This course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court's power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. We will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions.
Instructors: Jeffrey Sikkenga is Associate Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, and is co-editor of History of American Political Thought. He has published articles and reviews in journals such as Political Theory, History of Political Thought, Journal of Politics, Journal of Markets and Morality, and Religion and Liberty. Eric C. Sands is Assistant Professor of Government at Berry College, and is author of American Public Philosophy and the Mystery of Lincolnism.