Welcome to Fed Courts and First Week Assignments

Note: I understand you do not have access to printers on campus for the first few weeks of the semester. Until that problem is resolved, you may use a tablet or laptop in class to access the additional materials on the Blog. Please use only for accessing the documents and not for taking notes.

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 Assessments for complete details about grading and graded assignments for the course. I will answer questions about these prior to the second class, on Monday, August 19.

Required Course Materials:

1) Erwin Chemerinsky, Federal Jurisdiction (8th ed. 2021) (“Chemerinsky”)
2)  James E. Pfander, Principles of Federal Jurisdiction (4th ed. 2022) (“Pfander”)

3) Federal Courts Blog. All materials can be found at Additional Course 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)

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 1-18

                                                                                                Pfander 1-22

 

   Cases:

   Marbury v. Madison

 

   Commentary:

   The Federalist No. 78 (Blog)

   The Federalist No. 79 (Blog)

 

 

Theme: Separation of Powers, Parity, Comity, Federalism       Chemerinsky 18-20, 30-37, 46-52

                                                                                                Pfander 22-26, 32-36

Theme: Judicial Activism

 

Theme: Judicial Supremacy and Judicial Departmentalism     Pfander 22-23

 

   Commentary:

   Judicial Supremacy and Judicial Departmentalism (Separate Post on Blog)

 

Theme: Good Writing

 

   Commentary:

   Good Writing and Talking Procedure  (Blog Post)

 

Some questions and issues to consider for class:

    • What is the constitutionally required structure of the federal courts, based on the text of Article III?

    • What does "the judicial power" entail?

    • How has the structure of the federal courts evolved since 1789?

    • What are the terms of judicial service in federal court? What are the benefits and drawbacks to that system? What are the alternatives?

    • How should we understand the categories of cases within the federal judiciary? Why those cases?

    • What is the basis for judicial review under the Constitution? See Marbury and Federalist No. 78

    • What is the distinction among judicial review, judicial exclusivity, and judicial supremacy? Does the court get the last word on the Constitution? Why?

    • What happens to an unconstitutional law? 

    • What is departmentalism? How does it play out in practice? Consider this story about Alabama legislative districts.

    • Looking at the "good behaviour" language of Art. III and at Federalist No. 78, what is the argument that life tenure is not required and that Congress could, by statute, set the tenure for judges at a term of years?