Introduction to Public Law

This course provides an introduction to the legal framework of American constitutional and administrative government.  This course will cover the development of constitutional structural protections such as separation of powers principles (separated legislative, executive, and judicial functions) and federalism (division of power between federal and state governments), and a close examination of how those constitutional structures, separation of powers and federalism, function in the modern administrative state.  Key inquiries will focus on how administrative decision-making impacts due procedural due process; and how the judiciary and the political branches have responded to continuing questions of the constitutional legitimacy of the administrative state. Special emphasis in this course will be placed on statutory interpretation and judicial review of administrative actions by federal courts. The course will be divided into roughly four topical components: (1) Legislation and Statutory Interpretation; (2) Executive Power & Delegation of Legislative Power; (3) The Administrative State & The Regulatory Process; and (4) Judicial Review of Agency Rules.