Course Materials and Week One Assignments

Review Syllabus and Semester Assessments; both contain complete details about the course, assignments, pedagogical approach, course rules, and grading methods. You should bring the Syllabus with you to every class. We will discuss this at the beginning of the second class, on Tuesday, January 7.

 

Technology and Class Conduct: 

Use of laptops, tablets, book readers, smart phones, and similar devices during class is absolutely prohibited, unless you have received permission or accommodation in advance.

 

The use of ChatGPT and other generative AI, LLM, or similar programs for written assignments is prohibited and will be deemed a violation of FIU and College of Law academic policies.

 

 

Plagiarism Policy

 

Just don't. 

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) 

Civil Rights Blog (Supplemental Materials) 

Blog (additional puzzles, cases, stories, and information may be posted as the semester goes 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  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 6-Tuesday January 7. You can read that entire Chapter 2 if you want to get ahead:

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. I expect you to  these (it will improve your papers), especially as to how you cite rules and statutes and how you talk about courts.

Supplemental 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.