POL 230 - Separation of Powers in the U.S. Constitution

(LJS 230) FDR: SS2
Credits: 4

This course probes the origins, development, advantages, and disadvantages of the tripartite structure of the federal government, beginning with an examination of the background and text of Articles I, II, and III of the U.S. Constitution. We analyze structural explanations provided in the Federalist Papers, along with Classical and Enlightenment sources addressing the nature of political power, the problem of faction, the role of checks and balances, and the purpose of separated functions. In-depth analyses of leading U.S. Supreme Court decisions trace evolving conceptions of legislative. executive. and judicial powers along with attention to the relevance of war and economic crisis to the authority and function of each branch. In discussions of landmark decisions, students compare the legal thought of a number of Justices–John Marshall, William Howard Taft, Robert Jackson, William Brennan, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia. We trace the creation of the so-called “fourth branch” of government–the administrative state– and examine whether this “branch” can be reconciled with ideas of representative democracy and constitutional text. Students prepare and deliver two oral arguments based on assigned cases and write an appellate brief on a separation-of-powers topic. Murchison.