POL 461H

Class Project

Fall, 2007

The class project in this course asks students to complete the research and the writing of a significant piece of research relating to a topic of constitutional law selected by each student. The list of suggested topics below is provided for suggestive purposes only and students are encouraged to cast their “nets” as broadly as they wish, at least at the outset. The general focus of this Project is for each student to explore some aspect of U.S. constitutional law that relates to the interaction or relationships between at least two of the branches of the national government – Legislature v. Executive, Executive v. Judiciary, or Legislature v. Judiciary – or a topic relating to constitutional issues of federal/state relations (Federalism).

The general focus of this research project is for each student to read extensively in the secondary, law review literature on the topic, identify and analyze the relevant court (particularly Supreme Court) cases that deal with the topic, and prepare the written analysis of the topic.

The schedule for this Project is for students to devote about three weeks to identifying and narrowing down a topic. That means that by October 15, 2007, the topic for each student’s Project should be selected, and approved in a discussion with the instructor. It is suggested that initially students select three possible topics, and prepare enough on each of those so that they can make the case for using that topic for the Project. In the course of developing and selecting a topic, by this date, students should have uncovered the secondary literature on the topic and mastered the core of that literature. At the time the topic is discussed and selected with the instructor, students should have developed an extensive bibliography of materials – secondary literature and court cases – that they will analyze for the Project.

The next deadline is November 15th. By this date students should have completed and submitted a rough draft of their Research Paper. These will be read and evaluated by the instructor, and returned so that students can re-write the final version of the paper by December 6, 2007. The table below indicates these deadlines more graphically:

Project Deadline	Task
October 15, 2007	Discussion and Selection of Paper Topic
November 15, 2007	Submission of Rough Draft of Paper
December 6, 2007	Submission of Revised, Final Version of the Paper

General topics connected to interaction between branches of the national government that relate to the Project Paper might include the following. These suggestions are much too broad and general to serve as the precise paper topics for the Project. Students are expected to select a narrow issue that relates to one of these:

· Legislative Control of Executive Agencies

· Legislative Override of Supreme Court Statutory Interpretations

· Executive Appointment of Justices

· Judicial Limitations on Executive Authority

· Executive Conflict with Congress Over Treaty-Making

· Problems of Judicial Control Over Legislation (Active or Restrained)

Topics connected with issues of Federalism or Federal/State relations might include the following. These suggestions are also too broad and general to serve as the precise paper topics for the Project. Students are expected to select a narrow issue that relates to one of these:

· Intergovernmental Tax Immunity

· Unfunded Federal Mandates

· Federal Preemption

· State v. Federal Regulation of Commerce

One way to select a narrow topic for the Project Paper would be to examine several recent Supreme Court decisions on the same subject, perhaps starting with one contained in the O’Brien casebook, and then develop a subject that relates to the holding in that case or a set of cases. The core feature of any topic proposed or selected for the Project is that it relates to an issue of Constitutional Law.

The following articles illustrate the kind of topics and analysis that students might consider for this project:

R. Fallon Jr. & D. Meltzer, Habeas Corpus Jurisdiction, Substantive Rights, and the War on Terror, 120 Harv. L. Rev. 2029.

D. Levinson & R.. Pildes, Separation of Parties, Not Powers, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 2311 (2006).

E. Posner & A. Vermeule, Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine, 69 U. Chi. L. Rev.1721 (2002).

These pieces are illustrative, they do not indicate the detail or the extensiveness that will be required for this Project. However, the kind of analysis that is developed and presented in either of these two “pieces” is the kind of work that will be expected of students.

The Mechanics of the Final Paper are as follows.

1. Submit two copies of the paper. (One copy will be returned or available for pick up during Finals Week.)
2. The paper is to be double spaced.
3. The paper is to have a title page that contains the title of the paper, the author’s name, the course, and the date.
4. All subsequent pages of the paper (after the title page) are to be numbered, consecutively.
5. The paper is to be footnoted. Footnotes are to comply with the form of either the Blue Book or the Maroon Book.
6. The paper is to contain a Table of Contents that follows the Title Page and precedes the Abstract. The Table of Contents is to indicate the subdivisions contained in the paper.
7. The paper is to contain an italicized Abstract, of no more than 150 words.
8. The paper should contain sections, and perhaps sub-sections, that clearly display the organization and the systematic treatment of the topic that is treated in the paper.
9. The Paper is due no later than the beginning of class on Thursday, December 6, 2007.