I will be teaching this course during the Spring 2009 semester. The course is open to all majors, and has no prerequisites. Please email scompara@siu.edu if you have any questions.
This course examines the role of courts as institutions in American politics. Emphasis will be placed on appellate courts, particularly the US Supreme Court. This course will not focus on the development of legal doctrine, and therefore we will not be reading court decisions. We will examine the role of courts in the political system; the interaction between courts and other political institutions; the impact of decisions made by courts; the actors in the judicial arena; and several theories of judicial behavior.
The Spring 2009 syllabus for this course is currently available.
This course will be maintained using Blackboard. The syllabus, course calendar, assignments, message and discussion boards, mail system, grades, and student homepages are available on the course page. For students enrolled in this course, detailed instructions to assist you in creating a Blackboard account can be found here. I am willing to provide information on course content to those outside of Southern Illinois University that express interest. Please email me for more information.
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URL: http://www.siu.edu/scompara/pols435.html
Last Updated: January 9th, 2009