Constitutional Norms in Times of Emergencies: Reading Group
Fall term, Block I
T 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Visiting Professor Sanford Levinson
1 classroom credit LAW-33595A
In some ways, this is the successor to earlier reading courses I've given at HLS on torture and, last year, on "constitutional dictatorship" John Marshall wrote, in McCulloch v. Maryland, that the durability of the Constitution in effect depends on our ability to "adapt" it to "the various crises of human affairs." The obvious question is when "adaptation" could also be described as "betrayal" of the basic norms that presumably justify, as a normative matter, the Constitution (or any constitution) in the first place. The issue, of course, is not a new one. We will meet six times over the course of the semester and begin by exploring some classic political theorists, including Machiavelli and John Locke, as well as looking at the writings of some of the key members of the Founding Generation, including Madison, Hamilton, and Jefferson. Any discussion of constitutional emergencies must confront Abraham Lincoln and the events of 1861-65, and then we will move on to the modern era, including various post-World War II presidents and presidencies. I anticipate that the readings will run roughly 50-75 pages/meeting. I have come to the conclusion from previous reading groups that the discussions would probably be more focused if each session began with the presentation of short "reaction papers" (750-1000 words) to the assigned readings by one or two students. Assuming we have a full complement of twelve students and six meetings, this would mean, say, that each person would be responsible for one such response paper (ungraded) during the semester.