Please note: IJPM Director Keith Bybee began serving as Vice Dean at the College of Law in the 2017-18 academic year. During his term as Vice Dean, the Law, Politics, and Media course will be on hiatus. Bybee will be available to teach independent study courses on Law, Politics, and Media as his schedule allows.

The American judicial system 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.

We created the Law, Politics, and the Media course with the assistance of funds from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation. The goal of the course is to engage in a dialogue about the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study. The course is taught by an interdisciplinary faculty team, draw from the College of Law, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and the Newhouse School of Public Communications. The course consists of faculty-led sessions complemented by guest lectures from judges, lawyers, journalists, and policymakers.

The Law, Politics, and Media course is typically offered in the spring semester and usually cross-listed at Law, Maxwell, and Newhouse. Click HERE for a copy of the Spring 2017 syllabus.

For videos of our past guest lectures, please visit: Lecture and Event Videos