Date: Monday, September 12, 19, & 26, 2022
Time: 2 - 4:30 PM
Place: ISU, CHESTNUT BUILDING ROOM 107-CHANGED FROM PRINTED PROGRAM GUIDE
Cost: $10

In establishing the three branches of government, the drafters of the Constitution were absolutely clear in the order of importance and powers: Article I Congress (Ten highly detailed descriptive sections), Article II President (Four general structural sections), Article III Supreme Court (Three terse sections with only two sentences
pertaining to the Supreme Court). The Judicial Branch did not play a critical part of the deliberations at the Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787.

This class will delve into the evolution of the Court to its current position. Relying on both landmark and lesser-known decisions, the U.S. Constitution and evidence gained from historical-political analysis, we will wrestle with the following questions: To what circumstances can we look to understand the ascendancy of the Supreme Court? How can we integrate into our analysis the almost invisible, but enormously impactful area of administrative law? And, finally, is it possible or desirable to work to reconstruct the original role of Congress in the American political system?

The class will start with a review of the 2021-2022 term decisions followed by a brief summary of Western jurisprudence and its application in the United States. The last portion of the class will outline the distinct periods of Supreme Court judicial activism. The second class will focus on the emergence of administrative law and its challenges for the Court using the high-profile case of Muhammad Ali as an example. The third class will explore four cases that illustrate the jockeying for power among the branches of government and return to the questions underlying the class for its final discussion.