Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Legal Education

Journal

Seattle University School of Law

1998

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Constitutional Conflicts: The Perils And Rewards Of Pioneering In The Law School Classroom, Derrick Bell Jan 1998

Constitutional Conflicts: The Perils And Rewards Of Pioneering In The Law School Classroom, Derrick Bell

Seattle University Law Review

The challenge in teaching Constitutional Law is to teach the doctrine while puncturing the myths. It is not an easy task. Americans treat the Constitution as a hallowed document created by men so divinely inspired that the document they produced in 1787 has been amended less than three dozen times. They might add that because of a number of factors, including those amendments, there are now only about 300 operative words in the Constitution, and that most litigation has centered about the meaning of a dozen or so terms: "due process," "cruel and unusual punishment," "commerce," "free exercise," "commander- in-chief," …


The Pedagogical Considerations Of Using A Constitutional Law Textbook In Political Science, Christopher P. Banks Jan 1998

The Pedagogical Considerations Of Using A Constitutional Law Textbook In Political Science, Christopher P. Banks

Seattle University Law Review

This Review first describes the importance of each consideration by analyzing how a two-volume constitutional law casebook, written by Professor David M. O'Brien of the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia, can be admirably employed to teach the principle that constitutional law is, in fact, politics. Overall, the volumes are excellent undergraduate political science constitutional law texts. However, the casebook volumes have two flaws. First, they do not address the vital question of "what is political science?," a query that ought to be routinely asked by anyone teaching public law courses. Second, they …