Fall 2024
Professor(s):
Kellen Zale (FACULTY)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Constitutional Law
Time: 4:00p-5:30p MW Location: 211
Course Outline: While much of law school focuses on federal law, local and state laws often affect people more directly and concretely. States and local governments have substantial law-making and regulatory authority in areas as diverse as education policy, civil rights, taxation, public safety, and land use. States and local governments are also responsible for the financing and provision of most public services, and are the locus of political participation by voters. States and local governments may have differing policy objectives and constituent demands, and how policy-making authority and service responsibility is allocated is a central question of local government law. This course examines the laws governing the powers of—and limitations on—states and local governments across a variety of substantive contexts, with a focus on the laws governing the relationship between states and local governments, as well as intergovernmental relations among local governments. The course requires a seminar paper examining current doctrinal and policy issues in local government law.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Quota=12
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: Yes
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Conditional Availability (not for required credits)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: Briffault, Reynolds, Davidson, Scharff, and Su's Cases and Materials on State and Local Government Law, 9th edition (West 2021)
UPDATE 4/10/24: Earlier editions of this casebook are NOT equivalent substitutes; students must purchase the 9th edition. Students can purchase either e-book or hard copy of the 9th edition, either is permissible for this course; used and new copies are available from the publisher or third-party sellers.
