State Constitutional Law

The purpose of this course is to give students a grounding in the history, structure, content, and role of state constitutions. The historical study traces the, evolution of American Constitutionalist, role of state constitutions in the federal system, roots of state constitutions prior to the federal Bill of Rights, and the rebirth of interest in State Constitutional Law identified largely with Justice Brennan’s watershed 1977 Harvard Law Review article. The theoretical study includes an understanding of the nature and function of state constitutions, how to make a state constitutional law argument, and a basic understanding of the approaches to interpretation. These themes will be developed in part through analysis of particular provisions of state constitutions, focusing principally on the Washington State Constitution.