PSCI234 - CIV RIGHTS/CIV LIBERTIES

By examining Supreme Court decisions in light of works on American history, politics, and political theory, we will explore legal, political, and philosophical debates on civil liberties today. Readings will consider litigation of the 1st, 2d, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th Amendments. Issues will include struggles over freedom of religion, speech, privacy, and property rights, analyzed in the context of American cultural traditions and hierarchies; and conflicts over the rights of suspects, criminals and citizens, analyzed in the context of racial and class tensions, criminial violence, and anti-terrorist security concerns.