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LAW-2129 Constitutional Justice in School
Prof. Kim McLaurin, Prof. Robert H. Smith,
3 credits day; 3 credits evening.
Students may not enroll in Education Law.
The goals of this Project and course are expansive: “to uplift constitutional understanding,
advance democratic values, and promote young people’s engagement in politics and
government.” The Marshall-Brennan Project is named in honor of the late Justices Thurgood
Marshall and William J. Brennan, Jr., and is currently offered in less than a dozen law schools in
the United States. Students accepted into the course will be known as the Marshall-Brennan
Fellows at Suffolk Law School. The Rappaport Center will administer the program.
This course will offer law students a rare opportunity to study constitutional law and to teach it at
the same time to area high school students. The academic component of this course consists of a
weekly seminar for an academic year. Fellows will learn the intricacies of Constitutional Law as
it applies to high school students. Topics will include: Free Speech for Students, Separation of
Church and School, Search and Seizure in School, Equal Protection against Race Discrimination,
and Due Process in School. The weekly seminar sessions will also provide an opportunity for
Marshall-Brennan fellows to discuss their high school classes and for us to explore together
pedagogical problems in teaching constitutional law. There will be a two-day session for the
Fellows at the beginning of the law school year to provide an orientation to the issues involved in
teaching law in high school.
Marshall-Brennan Fellows will teach in pairs in local high schools, in classes of no more than
twenty. Each pair of Fellows will be expected to teach two one-hour classes per week, either
during the high school day or after school. Fellows will also work with their high school students
as they prepare for a national moot court competition. In additional to six course credits, Fellows
may also be eligible for pro bono credit.
This is a six credit course with a single grade at the end of the academic year. Law students will
be evaluated based on written papers at the end of each semester and the observations of the field
supervisors and the professors. Paper topics will be issues of constitutional law relevant to the
course. Fellows will be required to write reflective papers from time to time during the semester
and to submit lesson plans for the high school classes to the field supervisors and to Professors
Smith and McLaurin. Due to time constraints, Fellows may not participate in any clinical
program during the same year they are enrolled in the Marshall-Brennan Project.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law
May Fulfill Legal Writing Requirement
<<Course Updated: March 15, 2016>>