Lawmaking

Spring 2010
Syllabus 2.0
January 28, 2010

1) January 19
a) Introduction
b) Class exercises
c) Kotila v. Kentucky
d) Cornstarch
2) January 26:
a) Congress 101
i) Process
(1) U.S. Constitution [Excerpts]
(2) Yourcongress.com materials
(3) Feldblum and Appleberry, “Legislatures, Agencies, Courts and Advocates:
How Laws Are Made, Interpreted and Modified”
3) January 28:
a) Legislative Documents and Research
i) The MASH Act
b) Ciardi, “How Does a Poem Mean?” (excerpts)
c) Frost
i) “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
ii) “Span of Life”
d) Theory 101
i) Walker, “Judicial Tendencies in Statutory Construction” [Excerpts]
ii) Stevens, “The Shakespeare Canon of Statutory Interpretation” [Excerpts]
iii) Graphic of Statutory Interpretation
iv) Outline of Major Tools of Statutory Interpretation
4) February 2:
a) Introduction to Text
i) Price v Time [Excerpts]
ii) MCI v. ATT [Excerpts]
b) Text from and in Context
i) Smith v. U.S. [Excerpts]
ii) Bob Jones v. U.S.
5) February11:
a) Text through Canons
i) Llewellyn [excerpts]
ii) Eskridge [excerpts]
b) Introduction to Purpose
i) Holy Trinity v. U.S.
ii) Griggs v. Duke Power

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6) February 23:
a) Text Clear, but Purpose Contradicts
i) United Steel Workers v. Weber
ii) Shine v. Shine
7) February 25:
a) Text Ambiguous or Malleable, but Purpose Clarifies
i) McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation
ii) Hearings on the Confirmation of John Roberts, September 14, 2005 (excerpts)
iii) Braschi v. Stahl
iv) Manners, “Family Matters Most at Mealtime”
8) March 2:
a) Text Clear and Purpose Irrelevant
i) National Petroleum Refiners Association v. FTC
ii) Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services
9) March 16:
a) Text Clear but Absurd Result
i) TVA v. Hill
ii) Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors
b) In Summary (So Far)
i) Waxman v. Evans
10) March 18:
a) Willful Textualism?
i) Patterson v. McLean Credit Union
ii) BFP v. Resolution Trust
11) March 23:
a) Deference to Agencies I
i) Agency documents
ii) Skidmore v. Swift
b) Deference to Agencies II
a) Chevron v. NRDC
c) Auer v. Robbins
12) March 30:
a) Agencies—Right and Wrong
i) Chevron v. Echazabal
ii) General Dynamics v. Cline
b) Deference to Agencies (Stepping Back)
i) U.S. v. Mead
ii) Gonzales v. Oregon
13) April 6:
2) Deference to Agencies (Now)
a) Zuni v. Department of Education
b) Massachusetts v. EPA
a) Outline of Deference

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14) April 8:
a) The Torture Memos
i) “Memorandum for Alberto Gonzales,” (August 1, 2002)
ii) “Memorandum for James B. Comey,” (December 30, 2004)
15) April 13:
a) Theory 102:
i) Scalia, “A Matter of Interpretation” (excerpts)
ii) Eskridge review of Scalia
16) April 20:
a) Theory 103
i) Sunstein, “Interpreting Statutes in the Regulatory State,” 103 Harv. L. Rev.
405 (1989)
17) April 22:
a) Theory 104:
i) Rosenkranz, “Federal Rules of Statutory Interpretation,” 115 Harv. L. Rev.
2085 (2002)
18) April 27:
a) Breaking Cases
19) May 1: Note: This is a Saturday.
a) Course Review