PSCI 4900   Honors Seminar     
Fall 2005

Dr. Peter Renstrom

Thursday 2:00 - 4:30

3309 Friedmann Hall

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SYLLABUS

REQUIRED TEXTS:     Bernard Schwartz – A History of the Supreme Court (paperback)

                                   John Semonche – Keeping the Faith: A Cultural History of the U.S.

                                                Supreme Court (paperback)

                                   James F. Simon – What Kind of Nation (paperback)

Weekly Assignments:

9/1         Introduce seminar – review assignments/requirements

9/8 Constitutional Origins

    The Supreme Court – the institution and its processes

                      Simon (all); Schwartz, 3-14; and Semonche, 1-38

9/15       Court of the Early Republic: Jay & Ellsworth Courts (1789-1801)

                      Schwartz, 15-31; Semonche, 39-56

                            William Casto – Supreme Court in the Early Republic

  John Jay Hylton v US

                            Oliver Ellsworth Chisholm v Georgia

Calder v. Bull

9/22       The Marshall Court (1801-1835)

                      Schwartz, 32-68; Semonche, 56-78

                            Herbert Johnson – The Chief Justiceship of John Marshall

                            R.  Kent  Newmyer  --  John Marshall and the Heroic Age

Gerald Dunne – Justice Joseph Story

John Marshall Barron v Baltimore

                            Joseph Story Dartmouth College v Woodward

                            William Johnson Gibbons v Ogden

                                                                      Marbury v Madison

                                                                      McCulloch v Maryland

                                                                      Fletcher v Peck

Martin v Hunter’s Lessee

9/29 The Taney Court (1835-1864)

                       Schwartz, 69-125; Semonche, 79-100

                             Carl Swisher – Roger B. Taney

Tim Heubner – The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Roger Taney Charles River Bridge v Warren Bridge

John McLean Cooley v Board of Port Wardens

James Wayne Luther v Borden

Benjamin Curtis Dred Scott v Sandford

Prize Cases

Prigg v Pennsylvania

New York v Miln

Ableman v. Booth

10/6 The Chase and Waite Courts (1864-1888)

                       Schwartz, 126-173; Semonche, 101-68

C. Peter Magrath – Morrison R. Waite: The Triumph of Character

Grier Stephenson– The Waite Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Albert B. Hart – Salmon Portland Chase

            Salmon Chase Legal Tender Cases
            Samuel Nelson Slaughterhouse Cases

Samuel Miller Mississippi v Johnson

Nathan Clifford Ex parte Milligan

Ex parte McCardle

Morrison Waite Civil Rights Cases

Stephen Field Hurtado v California

Joseph Bradley Munn v Illinois

Stone v Mississippi

10/13 The Fuller Court (1888-1910)

Schwartz, 174-202

James Ely – The Fuller Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Loren Beth – John Marshall Harlan: the last Whig Justice

Albert Alschuler – Law Without Values
Jonathan Lurie -- The Chase Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Melville Fuller Champion v Ames

John Harlan I US v E.C. Knight Co.

David Brewer Lochner v New York

Rufus Peckham               Muller v Oregon

Pollock v Farmers’ Loan

Plessy v Ferguson

10/20 The White and Taft Courts (1910-1930)

Schwartz, 203-224; Semonche, 169-214

Shoemaker – The White Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Renstrom – The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Alpheus Mason – William Howard Taft: Chief Justice

Liva Baker – The Justice From Beacon Hill

                              Edward White Hammer v Dagenhart

Oliver W. Holmes Shreveport Cases

Schenck v US

Abrams v US

Missouri v Holland

William H. Taft Adkins v Children’s Hospital

Louis Brandeis Bailey v Drexel Furniture

Gitlow v New York

Meyer v Nebraska

Olmstead v US

Pierce v Society of Sisters

California v Whitney

Stafford v Wallace

Myers v US

McGrain v Daugherty

10/27 The Hughes Court (1930-1941)

Schwartz, 225-145

                              Barry Cushman – Rethinking the New Deal Court

Michael Parrish – The Hughes Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Philippa Strum – Louis D. Brandeis

Charles E. Hughes US v Darby Lumber

Willis Van Devanter Home Building & Loan v Blaisdell

Benjamin Cardozo NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steel

Carter v Carter Coal

Schechter Poultry v US

Palko v Connecticut

West Coast Hotel v Parrish

Steward Machine Co. v Davis

   Near v Minnesota

Powell v Alabama

US v Butler

US v Curtiss-Wright Export

11/3 The Stone and Vinson Courts (1941-1953)

                       Schwartz, 246-262; Semonche, 215-262

Renstrom – The Stone Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Melvin Urofsky – Division and Discord

Michal Belknap -- The Vinson Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy
                              Alpheus Mason – Harlan Fiske Stone: Pillar of the Law

                              Harlan Stone Smith v Allwright

Felix Frankfurter Yakus v US

Robert Jackson West Virginia St Bd of Ed v Barnette

Wickard v Filburn

Korematsu v US

Ex Parte Quirin

In re Yamashita

Fred Vinson Dennis v. US

Hugo Black Everson v Board of Education

Shelley v Kraemer

Sweatt v Painter

Youngstown Sheet & Tube v Sawyer

11/10 The Warren Court (1953-1969)

Schwartz, 263-310; Semonche 263-398

Ed Cray – Chief Justice

Melvin Urofsky – The Warren Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy

L.A. Scot Powe – The Warren Court and American Politics

Earl Warren Reynolds v Sims

William Douglas Brown v Board of Education

William Brennan Engel v Vitale

Byron White Griswold v Connecticut

Thurgood Marshall Miranda v Arizona

John Harlan II New York Times v Sullivan

South Carolina v Katzenbach

Powell v McCormack

Heart of Atlanta Motel v US

Roth v US

Sherbert v Verner

Mapp v Ohio

Gideon v Wainwright

Watkins v. US/Barenblatt v US

11/17 The Burger Court (1969-1986)

Schwartz, 311-361

Tinsley Yarbrough – The Burger Court Justices, Rulings and Legacy

Bernard Schwartz – The Burger Court

Maltz -The Chief Justiceship of Warren Burger

Warren Burger Buckley v Valeo

Harry Blackmun Miller v California

John Stevens                   National League of Cities v Usery

New York Times v US                 

                                                                           Nixon v US

Roe v Wade

Regents v Bakke

Wisconsin v Yoder

Lemon v Kurtzman

Gregg v Georgia

Frontiero v Richardson

Craig v Boren

Garcia v San Antonio Metro Transit

12/1 The Rehnquist Court (1986- )

Schwartz, 363-377

Tinsley Yarbrough – The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution

Martin Belsky – The Rehnquist Court: A Retrospective 

William Rehnquist Washington v Glucksberg

Antonin Scalia   Planned Parenthood v Casey

Sandra O’Connor Adarand Constructors v Pena

Anthony Kennedy Miller v Johnson

Ruth B. Ginsburg Bush v Gore

Clarence Thomas  Employment Division v Smith

Stephen Breyer  Boy Scouts v Dale

Lawrence v. Texas

Texas v Johnson

US v Virginia

Romer v Evans

U.S. Term Limits v Thornton

Zelman v Simmons-Harris

Grutter/Gratz v. Bollinger

                                                                          McConnell v. FEC

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NOTE:

You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the polices and
procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog (pp. 274-76) on Student Academic Conduct,
especially the sections that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies cover cheating,
fabrication, falsification and forgery, mulitiple submission, plagarism, complicity and
computer misuse. If there is reason to believe that any student(s) has been involved in
academic dishonesty, that student(s) will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.
Students who may be uncertain about an issue of academic dishonesty are invited and
urged to consult with me prior to the submission of any assignment or test.

INCOMPLETE POLICY (p. 29, Undergraduate Catalog).
An incomplete is a "temporary grade" given when "illness, necessary absence, or
other reasons beyond the control of the student prevent completion of the course
requirements by the end of the semester or session." The student must be PASSING

the course and have completed the majority of the coursework to be eligible to receive
an "I"; The grade of incomplete "MAY NOT BE GIVEN AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A FAILING GRADE."
If the unfinished work is not completed within a calendar year from the time the incomplete
is assigned, "the grade shall be converted to an 'E' (failure)."

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Seminar Requirements:

There will be NO EXAMS in the seminar. Rather, there will be weekly writing tasks throughout
the semester; this course fulfills the University’s baccalaureate writing requirement, so we will write.
The requirements:

Weekly Essays:

Each week we take up a Court era (or sometimes two), students will submit a brief essay (up to
2 pages double-spaced). The essay is to be based on the assigned readings and must identify and
discuss the two most significant consequences of the particular Court era. You may use cases,
justices, etc., to make your point, but focus on the institutional development of the Court during the
particular period and/or its particular legacy in the evolution of the Court.

Eight essays will be submitted. The first essay will be due September 22 on the