JLST 401
The Unwritten Constitution Spring 2017
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

“The eight thousand words of America’s written constitution only begin to map out the basic ground rules that actually govern our land.” So begins Akhil Amar’s book The Unwritten Constitution. Amar recasts the debate over whether America has a “living Constitution.” That debate usually revolves around whether change in constitutional meaning requires resort to the formal amendment process or can be achieved through judicial interpretation. Amar supports a living Constitution, but proposes something far-reaching: history itself effectively amends the Constitution. Thus, for example, he argues that Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and precedents set by George Washington, not to mention the daily activities and assumptions of ordinary Americans, have become constitutional subtext which must be taken into account by judges and anyone else (i.e., politicians and citizens) interpreting the Constitution. Is that notion convincing? Preposterous? A healthy way of understanding the inevitable intersection of law, history, and politics? A transparent excuse to read one’s own views into the Constitution? Is the idea of an unwritten constitution democratic or undemocratic? Through a careful reading of Amar, and some of his important critics and allies, we will probe different ways of thinking about the Supreme Law of the Land.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 3217
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: three 5-page papers and several shorter writing assignments
Prerequisites: PSCI 216 or PSCI 217
Enrollment Preferences: Justice and Law concentrators
Distributions: Division II

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