Course Schedule
Classes Found
Exploring In-House Practice
- FRI, SAT 9:30 am – 5:00 pm TNH 2.123
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 196V
- Short course:
- 2/3/23 — 2/4/23
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
The course will contribute to successful and effective practice as an in-house counsel and explore similarities and differences between in-house and outside legal practice. Topics covered may include: evaluating in-house opportunities; transitioning to an in-house role; the relationship between in-house counsel and their internal clients; staffing and interacting with the board of directors, in-house counsel's role in adding value to his/her organization; advising and counseling clients; selecting and managing outside counsel; and an ethical challenge pertinent to in-house counsel.
This course will be highly interactive with frequent breakout groups. There will be very little duplicative material with Special Topics in In-House Practice, also offered this semester.
Exploring In-House Practice
- FRI, SAT 9:30 am – 5:00 pm TNH 3.140
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 196V
- Short course:
- 2/11/22 — 2/12/22
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
Students who plan to take BOTH 'Exploring In-House Practice' and 'Special Topics in In-House Practice' will need to register for one and fill out the time conflict override request form to take the other. The request form may be requested from registration@law.utexas.edu only after Add/Drop opens. See academic calendar for specific dates.
Same as LAW 179P, Exploring In-House Practice.
The course will contribute to successful and effective practice as an in-house counsel and explore similarities and differences between in-house and outside legal practice. Topics covered will include: evaluating in-house opportunities; transitioning to an in-house role; the relationship between in-house counsel and their internal clients; staffing and interacting with the board of directors, in-house counsel's role in adding value to his/her organization; advising and counseling clients; selecting and managing outside counsel; and an ethical challenge pertinent to in-house counsel.
This course will be highly interactive with frequent breakout groups. There will be very little duplicative material with Special Topics in In-House Practice, also offered this semester.
Exploring In-House Practice
- FRI, SAT 9:30 am – 5:00 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 179P
- Short course:
- 2/26/21 — 2/27/21
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
The course will contribute to successful and effective practice as an in-house counsel and explore similarities and differences between in-house and outside legal practice. Topics covered will include: evaluating in-house opportunities; transitioning to an in-house role; the relationship between in-house counsel and their internal clients; staffing and interacting with the board of directors, in-house counsel's role in adding value to his/her organization; advising and counseling clients; selecting and managing outside counsel; and an ethical challenge pertinent to in-house counsel.
This course will be highly interactive with frequent breakout groups. There will be very little duplicative material with Special Topics in In-House Practice, also offered this semester.
Exploring In-House Practice
- FRI, SAT 9:30 am – 5:00 pm TNH 2.123
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 179P
- Short course:
- 2/7/20 — 2/8/20
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will introduce students to the roles and responsibilities of in-house lawyers. Students will investigate the skills and characteristics that contribute to successful and effective practice as an in-house counsel and explore similarities and differences between in-house and outside legal practice. Topics covered will include: evaluating in-house opportunities; transitioning to an in-house role; the relationship between in-house counsel and their internal clients; staffing and interacting with the board of directors, in-house counsel's role in adding value to his/her organization; advising and counseling clients; selecting and managing outside counsel; and an ethical challenge pertinent to in-house counsel.
Family Law
- MON, WED 10:30 – 11:45 am TNH 2.138
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 389C
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, THU 1:05 – 2:20 pm TNH 3.127
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 389C
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, THU 9:05 – 10:20 am TNH 2.124
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 389C
Registration Information
- 1L and upperclass elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, WED 9:05 – 10:20 am TNH 2.139
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 389C
Registration Information
- 1L and upperclass elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Same as LAW 340, Family Law.
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, THU 2:40 – 4:01 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 340
Registration Information
- 1L and upperclass elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, WED, THU 2:30 – 5:00 pm
Course Information
- Course ID:
- F340
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will not use floating mean GPA
Description
Taught as a web-based course. Course meets June 4 - July 8.
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Family Law
- TUE, THU 2:15 – 3:30 pm TNH 2.139
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 340
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, WED 10:30 – 11:37 am TNH 2.140
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Federal Courts is an essential practical tool for future litigators, future government attorneys (at the federal, state, or local level), and future judicial law clerks. It is also a genuinely exciting field of academic study for any law student.
This course investigates one of the most fascinating and often misunderstood features of American law: how our legal system distributes power within the federal government and between the federal government and the states. The course also explores whether (and how) individual litigants can turn to the judiciary to enforce rights created by constitutional or statutory law. These fundamental questions are related. Principles that shape and limit the power of federal courts determine not just how but whether those courts (rather than other participants in our system of government) can resolve disputes, ranging from the relatively mundane to the gravest allegations of injustice.
These issues raise questions about the role that the federal courts play in our constitutional democracy. Such issues are of utmost importance today. Many pressing questions—from the scope of presidential power to the conduct of local police—wind up in federal court. And these disputes often turn on legal issues that we will explore in this course.
The assigned case book is the tenth edition of Low & Jeffries' The Federal Courts and the Law of Federal-State Relations (2022).
Federal Courts
- TUE, WED, THU 1:05 – 2:12 pm TNH 2.138
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
From the unique and complex legal issues arising out of SB8 to the late Anna Nicole Smith’s quest for her husband’s fortune; from unprecedented congressional alteration of federal jurisdiction with regard to class actions, bankruptcy, large-scale accidents, and immigration law to the courts’ own mounting internal struggles with an ever-expanding caseload; and from the political idiosyncrasies of the Terri Schiavo case to the availability of domestic courts to litigate international human rights abuses, the study of federal courts has an importance and significance today unmatched in generations. As a field, Federal Courts is principally about judicial power, including the full constitutional extent of that power, the constitutional and sub-constitutional limits on that power, and how that power is exercised by the federal courts to protect the separation of powers and other fundamental constitutional ideals. Thus, rather than studying a particular body of law, our focus in on a particular actor — the federal judiciary in general, and the “Article III” courts, in particular. To that end, our topics will include, among others, the constitutional scope of the jurisdiction of the federal courts (and Congress’s power to constrain that jurisdiction); the legal authority for, and substantive limits on, non-Article III courts; military tribunals and the war on terrorism; the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts; the complicated and somewhat convoluted field of “federal common law”; the availability of (and scope of sovereign and official immunity from) suits challenging state and federal official action; judge-made doctrines based on federalism and principles of comity that otherwise limit the exercise of federal jurisdiction; and the procedural minefield that is federal habeas corpus for state prisoners. Whereas our study of each issue is, in many ways, primarily interested in the history and structure of the federal judicial system, these topics necessarily include within their sweep fundamental questions about the proper horizontal separation of powers between the political branches and the judiciary, the proper vertical separation of powers between federal and state courts, and the structural and individualized constitutional issues raised by any of the relevant actors’ attempts to alter the historical balance.
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, WED 10:30 – 11:37 am TNH 2.124
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Federal Courts is an essential practical tool for future litigators, future government attorneys (at the federal, state, or local level), and future judicial law clerks. It is also a genuinely exciting field of academic study for any law student.
This course investigates one of the most fascinating and often misunderstood features of American law: how our legal system distributes power within the federal government and between the federal government and the states. The course also explores whether (and how) individual litigants can turn to the judiciary to enforce rights created by constitutional or statutory law. These fundamental questions are related. Principles that shape and limit the power of federal courts determine not just how but whether those courts (rather than other participants in our system of government) can resolve disputes, ranging from the relatively mundane to the gravest allegations of injustice.
These issues raise questions about the role that the federal courts play in our constitutional democracy. Such issues are of utmost importance today. Many pressing questions—from the scope of presidential power to the conduct of local police—wind up in federal court. And these disputes often turn on legal issues that we will explore in this course.
The assigned case book is the tenth edition of Low & Jeffries' The Federal Courts and the Law of Federal-State Relations (2022).
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, THU 10:30 – 11:37 am TNH 3.142
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
From the unique and complex legal issues arising out of SB8 to the late Anna Nicole Smith’s quest for her husband’s fortune; from unprecedented congressional alteration of federal jurisdiction with regard to class actions, bankruptcy, large-scale accidents, and immigration law to the courts’ own mounting internal struggles with an ever-expanding caseload; and from the political idiosyncrasies of the Terri Schiavo case to the availability of domestic courts to litigate international human rights abuses, the study of federal courts has an importance and significance today unmatched in generations. As a field, Federal Courts is principally about judicial power, including the full constitutional extent of that power, the constitutional and sub-constitutional limits on that power, and how that power is exercised by the federal courts to protect the separation of powers and other fundamental constitutional ideals. Thus, rather than studying a particular body of law, our focus in on a particular actor — the federal judiciary in general, and the “Article III” courts, in particular. To that end, our topics will include, among others, the constitutional scope of the jurisdiction of the federal courts (and Congress’s power to constrain that jurisdiction); the legal authority for, and substantive limits on, non-Article III courts; military tribunals and the war on terrorism; the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts; the complicated and somewhat convoluted field of “federal common law”; the availability of (and scope of sovereign and official immunity from) suits challenging state and federal official action; judge-made doctrines based on federalism and principles of comity that otherwise limit the exercise of federal jurisdiction; and the procedural minefield that is federal habeas corpus for state prisoners. Whereas our study of each issue is, in many ways, primarily interested in the history and structure of the federal judicial system, these topics necessarily include within their sweep fundamental questions about the proper horizontal separation of powers between the political branches and the judiciary, the proper vertical separation of powers between federal and state courts, and the structural and individualized constitutional issues raised by any of the relevant actors’ attempts to alter the historical balance.
Federal Courts
- MON, WED 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 2.138
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Federal Courts is an essential practical tool for future litigators and future judicial law clerks, but it is also a genuinely exciting field of academic study for any law student.
This course investigates one of the most fascinating and often misunderstood features of American law: how our legal system distributes power within the federal government and between the federal government and the States. It examines this distribution of power primarily from a judicial perspective. In particular, principles that shape and limit the power of federal courts determine not just how but whether those courts (rather than other participants in our system of government) can resolve disputes, ranging from the relatively mundane to the gravest allegations of injustice. These doctrines may seem dry at first glance, but their consequences are enormous for the law, for society, and for individual clients.
The doctrines that make up Federal Courts jurisprudence come, first and foremost, from Article III of the Constitution, which is the chief text for the entire semester. Whether imposed by the Constitution, a federal statute, rules of procedure, federal common law, or some other authority, these doctrines are essential for cabining or unleashing federal judicial power. Three key themes will recur throughout the course:
(1) separation of powers, asking how to ensure a proper role for the federal courts vis-à-vis the other branches of the federal government;
(2) federalism, asking how to ensure a proper role for the federal courts vis-à-vis state governments; and
(3) the rule of law, asking how all the stakeholders (including the Supreme Court, lower courts, state courts, state and federal executive and legislative officials, attorneys, and citizens) can identify and respect a principled basis for granting or witholding power.
Specific topics of this course include
- justiciability doctrines, such as standing, ripeness, mootness, and political questions
- the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, with a particular focus on arising-under jurisdiction
- the role and jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court
- abstention doctrines, whereby federal courts decline to exercise jurisdiction in certain contexts
- sovereign immunity, particularly for state governments in light of the Eleventh Amendment
- suits challenging official action, including the available remedies against federal and state governments and governmental actors
- the creation and role of non-Article III courts, including administrative agencies,
- judicial federalism, including the reciprocal obligations of state and federal courts to federal and state law, respectively, and
- habeas corpus, primarily federal review of state-court convictions.
The assigned case book is the seventh edition of Hart & Wechsler's The Federal Courts and The Federal System (2015) and the corresponding 2019 supplement. You do not need to buy the Seventh Edition of Chemerinsky's student treatise, Federal Jurisdiction (2016); it is an optional aid that students often find helpful.
Federal Courts
- MON, WED 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 3.126
- TUE 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 3.142
- THU 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 2.140
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course addresses the doctrines and policies that shape and limit the power of federal courts. Topics include the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal district courts, the law applied to state-law claims, federal common law, justiciability, suits challenging official action, judicial federalism, and legislative courts.
Federal Courts
- TUE, WED, THU 9:10 – 10:17 am TNH 3.142
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
From the unique and complex legal issues arising out of SB8 to the late Anna Nicole Smith’s quest for her husband’s fortune; from unprecedented congressional alteration of federal jurisdiction with regard to class actions, bankruptcy, large-scale accidents, and immigration law to the courts’ own mounting internal struggles with an ever-expanding caseload; and from the political idiosyncrasies of the Terri Schiavo case to the availability of domestic courts to litigate international human rights abuses, the study of federal courts has an importance and significance today unmatched in generations. As a field, Federal Courts is principally about judicial power, including the full constitutional extent of that power, the constitutional and sub-constitutional limits on that power, and how that power is exercised by the federal courts to protect the separation of powers and other fundamental constitutional ideals. Thus, rather than studying a particular body of law, our focus in on a particular actor — the federal judiciary in general, and the “Article III” courts, in particular. To that end, our topics will include, among others, the constitutional scope of the jurisdiction of the federal courts (and Congress’s power to constrain that jurisdiction); the legal authority for, and substantive limits on, non-Article III courts; military tribunals and the war on terrorism; the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts; the complicated and somewhat convoluted field of “federal common law”; the availability of (and scope of sovereign and official immunity from) suits challenging state and federal official action; judge-made doctrines based on federalism and principles of comity that otherwise limit the exercise of federal jurisdiction; and the procedural minefield that is federal habeas corpus for state prisoners. Whereas our study of each issue is, in many ways, primarily interested in the history and structure of the federal judicial system, these topics necessarily include within their sweep fundamental questions about the proper horizontal separation of powers between the political branches and the judiciary, the proper vertical separation of powers between federal and state courts, and the structural and individualized constitutional issues raised by any of the relevant actors’ attempts to alter the historical balance.
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, WED 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 3.140
- THU 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 2.139
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course addresses the doctrines and policies that shape and limit the power of federal courts. Topics include the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal district courts, the law applied to state-law claims, federal common law, justiciability, suits challenging official action, judicial federalism, and legislative courts.
Federal Courts
- TUE, WED, THU 10:35 – 11:47 am TNH 2.138
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course will be taught in person but with the option of remote participation via Zoom. Please note that this course might become online-only in the event that actual in-person attendance during the semester consistently falls below a threshold to be determined in the exercise of reasonable discretion by the instructor and the Student Affairs Office.
From the unique and complex legal issues arising out of the war on terrorism to the late Anna Nicole Smith’s quest for her husband’s fortune; from unprecedented congressional alteration of federal jurisdiction with regard to class actions, bankruptcy, large-scale accidents, and immigration law to the courts’ own mounting internal struggles with an ever-expanding caseload; and from the political idiosyncrasies of the Terri Schiavo case to the availability of domestic courts to litigate international human rights abuses, the study of federal courts has an importance and significance today unmatched in generations. As a field, Federal Courts is principally about judicial power, including the full constitutional extent of that power, the constitutional and sub-constitutional limits on that power, and how that power is exercised by the federal courts to protect the separation of powers and other fundamental constitutional ideals. Thus, rather than studying a particular body of law, our focus in on a particular actor — the federal judiciary in general, and the “Article III” courts, in particular. To that end, our topics will include, among others, the constitutional scope of the jurisdiction of the federal courts (and Congress’s power to constrain that jurisdiction); the legal authority for, and substantive limits on, non-Article III courts; military tribunals and the war on terrorism; the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts; the complicated and somewhat convoluted field of “federal common law”; the availability of (and scope of sovereign and official immunity from) suits challenging state and federal official action; judge-made doctrines based on federalism and principles of comity that otherwise limit the exercise of federal jurisdiction; and the procedural minefield that is federal habeas corpus for state prisoners. Whereas our study of each issue is, in many ways, primarily interested in the history and structure of the federal judicial system, these topics necessarily include within their sweep fundamental questions about the proper horizontal separation of powers between the political branches and the judiciary, the proper vertical separation of powers between federal and state courts, and the structural and individualized constitutional issues raised by any of the relevant actors’ attempts to alter the historical balance.
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, WED, THU 10:35 – 11:25 am ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
This course addresses the doctrines and policies that shape and limit the power of federal courts. Topics include the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal district courts, the law applied to state-law claims, federal common law, justiciability, suits challenging official action, judicial federalism, and legislative courts.
Federal Courts
- TUE, WED, THU 2:15 – 3:22 pm TNH 2.137
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
From the unique and complex legal issues arising out of the war on terrorism to the late Anna Nicole Smith’s quest for her husband’s fortune; from unprecedented congressional alteration of federal jurisdiction with regard to class actions, bankruptcy, large-scale accidents, and immigration law to the courts’ own mounting internal struggles with an ever-expanding caseload; and from the political idiosyncrasies of the Terri Schiavo case to the availability of domestic courts to litigate international human rights abuses, the study of federal courts has an importance and significance today unmatched in generations. As a field, Federal Courts is principally about judicial power, including the full constitutional extent of that power, the constitutional and sub-constitutional limits on that power, and how that power is exercised by the federal courts to protect the separation of powers and other fundamental constitutional ideals. Thus, rather than studying a particular body of law, our focus in on a particular actor — the federal judiciary in general, and the “Article III” courts, in particular. To that end, our topics will include, among others, the constitutional scope of the jurisdiction of the federal courts (and Congress’s power to constrain that jurisdiction); the legal authority for, and substantive limits on, non-Article III courts; military tribunals and the war on terrorism; the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts; the complicated and somewhat convoluted field of “federal common law”; the availability of (and scope of sovereign and official immunity from) suits challenging state and federal official action; judge-made doctrines based on federalism and principles of comity that otherwise limit the exercise of federal jurisdiction; and the procedural minefield that is federal habeas corpus for state prisoners. Whereas our study of each issue is, in many ways, primarily interested in the history and structure of the federal judicial system, these topics necessarily include within their sweep fundamental questions about the proper horizontal separation of powers between the political branches and the judiciary, the proper vertical separation of powers between federal and state courts, and the structural and individualized constitutional issues raised by any of the relevant actors’ attempts to alter the historical balance.
Federal Courts
- MON, TUE, WED 10:30 – 11:20 am TNH 3.129
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 386
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Federal Courts • Semester: Fall 2019 • Course ID: 386 • Credit Hours: 3. This course offers a three-hour option in Federal Courts, in the congeniality of a small discussion group. This is a classic course in Federal Courts — the advanced study that undergirds counseling with regard to federal law and liabilities thereunder. Federal Courts is considered essential grounding for a first-class practice, as it is for entry to judicial clerkship, federal or state. Our group focuses on the dynamics of the subject -- clashes of power between national and state courts, between government and judges, controversial judicial lawmaking, and collisions of state and federal law. Evaluation is based on participation and memoranda. The required Federal Courts casebook and 2019 Supplement are the professor's own, and are available free of charge on Canvas. This course is complete in itself. Nevertheless, it MAY be taken in addition to any other course in Federal Courts. (Our discussions can pique your interest in taking a formal course, and a formal course can pique your interest in further discussion.) This course may NOT be taken by students who have taken Professor Weinberg’s course in Constitutional Law II. This course is closed to first-year students and to visitors who have not completed American courses in Torts, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Law. Otherwise it is open to all first-comers — there is no application. There is NO pass/fail option and NO grade/no grade option. Three hours.
Federal Courts
- MON, WED 5:45 – 7:50 pm TNH 2.140
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 486
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Description
Federal Courts is an essential practical tool for future litigators and future judicial law clerks, but it is also a genuinely exciting field of academic study for any law student.
This course investigates one of the most fascinating and often misunderstood features of American law: how our legal system distributes power within the federal government and between the federal government and the States. It examines this distribution of power primarily from a judicial perspective. In particular, principles that shape and limit the power of federal courts determine not just how but whether those courts (rather than other participants in our system of government) can resolve disputes, ranging from the relatively mundane to the gravest allegations of injustice. These doctrines may seem dry at first glance, but their consequences are enormous for the law, for society, and for individual clients.
The doctrines that make up Federal Courts jurisprudence come, first and foremost, from Article III of the Constitution, which is the chief text for the entire semester. Whether imposed by the Constitution, a federal statute, rules of procedure, federal common law, or some other authority, these doctrines are essential for cabining or unleashing federal judicial power. Three key themes will recur throughout the course:
(1) separation of powers, asking how to ensure a proper role for the federal courts vis-à-vis the other branches of the federal government;
(2) federalism, asking how to ensure a proper role for the federal courts vis-à-vis state governments; and
(3) the rule of law, asking how all the stakeholders (including the Supreme Court, lower courts, state courts, state and federal executive and legislative officials, attorneys, and citizens) can identify and respect a principled basis for granting or witholding power.
Specific topics of this course include
- justiciability doctrines, such as standing, ripeness, mootness, and political questions
- the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, with a particular focus on arising-under jurisdiction
- the role and jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court
- abstention doctrines, whereby federal courts decline to exercise jurisdiction in certain contexts
- sovereign immunity, particularly for state governments in light of the Eleventh Amendment
- suits challenging official action, including the available remedies against federal and state governments and governmental actors
- the creation and role of non-Article III courts, including administrative agencies,
- judicial federalism, including the reciprocal obligations of state and federal courts to federal and state law, respectively, and
- habeas corpus, primarily federal review of state-court convictions.
The assigned case book is the seventh edition of Hart & Wechsler's The Federal Courts and The Federal System (2015) and the corresponding 2019 supplement. You do not need to buy the Seventh Edition of Chemerinsky's student treatise, Federal Jurisdiction (2016); it is an optional aid that students often find helpful.