Teaching the affirmative action cases

[kbergin at stcl.edu]

Here's the Fronline link I think you were talking about Lynne.  Thanks 
for alerting us to this.  A wealth of info.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/


Kathleen A. Bergin
Associate Professor of Law
South Texas College of Law
1303 San Jacinto Street
Houston, TX 77018
p: 713-646-1829
f: 713-646-1766

----- Original Message -----
From: Lynne Henderson <hendersl at ix.netcom.com>
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2006 5:44 pm
Subject: Re: Teaching the affirmative action cases
To: davidebernstein at aol.com
Cc: Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu

> David,
>      These are good ideas--but the Kentucky and Seattle cases 
> intersect 
> very much with the school desegregation cases, which can be 
> confusing 
> unless you have devoted a lot of time to those cases (which I do)
> May I suggest another option, though, that worked really well for 
> my 
> Con Law II class this term, thanks to a suggestion by my colleague 
> Sylvia Lazos? We had read *Bakke*, *Gruter* and *Gratz* as well as 
> *Crosson*.  (well, edited versions)
>        Frontline has 5 redacted but real applications to UC 
> Berkeley 
> online.  I asked the students to read them and decide whom they'd 
> admit 
> post-Prop. 209, and then had them discuss in groups in class 
> before 
> opening up for discussion.  (Alas, the url is on my other computer)
>       The exercise was *really* useful because students 
> (obviously) 
> didn't know what an admissions file "looked like" or how the 
> process 
> might work.  It was a real eye-opener for both the pro-affirmative 
> action and anti-affirmative action students, not to mention the 
> muddled 
> middle :-)  It is *hard* to do, gives them an idea of what 
> admissions 
> might be like, and, as one student noted, also made them aware of 
> how 
> hard it was to avoid the elephant in the living room.  And the 
> discussions were very respectful of the issues, precedents, etc.
>      Best
>          Lynne
> 
> Prof. Lynne Henderson
> Boyd School of Law--UNLV
> On Nov 8, 2006, at 2:20 PM, davidebernstein at aol.com wrote:
> 
> >  
> > I'm thinking of doing something different this semester.  The 
> law 
> > regarding the constitutionality of affirmative action by state 
> actors 
> > is obviously a big muddle, with contradictory precedents, and 
> the most 
> > recent precedent of questionable value because the fifth vote 
> > (O'Connor) is off the Court.  Plus, the cases of course raise 
> strong 
> > emotions from students on each side, and it's hard to get them 
> to 
> > focus on the (more) legal issues instead of the (more) 
> > political/ideological issues (recognizing that these are not 
> entirely 
> > distinct). 
> >  
> > Anyway, what I was thinking of doing was assigning the students 
> a 
> > brief article discussing the precedents up to now for 
> background, and 
> > then assigning them the briefs in the pending USSC affirmative 
> action 
> > cases.  In addition to partially addressing the issues above, it 
> would 
> > give the students an opportunity (and their only opportunity 
> this 
> > semester) to see constitutional law "being made."  I think they 
> might 
> > find it very interesting, and then fun to follow the arguments 
> and 
> > later opinions in the cases.  I try to emphasize to the students 
> that 
> > the Court's opinions are often in direct response (or directly 
> adopt) 
> > points made in briefs, but it's hard to get this across in the 
> > abstract.  So, I ask the list:
> >  
> > (a) is there a good short article to assign that goes through 
> the AA 
> > cases, and the legal arguments made by each side?
> > (b) have you ever done anything like this?
> > (c) is it a good idea?
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