Public Law and Policy

Seminar – 2 units. This course will study local government laws and practices that seek to regulate the lives of immigrants living within their jurisdiction. These areas include housing, labor and employment, driving and professional licenses, health, public benefits, and even immigration crimes and enforcement. We will study the range of laws and their differences across jurisdictions as well the factors that may explain why these laws yield both positive or negative results for immigrants in different localities.

This course will examine the process of selecting Presidents of the United States within the structure created by Article II and other provisions of the U.S. Constitution, as well as federal and state enactments. Among the topics to be considered are: the creation of the electoral college and modern reform possibilities; so-called "faithless" electors; the Bush v.

Seminar – 3 units. This seminar examines the unique status of children in our legal system, and explores the fundamental question of how the law allocates decision-making power and responsibility for children among the child, the family and the State. This course will deeply explore the topics of delinquency and dependency, as well as the varied contexts children interact with the law beyond those two systems.

Seminar - This course will cover the law of biodiversity, with a focus on the laws of the United States. We will review the science of biodiversity and biodiversity loss, and then examine laws addressing biodiversity at the federal, state, and local levels. We will cover biodiversity law, ecosystem management, and emerging challenges like climate change and renewable energy development. The course will be graded based on short response papers and participation in class discussions.

Seminar - This discussion-based course will focus on academic articles, mostly drawn from critical race and critical feminist traditions, that examine the theory and doctrine covered in 218A: Constitutional Law II--Equal Protection. The choice and sequence of readings will be tied to those assigned in 218A in order to create dialogue between Equal Protection doctrine and critical perspectives on that doctrine.

Skills - 2 hours. Drafting a Solar Farm Bill is a practicum in which the class acts as an advisory law firm for its client, a solar farm bill solution and its facilitator, the educational non-profit Climate Solutions Advocacy Institute (CSAI). The class objective is to provide the client with a white paper that can advise CSAI in its development of a massive solar farm bill, financed by green bonds.

Lecture - 2 hours. This course explores the what and how of national security. Specifically, what does national security mean and how does it play out institutionally, jurisprudentially, and policy-wise in the United States? Combining historical, legal, and normative perspectives, this seminar explores how the meaning of national security has shifted and expanded over time.

Discussion – 2 hours. This course will examine major cases, statutes, and events in the law, both on the books and in action, dealing with nonwhites. The course will include discussion of the situation of African Americans, Asians, Indigenous People, and Latinx People, from the Colonial era to the present. In addition to examining legal doctrine and policy, it will explore how the contemporary United States has been shaped by racial discrimination.

Seminar – 2 hours. Much of our modern federal government relies on administrative agencies exercising authority delegated to them by Congress. Federal courts have traditionally deferred to agencies’ implementation of the statutes they administer, although these courts also set aside (or “vacate”) agency actions they find to be unlawful. In recent years, however, several justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have openly called for revisiting several administrative law doctrines that underlie this system.

Discussion - 3 hours.