Supreme Court Decision Making

The focus of this course will be on the process of Supreme Court decision-making. The process questions to be considered during the semester will include the use of history, the treatment of constitutional facts, reasoned decision-making, principled decision-making, the value of precedent, the "art" of overruling, and the retroactivity of constitutional doctrine.

The class will also sit as "The Court" in a pending case selected from the Supreme Court docket. Each student will be assigned the role of a sitting Justice. After consideration of the briefs and a "Conference" on the case, each member of the class will produce a written opinion expressing the views of his or her Justice.