Good Writing and Talking Procedure

You will write three 1000-word essays. And you will talk  about the law throughout the semester, in class and during arguments. Although I do not care about formal bluebooking in writing, I care about your writing and analysis. And I care about how you talk and write about courts and procedure, that you do so properly and not with the (inaccurate) informality you often see.

After the jump are tips on both.

Welcome to Civil Rights

Welcome to Civil Rights and the FIU Civil Rights Blog. Below are several posts you must read and follow prior to our first class meeting on Tuesday, January 11.

All classes will be recorded and posted to the Civil Rights Blog. 

To read the blog, go to http://fiucivilrights.blogspot.com; posts can be read going down from most recent to least recent. For complete information on the purposes and uses of the blog, see the Syllabus and Grading Information.

 

Panels will be assigned and posted the week prior to class, once I have a better sense of enrollment.

 

And, to put you in the mood for the course:

Course Materials and Week One Assignments

Download and read the Syllabus for complete details about the course, assignments, pedagogical approach, course rules, and grading methods. You should bring the Syllabus with you to every class. Review Grading Information for details on your graded written and oral projects; we will discuss this at the beginning of the second class, on Tuesday, January 9.esday, to keep everyone on schedule) spread over the semester.

Technology and Class Conduct: 

Use of laptops, tablets, book readers, smart phones, and similar devices during class is prohibited.

Required Course Materials: 

Howard M. Wasserman, Understanding Civil Rights Litigation (Carolina Academic Press) (3d ed. 2023)

     Appendix A: Constitution of the United States
     Appendix B: Emancipation Proclamation

     Appendix C: United States Code and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (selected provisions) 

Additional Puzzles, cases, and information may be posted to the blog as the semester moves along. 

Note on Reading and Class Discussions

All reading will be in Understanding Civil Rights Litigation, supplemented by a handful of cases. We will spend more class time on the Puzzles from each chapter and additional problems posted to the Blogand less time working through the doctrine, especially on the problem-intensive sections. This is the trade-off: There is less reading in this class and the reading is more straightforward than parsing cases yourself. But you must learn the doctrinal and theoretical basics (including the facts and details of key cases listed on the syllabus) through the short and straight-forward reading in preparing for class; you must understand the basic rules, standards, and ideas on a broad level, then apply that to our discussion of the Puzzles and problems.

Assignments for the first week of class, Monday, January 8-Tuesday January 9. The rest of Chapter Two will be the focus of Tuesday's class, so you can read that entire chapter if you want to get ahead:

Additional Materials

After the jump, some additional cases, statutory provisions, legislation, and other sources; they are indicated as (Blog) on the Syllabus. When assigned, please print and have them with you in class, especially statutory provisions.