Feminist Theories, Feminist Judgments Seminar

3 units

Enrollment limit: 16. Drop deadline: 5:00 pm the day after the first class meeting. Only JD students may enroll in this class. This seminar will use the book Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions from the United States Supreme Court (Kathryn M. Stanchi, Linda L. Berger, & Brigid M. Crawford eds., 2016), which contains twenty-four Supreme Court opinions, rewritten by various scholars to reflect feminist commitments and perspectives, along with commentaries on each rewritten opinion by a different author. Background readings will come from texts on feminist legal theory that will be available (in multiple copies) at the Law Library reserve desk. The seminar will meet regularly, with attendance, preparation, and participation expected. Class discussions will analyze and evaluate the rewritten opinions while also introducing students to underlying feminist jurisprudence and methodologies and as well as opinion-drafting techniques (which should prove helpful for aspiring judicial clerks). For the writing component of the seminar, each student will draft a both a feminist opinion and a commentary on another student's opinion, mirroring the structure of the Feminist Judgments book. (For their opinions, students will select their cases, based on their own interests and goals as identified in one-on-one conversations with the instructor.) Each student will revise and improve the draft opinion and draft commentary, based on individual feedback from the instructor and classmates. Grades for the semester will be based on written work (first draft of the opinion, first draft of the commentary, and final versions of both) and contributions to the class discussions. Unless special accommodations apply, students may not use laptops in class. [BCCCR requirement: this course contains 5 or more hours of BCCCR instruction.]