Constitutional Law

What you will learn

• Explain the events that led from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of 1787.
• Identify the structure of the Constitution and the main function of each article.
• Describe the functions of Congress, the Presidency and the Judiciary, and the checks among them.
• Distinguish enumerated, implied and prohibited powers, and the powers reserved to the states.
• Explain, at an introductory level, judicial review, constitutional supremacy and federalism.
• Organize the amendments by topic and recognize their most important freedoms, guarantees and structural changes.
• Prepare a case brief: facts, legal issue, rule, reasoning, holding and significance.
• Apply selected constitutional provisions and precedents to simple hypothetical problems.

Before you start

No prior training in U.S. constitutional law is needed. It helps to read Spanish comfortably, to be willing to work with legal vocabulary in English and to know the basics of the virtual classroom (Moodle).

Syllabus

Tap each week to see its topics.

1. Week 1Historical origins and founding documents

   Independence, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the Convention of 1787.

2. Week 2Dates, ratification and principles

   Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the promise of a Bill of Rights, popular sovereignty and federalism.

3. Week 3The Preamble, the structure and Article I, Section 1

   The seven articles, the bicameral Congress and the separation of powers.

4. Week 4The House of Representatives, the Senate and elections

   Article I, Sections 2 to 4: composition, qualifications, the census and congressional elections.

5. Week 5How Congress is organized and how laws are made

   Article I, Sections 5 to 7: from bill to law, the veto and the override.

6. Week 6The powers of Congress, their limits and federalism

   Article I, Sections 8 to 10, and McCulloch v. Maryland.

7. Week 7Article II: the executive branch

   The President's powers, impeachment and the separation of powers; Youngstown and United States v. Nixon.

8. Week 8Article III, judicial review and the Supreme Court

   The federal courts, a case's path to the Supreme Court and Marbury v. Madison.

9. Week 9Article IV: relations among the states

   Full faith and credit, privileges and immunities, extradition and new states.

10. Week 10Article V and Amendments I to XXVII

    The Bill of Rights, the Reconstruction Amendments and Brown v. Board of Education.

11. Week 11Articles VI and VII: supremacy and ratification

    The Supremacy Clause and conflicts between federal and state law; Cooper v. Aaron.

12. Week 12Case lab, review and final assessment

    Comparing precedents, reasoning by analogy and applying what you learned to a final problem.

Materials

• Required text: the Constitution of the United States in Spanish, preferably in a bilingual edition.
• Recommended: Geoffrey R. Stone et al., Constitutional Law, 9th edition (Aspen Publishing).
• Recommended: Randy E. Barnett and Josh Blackman, An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know, 2nd edition (Aspen Publishing).
• Primary sources: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and selections from The Federalist Papers (Nos. 10, 39 and 51).
• Cases: Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, Brown v. Board of Education, Cooper v. Aaron, United States v. Nixon and United States v. Lopez, in edited versions.
• In the virtual classroom: presentations, timelines, quizzes and a practice path with feedback.

How you are assessed

Your grade combines attendance and class participation, short content assessments, written analyses of documents and cases, and a final integrative assessment. At the start of the course you receive the syllabus, with the weight of each part.

When you pass the course, you receive a NAFA certificate of completion.