This course is being offered during the Fall 2007 semester and is open to SIU graduate students. Please email Professor Comparato if you have any questions.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the field of judicial process and policy-making. Rather than focusing on judicial decision making, this course is more broadly constructed to include research on the stages of the legal process and the various actors in the system. We will devote a substantial amount of attention on understanding the institutional structure of the American court system, including state trial and appellate courts, as well as district and circuit courts at the federal level, in addition to the Supreme Court. Substantial attention will be given to the actors most heavily involved in the system such as litigants, lawyers, and interest groups. The course also includes content on the impact of judicial decisions and the role of courts in the policy-making process.
Aside from the substantive content of the course, my goals are to: (1) introduce graduate students to the literature in judicial process and policy-making and, in so doing, discuss some of the most important debates (both past and present) in the sub-field; and (2) underscore the importance of sound theoretical arguments, careful research designs, and compelling empirical results. We will focus on the scientific study of the judiciary, analyzing the substantive, theoretical, and methodological developments in the field.
The Fall 2007 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/pols538.html
Last Updated: August 17th, 2007