LAW-5306 PRESIDENTIAL POWERS
This course focuses on presidential power and its limits, covering the actions of historical Presidents and the current sitting President and the executive branch. In this course, students will learn the political structures and constitutional principles that might limit or empower the presidency and how regulatory agencies operate within the executive branch. Through this course, students will explore the tension between the President and the American public, legislative branch, judicial branch, and states and how they act as limits on the presidency. Specifically, students will learn about the structural limits on Presidential and executive powers, such as federalism and separation of powers, which often involves the contest between the President and the legislative branch, but other times involves the President's struggle with the judiciary. Students will gain an understanding of how the Ninth Amendment and state powers act as a counterweight against the federal executive branch's assertion of power over states. Also, students will explore the President's conflict of interests, the Emoluments Clause, and campaign and election misconduct. Students will learn the boundaries of congressional oversight and the conditions of removing a sitting President through impeachment, indictment, and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and how executive privilege and immunity function to shield a sitting President. The course will provide students will an understanding of the President's role in foreign affairs and war powers. By the end of the course, students will be knowledgeable about the constitutional and political constraints on the presidency and capable of interpreting and analyzing novel issues as they arise in our government. The course aims to increase students' interest and engagement in the constitutional and political issues of our democracy. Because this course reinforces constitutional law doctrines, this course will benefit students in their bar preparation for the MBE as well as for the essay portion of the bar exam. Additionally, students will gain knowledge and exposure to issues that will help them in a number of career choices: administrative law with any agency, legislative work, politics and government, healthcare, immigration, environmental law, and federal judicial intern/externship/clerkship, etc. May 22 2022 9:56 AM Julie Hagaman