In a series of posts, I will try to respond to all of the comments and questions that you all made in the notecards you filled out a few classes ago. I am taking them up in a purely random order -- the order of the stack on my desk. Here is the first installment:
Question: Would it be possible to post your class outlines before class?
Answer: Yes. And I do. They are typically posted on ClaraNet at least three hours before class, but sometimes they are there more than a day in advance. It depends on how much work I need to do in resolving what, precisely, we will cover in that class, and how I want to structure our discussion.
Comment: I would appreciate it if the class was less politically bias. I understand we should definitely be discussing current political events, but I would appreciate the subject matter more if there were not anti-republican undertones to the discussion.
Answer: I am quite sorry if you feel that I have inserted my own political beliefs into our discussions in a way that makes you feel less welcome, or makes our inquiries seem politically biased. Making our classroom a place in which all feel welcome to voice their views, no matter their partisan attachments, is quite important to me. So I apologize if I have failed in this respect. I do enjoy poking fun at government officials, in part because I think it is healthy and part of cultivating a capacity for critical analysis. But I aim to do so in an ecumenical fashion. I will try to be more conscious of any partisan bias going forward.
Question: I am a very structured person and love my "nice and clean" rules. At present time my outline is looking more like a smorgasboard of notes. Can you offer some advice of outline approaches.
Answer: This is a very common concern, and I have three responses. (1) The course syllabus and the class outlines might provide some help; they are at least how I think of the structure of the material, for whatever that is worth. (2) Generally -- at least in my view -- outlining is a way of digesting, synthesizing, and learning the material. I cannot -- indeed, I should not -- instruct you how to go about doing this. Developing the ability to digest and synthesize disparate sources of law is the one critical skill that you need to develop before leaving law school. And you need to graduate with the ability to do it on your own. If you have tried to learn an area of our course, and you have run into some difficulty doing so, I am more than happy to talk about it with you. But in my view, it would be pedagogically irresponsible for me not to leave this task, at least in the first instance, completely to you. (3) If you like "nice and clean" rules, I can see how the material in this class would be challenging. But I would think the same would be true of all law school classes, at least once you have scratched the surface. All areas of the law are fraught with ambiguity. Were that not so, there would be no market for lawyers. Studying for the bar exam involves memorizing a bunch of rules an regurgitating them. Law school -- at least I hope -- is something quite different, something more intellectually rich and challenging.
Question: Would you provide some sample answers to your past exams?
Answer: Yes. Outlines to answers for the 2003 and 2005 exams are now posted on ClaraNet, and I will get more posted as soon as I am able.
All for now.