Politics and Polemics: The Supreme Court in the 21st Century

About this course:

The Supreme Court is the only branch of government whose members enjoy lifetime tenure and broad freedom from ethical restraints. While these protections intended to preserve the apolitical nature of the body, they now appear to insulate the court from democratic accountability. In this course, we discuss the recent history of the Supreme Court in context with prior periods of contentious political controversy and assess the apparent partisan shift that purportedly makes the judicial branch a threat to American democracy. The first three meetings are on Zoom and the last three meetings use the Hybrid format which allows students to participate remotely and/or in the classroom.