Taught by

Joshua Freedman