Democracy and the Law

Other Individual Course Learning Outcomes

The Law of Democracy (LAW-LW.10170)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

1. Knowledge and understanding of the constitutional doctrines governing the right to vote, including their historical development under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the legal standards applicable to partisan and racial gerrymandering, including one-person-one-vote and vote-dilution doctrine.
3. Knowledge and understanding of the statutory framework and constitutional history of the Voting Rights Act, including the effect of Shelby County v. Holder on preclearance and the continuing application of Section 2.
4. Knowledge and understanding of the constitutional law governing campaign finance regulation, including contribution and expenditure limits, disclosure requirements, and the First Amendment status of corporate and independent political spending.
5. Knowledge and understanding of the legal status and regulation of political parties, including primary elections, ballot access, and party autonomy doctrine.
6. Knowledge and understanding of the legal structure of presidential elections, including the Electoral College and the adjudication of election disputes.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

1. The ability to analyze and critique Supreme Court election law jurisprudence by identifying its doctrinal foundations, tracing its evolution across lines of precedent, and evaluating its internal consistency.
2. Ability to understand and work with major federal legislation governing elections, including the Voting Rights Act and the various statutes regulating campaign finance.
3. The ability to evaluate competing normative and policy justifications underlying election law doctrine, including theories of political equality, fair representation, and anti-corruption rationales.
4. The ability to apply established election law doctrine to new or hypothetical fact patterns and to construct reasoned legal arguments in support of a position.
5. The ability to situate legal doctrine within its historical, political, and institutional context, and to assess the real-world policy consequences of doctrinal choices.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

1. The ability to engage in comparative legal analysis by identifying and evaluating differences between U.S. election law and approaches adopted in other democratic systems.
2. The ability to communicate legal analysis effectively in written and oral form, including the capacity to articulate, defend, and respond to critiques of a legal position on contested questions of election law and democratic governance.