Prerequisites: GVPT170 and GVPT331. Jointly offered with GVPT431. Credit only granted for GVPT431 or MLAW358X.

This course investigates the United States Supreme Court and its role in politics, government, and society. Other than its constitutional justification, why do we need and have a U.S. Supreme Court? What are some of the most important opinions issued by the Supreme Court that changed society, for the good, and bad? Who are the Court's most important justices? And most of all, how does the Court work?

This course will trace the development of the constitutional doctrine of the Court, the growth of the Court's institutional power, and the Court s interaction with Congress, the president, and society. Discussed are major constitutional law decisions, their political contexts, and the social and behavioral factors that affect judges, justices, and federal court jurisprudence. There will be a strong emphasis on how the Court's decisions have impacted law and society and how the Court helps to maintain a certain kind of society.

This class will provide students with a basic understanding of the constitutional law undergirding criminal investigations in the United States. Focused primarily on the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments, students will leave the class able to identify and apply the basic tenets of search and seizure law as it applies to various police-citizen interactions.

Restricted to students within the Law and Society minor.