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

Here are Class Discussion Questions that we will use to guide class conversations . 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. 

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

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.

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 18, 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.