Introduction
1. The Rule of Law (January 21)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 1)
What is Law?
2. Aquinas' Natural Law Theory vs. Austin's Positivism (January 24)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 2)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 3)
3. Hart's Positivism (January 28)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 4)
H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law (extract 2)
4. Is international “law” really law? (January 31)
H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law (extract 3)
5. Application: The Nuremberg Trials (February 4)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 5)
Robert H. Jackson, “Opening Address for the United States”, International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg (1946)
Charles E. Wyzanski, “Nuremburg: A Fair Trial? A Dangerous Precedent”
Moral Limits on the Law
6. The Harm Principle (February 7)
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (extract)
7. Legal Paternalism (February 11)
Gerald Dworkin, “Paternalism”
Elizabeth Kolbert, “What was I thinking?”
8. Legal Moralism (February 14)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law, (extract 6)
Lord Devlin, The Enforcement of Morals
H.L.A. Hart, Law, Liberty and Morality
9. Application: Sex Work (February 21)
Laurie Shrage, “Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets" (sections 2 and 3)
Debra Satz, “Markets in Women’s Sexual Labor”
Criminal Justice
10. Deterrence (February 25)
Richard Brandt, “The Utilitarian Theory of Criminal Punishment”
David Boonin, The Problem of Punishment, pp. 37-62
11. Retribution (February 28)
Michael Moore, "The Argument for Retributivism”
David Boonin, The Problem of Punishment, pp. 85-103
12. Class Debate: Deterrence vs. Retribution (March 4)
13. The Death Penalty (March 7)
Amnesty International, U.S. Death Penalty Facts
Ernst van den Haag, "In Defense of the Death Penalty"
Stephen Nathanson, "An Eye for an Eye?"
Racism in the Justice System
14. Racial Injustice in the U.S. Criminal Justice System (March 11)
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Chapter 3)
15. Application: Policing (March 14)
Adam Hosein, "Racial Profiling and a Reasonable Sense of Inferior Political Status"
Olufemi Taiwo, "Power Over The Police"
16. Film: 13th (March 25)--I'll be in LA, no need to come to class, watch on your own time!
17. Application: Incarceration (March 28)
Tommie Shelby, The Idea of Prison Abolition (course text), ch. 2, "The Uses and Abuses of Incarceration"
18. Incarceration (ctd) (April 1)
Tommie Shelby, The Idea of Prison Abolition (course text), ch. 5 "Responding to Crime: Incarceration and Its Alternatives"
19. Is Law-breaking justified under unjust conditions? (April 4)
Tommie Shelby, "Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto"
Constitutional Law
20. Why have a constitution? (April 8)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 7)
Jeremy Waldron, “Between Rights and Bills of Rights”
21. Why have judicial review? (April 15)
Jeremy Waldron, “The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review”
22. Legal Reasoning (1): Originalism (April 18)
Antonin Scalia, “Common-Law Courts in a Civil-Law System”, pp. 79-100, 111-121 only
David Cole, "Originalism's Charade"
23. Legal Reasoning (2): Constructive Interpretation (April 22)
Andrew Altman, Arguing about Law (extract 8)
Ronald Dworkin, “Integrity in Law”
24. Application: Gun control (April 25)
U.S. Supreme Court (2008): District of Columbia v. Heller (summary)
Richard Posner, “In Defense of Looseness”
Hugh LaFollette, “Gun control”
Conclusion
25. Summing Up (April 29)