GOVT 3002 - [Civil Rights and Civil Liberties]

(crosslisted) AMST 3002
(SBA-AS)

Spring. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

J. Margulies.

This course presents an overview of the law regarding civil rights and civil liberties. But the law is only part of our focus. Rights do not spring into existence simply because a judge pounded a gavel or a president signed a bill. The rights and liberties we take for granted have been the subject of violent and bitter contests that go to the very meaning of national identity. To study the law of civil rights and civil liberties in this country is to study not just a collection of cases and statutes, but a history of endless struggle and eternally unfulfilled promise about what it means to be an American. Like GOVT 3001, this class places the development of civil rights and civil liberties in historic, political, and economic context.