Teaching Constitutional Law is a joy, not a job — except for the 11th Amendment and the "Dormant Commerce Clause" cases and materials.The law school classroom is also a great vantage point from which to recognize that American constitutional law moves at a very gradual pace — and that this pace is a very good thing for the enduring "rule of law" that Americans enjoy.Every semester since 1996, my students hear that Con Law ought to be their most interesting class of their three years of law school.
Every law student is different, of course, and the "Uniform Commercial Cod might float some boats and "Trusts and Estates" can be pretty shocking —people do in fact "throw grandma from the train"— but Con Law impacts every citizen’s life and thus law students ought to care about it as citizens if not as lawyers.In fact, only a relatively small percentage of lawyers will run into issues that relate to the Constitution in the course of their careers.
Fewer still will "practice" in the field and only a handful will argue a case involving the country’s highest law before even its lowest courts, much less before the United States Supreme Court.Still, there are many reasons why, come every June or at latest early July, most of the nation’s news media focuses on the decisions flowing out of One First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.As a republic of laws, the nation’s highest court makes decisions impacting every American as we are equal before the law.
The most difficult cases it accepts and decides matter to our 330 millions.The news media — legacy and "new" alike — love the storylines.DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CLAIMS GOP 'STOLE' TWO SCOTUS SEATS IN 2016, 2020, CALLS FOR EXPANSION"SCOTUSblog" has thus become an extremely useful gathering place for Court watchers of all sorts, but especially for non-lawyers trying to make sense of the end-of-term rush of decisions.
That goes double for laymen trying to figure out if the Court is shifting hard-right or hard-left on ...