The American judicial system today operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure, and media coverage. The separate elements of this complex environment are typically studied by different groups of individuals working from different perspectives. Law faculty tend to focus on legal principle; political scientists examine the influence of politics; and scholars of public communication assess the media.
The goal of this lecture series is to engage in a dialogue about the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study. The lectures complement the Law, Politics, and the Media course and involve sitting judges, practicing lawyers, and working journalists.
All lectures are held on Wednesdays, from 4-5:15pm in Room 204 at the College of Law.
For videos of our speakers, please visit: 2013 Lecture Series Videos
Click here for a copy of the 2013 syllabus: LPM 2013 Syllabus
*Please note that the research paper associated with this class does not satisfy the writing requirement for the College of Law.
Course Schedule:
Week 1 (1/9)
Welcome to Law, Politics, and the Media (Keith Bybee)
* Overview of course and requirements
* Discussion of Funding Justice
Week 2 (1/16)
Public perceptions of the courts and judicial legitimacy (Keith Bybee)
* Discussion of 2010 Maxwell Poll (handout provided in class)
Readings:
All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not, entire
Week 3 (1/23)
“Criminal Justice Journalism and the Politics of Fear: Finding the Balance Between Education and Entertainment in True-Crime Narratives”
Mark Obbie, Author and Journalist, former Executive Editor of The American Lawyer, and former Magazine Journalism faculty member at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Readings:
God’s Nobodies, available at Amazon for $1.99 at: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Nobodies-Misguided-American-ebook/dp/B00AKFUXFW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355511952&sr=1-1
Week 4 (1/30)
“Public Health: Improving Health Through Politics, Policy, and People”
Cynthia Morrow, Commissioner of Health for Onondaga County in Syracuse, NY
Readings:
For the Public’s Health: Revitalizing Law and Policy to Meet New Chanllenges, Institute of Medicine of the National Acadamies, June 2011.
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2011/For-the-Publics-Health-Revitalizing-Law-and-Policy-to-Meet-New-Challenges/For%20the%20Publics%20Health%202011%20Report%20Brief.pdf
Ten Great Public Health Achievements — United States, 2001-2010, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 20, 2011.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6019a5.htm
Week 5 (2/6)
“The Extinction of the American Moderate”
Michael Arcuri, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 24th District, Of Counsel, Hancock Estabrook LLP
Readings:
Course Reader
Week 6 (2/13)
Wiki-Leaks and Confidential Information (Roy Gutterman)
Law and Popular Culture (Roy Gutterman)
Readings:
Wiki-Leaks and Confidential Information
Branzenburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665
Bill Keller, The Boy Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, The New York Times, Jan. 30, 2011
Law and Pop Culture
Kimberlianne Podlas, Guilty on All Counts – Law and Order’s Impact on Public Perception of Law and Order, Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law (2008).
Law and Order Database: Cracking the Code by Mathew Belinkie
http://www.overthinkingit.com/2012/11/27/the-law-and-order-database-correlations/
Week 7 (2/20)
“Unions: Media, Perceptions and Policy” (Lisa Dolak)
“Media Consumption and Democracy: How’s Life in the Echo Chamber?” (Lisa Dolak)
Readings:
Unions
Labor Unions Seen as Good for Workers, Not U.S. Competitiveness, Pew Research Center, February 17, 2011.
http://www.people-press.org/2011/02/17/labor-unions-seen-as-good-for-workers-not-u-s-competitiveness/
Actually, Americans Do support government Union Reform, reason.com, Emily Ekins, June 4, 2012.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/06/04/polling-analysis-the-public-does-support/print
Analysis: Why America’s Unions are Losing Power, CNN, Josh Levs, December 12, 2012.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/us/union-power-analysis/index.html
Media Ignoring Labor Union Successes, BeyondChron, Randy Shaw, February 17, 2010.
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7820
Echo Chamber
The Trouble With the Echo Chamber Online, New York Times, Natasha Singer, May 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/technology/29stream.html?_r=0
The End of the Echo Chamber, Slate, Farhad Manjoo, January 17, 2012.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/01/online_echo_chambers_a_study_of_250_million_facebook_users_reveals_the_web_isn_t_as_polarized_as_we_thought_.html
The Blue-State Trap, Salon, Will Doig, January 23, 2012.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/24/the_blue_state_trap/
Political Media Fragmentation: Echo Chambers in Cable News, Rebecca Chalif, Georgetown University, July 2011.
http://www.emandp.com/site_content_uploads/main_content/Political%20Media%20Fragmentation-%20Echo%20Chambers%20in%20Cable%20News(1).pdf
Week 8 (2/27)
“Lawyers, Judges, Ethics Rules and the Limits on Speech”
Thomas Spahn, Partner, McGuire Woods
Readings:
What I Ate for Breakfast and Other Mysteries of Judicial Decision Making, Alex Kozinski, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, June 1993.
http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1799&context=llr
Ethical Aspects of Political Dilemmas Faced by Appointed Judges, Barry R. Shaller, Yale Law and Policy Review.
http://yalelawandpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Schaller_30.pdf
The Appearance of Propriety, legal affairs, Alex Kozinski, January/February 2005.
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/argument_kozinski_janfeb05.msp
Geyh selection from Bench Press
Week 9 (3/6)
Students meet with faculty to discuss research papers.
3/13: Spring Break. No class.
Week 10 (3/20)
Students meet with faculty to discuss research papers.
Week 11 (3/27)
“Media and the Judicial Confirmation Process”
Peter Canellos, Boston Globe, Editorial Page Editor
Readings:
TBD
Week 12 (4/3)
”Media Coverage and the Politics of Judicial Selection: A Conversation with Judge James E. Graves, Jr.”
Judge James E. Graves, Jr., United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit and Keith J. Bybee, Paul E. and the Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor, Syracuse University College of Law
Readings:
Selections from Bench Press: Graves, See, Tarr, and Obbie chapters.
Week 13 (4/10)
“The Terror Courts”
Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal, Supreme Court Reporter
Readings:
The Pentagon’s Culture of Secrecy, Daniel Skallman, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Fall 2010.
http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-fall-2010/pentagons-culture-secrecy
JTF GTMO Ground Rules 10 Sept 2010 (1)
Course Reader: The Conscience Of the Colonel
Week 14 (4/17)
“Civics, the Internet, and the Art of Self-Government”
Gene Koo, iCivics Executive Director
Readings:
CIRCLE Review of Literature of Education and Youth Civic Engagement
Koo and Seider, Pro-Social Games
Fault Lines in Our Democracy Report, ETS
Guardians of Democracy (Campaign for Civic Mission of Schools 2011)
http://www.icivics.org/ games: 1) Do I Have a Right?; 2) Argument Wars; and 3) Branches of Power.
Week 15 (4/24)
**PAPERS DUE TODAY BY 5:00 PM**