Liberty, Equality, and Due Process

This course provides legal and historical perspectives on liberty and equality by examining the law's impact on racial and gender equality and sexual orientation. The historical, social, political, and economic context - particularly the development of the Bill of Rights, slavery, the anti-slavery movement and Reconstruction, the rise and fall of white supremacy, the labor movement, and the emergence of gender equality - provides the backdrop against which students trace the development of the interpretation and application of the standards of equal protection and due process. Studying the moral and political theories that have been used to shape and justify these Constitutional doctrines provides both a framework for understanding and a springboard for critique. This course challenges students to analyze their own experiences through the lens of the law and to understand how the law may have shaped their values and perceptions -or how it might be used to shift society's values and perceptions.