Religion and the Constitution: POLSC 294:14-01
Class Meetings: Tu/Fri 2:10 p.m. - 3:25 p.m., Room W208
Instructor: Professor Leora Harpaz
Office: W 1730A (Adjunct Faculty Office)
Professor’s Website: www.lharpaz.com
Course Webpage: www.lharpaz.com/religion/religion.html
 
Syllabus Fall 2017

Course Description:
This course examines the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. The two Religion Clauses continue to be a focus of controversy in the legal and political arenas. The course will examine Supreme Court opinions interpreting the Religion Clauses. Topics arising under the Establishment Clause include prayer in public school classrooms, religious symbols on public property, and government funding of parochial school education. Topics arising under the Free Exercise Clause as well as statutory analogs for freedom of religion such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act include the rights of members of a religion to be exempt from compulsory education laws and the rights of religious objectors to be excused from legal requirements such as compliance with the Affordable Care Act and antidiscrimination laws.

First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Required Reading:
The readings for the course have been prepared by the instructor. They consist of introductory material for each subject followed by U.S. Supreme Court opinions on the various subjects covered in the course. The opinions have been heavily edited and most omissions are not marked with ellipses. Footnotes in opinions do not retain their original numbering.

These readings will all be posted on the course website as a series of PDF documents (with links on both the course home page and the online syllabus) that can be printed out to bring to class to enhance your ability to participate in class discussions. The material is divided into chapters with each one devoted to a covered subject. The syllabus divides the chapters into reading assignments for each class. Typically, each class will cover 2 or 3 court decisions and the typical length of an assignment will be no more than 20 pages. Students will not be required to purchase a textbook or other reading material.

Office Hours:
I can meet with students after class on Tuesday and Friday. However, please try and arrange for an appointment in advance or let me know either before class starts or at the end of class that you want to come to my office to speak with me during that day’s office hours. That way I will be sure to return to my office immediately after class.

Classroom Projected Materials:
During class I will occasionally project materials on the screen to use during class or for informational purposes. All of that material will be available on the course website throughout the semester for use by members of the class.  

Assignments:
This list of 23 assignments is a partial list of assignments covering the first seven chapters of the reading. Links to the chapters themselves are included prior to the list of assignments from that chapter. Additional chapters of the required reading and assignments will be posted over the course of the semester.

Each numbered assignment represents the reading for a single class. However, if we do not complete our discussion of the assigned material by the end of class, we will complete it in the next class before beginning the next assignment. Only if we fall one full assignment behind should you assume you do not need to prepare a new reading assignment. As the semester progresses, I will add dates to these assignments to reflect our actual progress. Tentative dates have been added to several upcoming assignments as well. These tentative dates will be adjusted to reflect our actual progress. Please print out and bring to class the material that will be discussed in class.

Assignments from Chapter I: The Establishment Clause: Early Cases

1. The Early Cases (Aug. 25)
pages 1-12 (Introduction and Everson v. Board of Education)

2. The Early Cases (Aug. 29)
pages 12-26 (McCollum v. Board of Education, Zorach v. Clauson)

3. The Early Cases (Sept. 1)
pages 26-46 (Engel v. Vitale, School District of Abington Township v. Schempp)

4. The Early Cases (Sept. 5)
pages 46-59 (Board of Education v. Allen, Walz v. Tax Commission)

5. The Early Cases (Sept. 8)
pages 59-74 (Lemon v. Kurtzman, Tilton v. Richardson)

Assignments from Chapter II: The Establishment Clause: Government Financing of Religious Education

6. Government Financing of Religious Education (Sept. 12 and Sept. 15)
pages 75-95 (Introduction, Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist, Meek v. Pittenger)

7. Government Financing of Religious Education (Sept. 26 and Oct. 3) (no class on Sept. 19 and Sept. 22)
pages 95-113 (Wolman v. Walter, Mueller v. Allen)

8. Government Financing of Religious Education (Oct. 3) (no class on Sept. 29)
pages 113-128 (School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball, Aguilar v. Felton)

9. Government Financing of Religious Education (Oct. 6 - tentative)
pages 128-150 (Witters v. Washington Dep’t of Services for the Blind, Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School Dist., Agostini v. Felton)

10. Government Financing of Religious Education (Oct. 10 - tentative)
pages 151-170 (Mitchell v. Helms)

11. Government Financing of Religious Education (Oct. 13 - tentative)
pages 170-190 (Zelman v. Simmons Harris)

Assignments from Chapter III: The Establishment Clause: Religion in Public Schools and Public Universities

12. Religion in Public Schools and Public Universities: Religion in the Public Schools: 1968-87
pages 191-210 (Introduction, Epperson v. Arkansas, Stone v. Graham, Wallace v. Jaffree, Edwards v. Aguillard)

13. Religion in Public Schools and Public Universities: Intersection of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses
pages 211-230 (Widmar v. Vincent, Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches School Dist., Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia)

14. Religion in Public Schools and Public Universities: Intersection of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses and School Prayer Revisited: 1992-2004
pages 230-248 (Good News Club v. Milford Central School, Lee v. Weisman)

15. Religion in Public Schools and Public Universities: School Prayer Revisited: 1992-2004
pages 249- 264 (Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v. Newdow)

Assignments from Chapter IV: The Establishment Clause: Religion in Civic Life

16. Religion in Civic Life
pages 265-274 (Introduction, McGowan v. Maryland, Larkin v. Grendel’s Den)

17. Religion in Civic Life
pages 274-291 (Marsh v. Chambers, Lynch v. Donnelly

18. Religion in Civic Life
pages 292-314 (County of Allegheny v. ACLU, Capitol Square Review Board v. Pinette)

19. Religion in Civic Life
pages 314-343 (Van Orden v. Perry, McCreary County v. ACLU)

20. Religion in Civic Life
pages 343-370 (Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, Town of Greece v. Galloway)

Assignment from Chapter V: The Establishment Clause: Discrimination Against and Preferential Treatment of Particular Religions

21. Discrimination Against and Preferential Treatment of Particular Religions
Pages 371-394 (Larson v. Valente, Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc., Corporation of the Presiding Bishop v. Amos, Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet)

Assignment from Chapter VI: The Free Exercise Clause: 1879 - 1990

22. The Free Exercise Clause: 1879 - 1990
Pages 395-418 (Malnak v. Yogi, Reynolds v. United States, Prince v. Massachusetts, Sherbert v. Verner, Wisconsin v. Yoder, United States v. Lee)

Assignment from Chapter VII: The Free Exercise Clause: 1990 to 2004

23. The Free Exercise Clause: 1990 to 2004
Pages 419-442 (Employment Div. v. Smith, Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, Locke v. Davey)

Assignment from Chapter VIII: The Free Exercise Clause: Recent Cases

24. The Free Exercise Clause: Recent Cases
Pages 443-462 (Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission)

Assignment from Chapter IX: Statutory Protection for Religious Liberty

25. Statutory Protection for Religious Liberty
Pages 463-490 (RFRA, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal (UDV), Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., Zubik v. Burwell, RLUIPA, Cutter v. Wilkinson, Hold v. Hobbs)

Attendance:
Attendance will be taken by students initialing an attendance sheet. Students are required to attend class on a regular basis. Students should limit missing class to illness and family or other emergencies. Class attendance and classroom participation will count for 10% of the course grade.

Class Participation:
Students will be required to sign up in advance to take principal responsibility for the discussion of particular reading assignments. Students are also encouraged to participate in class discussions on a voluntary basis. Class participation will be taken into account in grading as described below.

Grading:
There will be two exams during the course of the semester consisting of a take-home midterm exam and a take-home final examination. The midterm will count for 35% of the course grade and the final exam will count for 35% of the course grade. The remaining 30% will be based on one writing assignments (20%) and a combination of class attendance and classroom participation (10%). During the semester, I will use a numerical grading system with grades between 100 and 55 for each individual component of the final grade. The appropriate percentage of each individual grade will be added together to create a final numerical grade. These final grades will then be converted to the letter grading system used for submitting grades.

Exams:
The midterm and final exam will both be take-home exams. You will have at least one week to complete each exam. The exams will consist of a combination of multiple choice questions and essay questions. The majority of the multiple choice questions will require that you identify the reasoning in a specific case. Essay questions will provide you with a set of facts that are similar to, but not identical to, cases that you have read. The set of facts will result in the filing of a lawsuit. Your answer to the question will require you to make legal arguments that the parties in the case could present to a court to support their position.

Learning Outcomes:
Students will learn to understand judicial opinions that analyze Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause issues. They will learn to distinguish different types of arguments made in those opinions including those based on history and tradition, those based on the interpretation of previous cases, as well as those based on a particular philosophy of the appropriate relationship between church and state. They will learn the standards or tests that the U.S. Supreme Court uses to resolve issues arising under the two Religion Clauses and how to apply those standards to a variety of different factual situations. They will also learn how different Supreme Court Justices interpret the Religion Clauses and the divisions that exist on the Court in terms of the proper way to analyze these issues. Students will evaluate these different approaches and determine which they believe is preferable.
 
Credit/No Credit Option:
It is Hunter College policy that Credit/No Credit may be requested by the student up until the final examination (or date of the final assignment); however "Students requesting grading according to this system must satisfy whatever attendance requirement has been set by the instructor, complete all the assignments and take the final examination. For this class, you must have taken the midterm and final examinations, turned in all required written exercises and attended class on a regular basis.

Academic Integrity:
Hunter College's policy on Academic Integrity is as follows: "Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures."

ADA Policy:
In compliance with the American Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is committed to ensuring educational parity and accommodations for all students with documented disabilities and/or medical conditions. It is recommended that all students with documented disabilities (Emotional, Medical, Physical, and/or Learning) consult the Office of AccessABILITY, located in Room E1214B, to secure necessary academic accommodations. For further information and assistance, please call: (212) 772- 4857 or (212) 650-3230.