LAW 912: National Security Law Seminar
This seminar examines the concentration of foreign policy-making powers in the executive branch, and the domestic consequences of that concentration for the executive branch’s relationship with Congress and the federal courts, the federal government’s relationship with the states, and the people’s relationship with the government as a whole. The seminar is organized historically by crisis. Topics to be covered include the Founding and immediate post-Founding understandings of national security powers under the Constitution; emergency powers and the fate of individual liberty during the Civil War, WWI, and WWII; disputes over the President’s power to wage war without explicit congressional authorization during the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars; security/loyalty procedures during the Cold War; covert operations and intelligence gathering; the disclosure of classified and unclassified information; attempts to seek executive accountability through the court system; international terrorism and crime aboard; sexual orientation as a disqualification for government service; and the domestic legal consequences of September 11. Enrollment limited. [3 credit hours]
