Ann Davies
MI 214
363-2303 (o)
364-9437 (h)
e-mail: daviesa@beloit.edu
Office Hours: MTW, 1-3
By Appt.
Political Science 221
Constitutionalism and National Security
Beloit College
Fall 2004
Course Objectives
In this course, we will explore constitutionalism and national security in the United States through the lenses of law, history and the dynamics of government institutions.
Through our readings, discussions and writing, I hope we will come to understand the institutional and structural components of constitutional government that undergird civil liberties and a stable political order in the U.S. Taking seriously the challenges of national security as well as the protection of freedom, we will consider what actions or measures might best meet the demands of both.
Requirements
1) Class preparation, attendance and participation
The class will involve critical analysis and discussion of the assigned texts, so attendance, preparation and participation are ESSENTIAL. You should come to each class with a good grasp of the assigned reading and your own perspective toward it.
Class participation involves asking or answering questions about specific aspects of the assigned reading, posing or responding to broader questions about the implications of these readings, raising new topics for discussion and/or constructively engaging comments made by others during our discussions. You will learn much from others, and others will learn much from you, but only if you speak and listen well. These are not mutually exclusive activities.
Occasionally I may ask you to prepare an informal piece of writing, in class or beforehand, to facilitate discussion. I will take the effort and insight you offer in such pieces into consideration when determining your participation grade for the course.
Consistency in attendance is important for your own learning, as well as for maintaining continuity in class discussions and for building trust and rapport among your peers.
I expect you to attend class unless you are ill or must deal with a personal or family emergency, and I expect that if you are dealing with such a situation, you will contact me in a timely manner (i.e., before class). Excessive unexcused absences (i.e., more than three) will result in a substantial grade penalty.
Because we will rely on close textual analysis in our discussions, you should ALWAYS bring the assigned book to class. Some readings will be available in a course packet. You should make a photocopy of the whole packet and bring those assigned readings to class. A few readings are available online. I encourage you to print these out as well, or make extensive notes to which you can refer during class discussion and in preparation for exams and essays.
2) Keeping abreast of current events
Constitutional government and national security challenges are not insects cast in amber but continue to shape and reflect unfolding events. Therefore, it is essential that you keep abreast of the news, remaining particularly sensitive to those stories that hold relevance for this course. You need to read either the New York Times or the Washington Post every day. Subscriptions to the NYT are available on campus or you can read the papers online.
I encourage you to bring up relevant news stories at the beginning of our class meetings. I will also occasionally print out a story for discussion. Your performance on news quizzes (five during the course of the semester) will constitute 10% of your final grade.
3) Midterm
The midterm will be an hour-long, in-class exam, consisting of short-answer and essay questions.
4) Essays
You will complete two five-page essays in this course. I will hand out suggested topics a week before those essays are due.
5) Policy proposal and presentation
Your final project for the course will involve writing a policy memo that reflects your understanding of legal precedents, the powers and prerogatives of various branches of constitutional government and current conditions. You will present your findings to the class as well.
Academic Honesty
Submitting original work is central to your life as a student and to our collaborative work as a community of learners. If you submit the work of others as your own, you have lost sight of what it means to be a student. Rather than learning, you seem only interested in pretending to complete assignments, and you have destroyed the relationship of trust and respect that should exist in a classroom.
For these reasons, I take academic honesty very seriously and expect you to understand, and to follow, Beloit’s policy on academic honesty printed in the Student Handbook.
Simply put, you must give credit where credit is due. This includes not only acknowledging direct quotes with quotation marks and proper citation but also correctly citing any sources – including online ones – from which you have drawn insight or information in each instance where you have benefitted from such sources.
Expectations Regarding Writing
This is a writing class, designed to hone your writing skills and grounded in the belief that writing about issues and texts will enhance your substantive grasp of the material. You should approach such assignments with these aims in mind.
Assignments are due in class on the day that they are due. I also expect you to be prepared for class on the day that you hand in an assignment.
Late papers will be penalized one grade increment per day. If you need to seek an extension, you enhance the likelihood that I will grant one if you plan ahead and request such an extension at least three days prior to the due date of the assignment. You may have only one extension for the semester.
Without prior arrangement, papers will not be accepted later than two weeks after they are due. Papers which exceed this deadline or are not submitted will receive a zero.
Special note: Make back-ups of your work. Do not expect that you will receive automatic — or lengthy — extensions because you experience computer problems.
I expect papers to be neatly typed and double-spaced with realistic margins and fonts (e.g., 1" margins on all sides and a 10 or 12-point font, depending on the style). If you have questions about the latter, ask me. Citations should consistently follow a recognized format (e.g., MLA, Chicago).
I also expect your papers to exhibit a working knowledge of grammar and spelling. You should proofread your work even if you have spelling and grammar checks on your computer. Papers with egregious spelling or grammatical errors will be returned.
Please remember to number the pages of your papers. It improves my mood tremendously if you complete this simple task.
Papers that are not stapled will be returned. As a college student, you should now own a stapler.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability and would like to speak to someone about possible accommodations, please visit the LSSC (Learning Support Services Center) located on the first floor of 635 College St. You will need to provide appropriate documentation of your disability to Diane Arnzen, Director of the LSSC. If you wish to receive accommodations in my class please provide me the LSSC Accommodation Verification Letter dated for this semester as soon as possible so your learning needs may be appropriately met.
Grading
1) Class Participation: 15%
2) News Quizzes 10%
3) Essays 35% (1st = 15%; 2nd = 20%)
4) Midterm: 15%
5) Final Project: 25%
Books to Buy
David B. Cohen (ed). American National Security and Civil Liberties in an Era of Terrorism. Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. ISBN: 1403962006
David Cole and James Q. Dempsey. Terrorism and the Constitution, Second Ed. New Press, 2002. ISBN: 1565847822
Louis Fisher. Presidential War Power. University Press of Kansas, 1995. ISBN: 0700606912
William Rehnquist. All the Laws but One. Vintage, 1998. ISBN: 0679767320
** Packet to be photocopied**
A note about assigned readings
Your assigned reading for each day is outlined in the schedule that follows. If you ever encounter difficulty in finding any of these readings, please contact me as soon as possible to alert me to that fact. Problems encountered due to a typo in the syllabus or glitches in photocopying do not amount to an automatic “bye” for that day’s assignments.
I have done my best to lay out a realistic schedule for reading and discussing a number of different kinds of readings for this course. Some are easier to cover in a concise manner than others, and some will ignite more and/or less class discussion than I anticipated. To me, the ebb and flow of student discussion is an integral part of the learning experience, but it does demand flexibility on all of our parts. We may well sometimes fall behind in the syllabus due to an extended discussion of a particular aspect of the reading or unfolding news event.
Unless otherwise stated, I expect you to adhere to the schedule outlined in this syllabus. My advice: DO NOT FALL BEHIND IN THE READINGS FOR THIS CLASS. Without adequate preparation, you will find that class discussion benefits you very little, and you will find it difficult to catch up.
If you feel that the class has somehow ignored or shortchanged an issue or question that you think is central to our understanding of constitutionalism and national security, by all means bring it up with me. I will appreciate your input and will make every attempt to address your question in class. However, I also reserve the right, for pedagogical reasons, to ask that you and I explore that particular argument in an individual conversation outside of class. I am always open to such conversations, and my office hours are listed at the top of this syllabus.
Important Dates to Remember
September 27 Essay I due
October 29 Midterm
November 29 Essay II due
December 6-15 Policy Presentations
December 18 Policy Proposal due
Course Schedule
** Special Note: Generally, we will not meet as a class during our scheduled fourth hours. However, there are three weeks when we must do so: 1) September 20-22 and 2) October 25-27; 3) December 6-8. Please plan accordingly.
August
31 Introduction and Overview
September
1 U.S. Constitution (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html)
3 APSA Annual Meeting – No Class
I. “Separate Institutions Sharing Powers”
6 Federalist 23, 48 (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm)
8 Federalist 51, 63 (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm)
10 Federalist 70, 78 (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm)
13 Prize Cases (packet)
15 Lincoln, July 4, 1861 (packet)
ex parte Merryman (http://www.civil-liberties.com/pages/suspension.htm)
ex parte Milligan (packet)
17 Rehnquist
20 Rehnquist
21 Fourth Hour Meeting: Rehnquist
22 U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright (packet)
Dames & More v. Regan (packet)
Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer (packet)
23 NO CLASS
27 Fisher
ESSAY I DUE
29 Fisher
October
1 Fisher, War Powers Resolution
4 CRS Report on Presidential Compliance with War Powers Resolution:
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/19134.pdf
6 S. J. Res. 23 text and timeline (packet)
Senate debate on S. J. Res. 23
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r107:1:./temp/~r107GeOVy2:e24954:
H. J. Res. 114 text and timeline (packet)
II. National Security, Due Process, Equal Protection
8 Rosati in Cohen and Wells, 9-28
Banks in Cohen and Wells,. 29-70
11 Banks, Cole
13 Cole
15 Cole
CRS Report on Sunset Provisions for USA PATRIOT Act:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/RL32186.pdf
18-22 FALL BREAK
25 U.S. ex. rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy (packet)
26 Fourth Hour Meeting: Korematsu v. U.S. (packet)
27 Review session
29 Midterm
November
1 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (packet)
2 ELECTION DAY – VOTE!
3 Hamdi
5 Stephens in Cohen and Wells, 71-88
8 Rasul v. Bush (Packet)
10 International Symposium Day – NO CLASS
12 Rasul
III. First Amendment and National Security
15 Dennis v. U.S. (packet)
Yates v. U.S. (packet)
17 Watkins v. U.S. (packet)
Barenblatt v. U.S. (packet)
19 Tokaji in Cohen and Wells, 203-226
ESSAY II DUE
22 Jefferson to Carrington (packet)
Cincinnatus to Wilson (packet)
New York Times v. U.S. (packet)
24 HAPPY TRAVELS
29 Ashcroft v. North Jersey Media Group
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th//docs/Creppy_Third_CircuitDecision_10-8-02.PDF
December
1 Stewart and Marlin in Cohen and Wells, 167-184
Tabrizi in Cohen and Wells, 185-202
3 Wells in Cohen and Wells, 227-240
6 Policy Presentations
7 Fourth Hour Meeting: Policy Presentations
8 Policy Presentations
10 NO CLASS
13 Policy Presentations
15 Policy Presentations
18 FINAL PROJECTS DUE, 5 p.m.
