Welcome to Fed Courts and First Week Assignments

Welcome to Federal Courts. 

This blog is the primary means for out-of-class and between-class communication.

Please download and read the Syllabus for complete details about the course, assignments, pedagogical approach, grading methods, and course rules. Review it prior to the first class.

You should bring the Syllabus with you to every class.

Please download and review Grading Information for details about assessments and graded assignments for the course. I will answer questions about this prior to the second class, on Tuesday, August 18.

Here are Discussion Questions that we will use to guide class conversations for each topic. You now have most of the questions for the entire semester, although I may provide more in advance of a particular class. You should print this and keep it with the Syllabus to help prepare for each class.

And remember: 

First Amendment cases often get serious attention, and rightly so. But civil procedure, though perhaps less glamorous, defines the rules of the road.  

Required Course Materials:

1) Erwin Chemerinsky, Federal Jurisdiction (9th ed. 2025) (“Chemerinsky”)

2)  James E. Pfander, Principles of Federal Jurisdiction (4th ed. 2022) (“Pfander”)

3) Federal Courts Blog. All materials can be found on the Blog at Supplemental Materials, as indicated in syllabus; you should bookmark this page, because you will come back to it a lot.

 

Assignments for First Day+ of Class: After the jump

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Introduction: Federal Courts and Constitutional Structure

   Provisions:

   U.S. Const. art. III

   U.S. Const. art. II § 2 cl.2 (appointment); Art. I § 4; Art. I § 2, cl.5-6 (impeachment)

   U.S. Const. art. I, §§ 8, 9

   U.S. Const. art. VI, cl.2-3

   U.S. Const. amends. X, XI, XIII, XIV, XV

   Maps of the Federal Judicial System (Blog)

Theme: History and Constitutional Foundations                     Chemerinsky 1-16

                                                                                                       Pfander 1-22

   Cases:

   Marbury v. Madison

 

   Commentary:

   The Federalist No. 78 (Blog)

   The Federalist No. 79 (Blog)

   Chervinsky, Chase Impeachment (Blog)

   Vladeck, Impeaching Federal Judges (Blog) (chart)

Theme: Separation of Powers, Parity, Comity, Federalism       Chemerinsky 26-43, 40-44

                                                                                                          Pfander 22-26, 32-36

Theme: Judicial Activism

Theme: The Judicial Role

   Cases:

   Trump v. CASA (Blog)

Theme: Judicial Supremacy and Judicial Departmentalism     Chemerinsky 16-17

                                                                                                          Pfander 22-23

   Cases:

   Trump. CASA (Blog)

Theme: Good Writing and Talking Procedure

   Commentary:

            Good Writing and Talking Procedure  (Blog)

 

Consider the assigned Discussion Questions.

 

Panels (Preliminary)

As you see from the Syllabus and Assessments, everyone is assigned to three (3) panels during the semester and will write their papers on that topic. Panels are assigned at random, although no one sits on consecutive panels and assignments are somewhat distributed through the semester.

Below are assignments for the first two panels. Structure will go on the first class on Monday, August 17; panelists should sit on the side of the room nearest the door. I expect to get to Supreme Court late in the second class and then into the second week of the semester.

I will assign final panels at the beginning of the second week of class, once I know the final class roster.

Federal Courts and Constitutional Structure

Moshe Fettman                          Anne-Marie Issa

Alyssa Lopes                             Tariq Ishtiaq

Chloe Kortie                             Leila Halili

Angeline Garces                         Jonathan Suarez

Joshua Ynirio                            Elizabeth Gonzalez

 

Supreme Court of the United States

Alexa Crea                                Rebecca Lopez

Erika Rosner                             Ki Gebhardt

Justin Bigney                             Lauren Ayala

Camila Amaya                           Valentina Correa Ospina

Ashley Miranda                          McKenzie Kreitlein

Good Writing and Talking Procedure

You will write three 1000-word essays. And you will talk  about the law throughout the semester, in class and during arguments. Although I do not care about formal bluebooking in writing, I care about your writing and analysis. And I care about how you talk and write about courts and procedure, that you do so properly and not with the (inaccurate) informality you often see.

Please review and follow this. I will take points off.

After the jump are tips on both.

Name Cards

At our first meeting on Monday, August 17, there will be a stack of tent cards on the table in the front of the classroom. When you come to the room, please find the card with your name on it and place it in front of you at your seat. You are responsible for keeping that card and having it with you at every class throughout the full semester.

We will not have assigned seats. Panelists will sit on the sides, when assigned. 

Supplemental Materials

After the jump are the additional materials (statutes, cases, readings, etc.) assigned throughout the semester, as indicated in the Syllabus. You will return to this post for those materials; it may help to bookmark, so you do not have to scroll through the entire blog when a document is assigned.