Fall 2024

5396 Elections and the Law of Democracy - FROOMKIN- 25896

Professor(s): David Froomkin (FACULTY)

Credits: 3

Course Areas: Constitutional and Criminal Law

Time: 4:00p-5:30p MW Location: 312

Course Outline: This course covers the law that structures the democratic process in the United States. Subjects covered include the individual right to vote and participate; reapportionment and redistricting; the regulation of political parties and primary elections; campaign finance regulation; the contested boundaries of federal and state power over election regulation; the tension between majorities and minorities in the design of representative institutions; and the role of courts in overseeing democratic processes. The course will focus primarily on American law and doctrine. The course will consider important contemporary legal issues in this area, including obstacles to individuals’ ability to participate, litigation about racial vote dilution and partisan gerrymandering, new challenges for campaign finance regulation, and issues relating to the 2024 presidential election.

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.

This incoming full time faculty member is starting at the UH Law Center with a course in the fall of 2024. Here is a link to current information about this course's instructor: https://david.froomkin.com/

Prerequisites:

First Day Assignments:

Final Exam Schedule: 12/11/20242-5pm 210

This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:

Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No

Experiential Course Type: No

Bar Course: No

DistanceEd ABA: No

Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)

Course Materials

Book(s) Required

Course Materials: ISSACHAROFF, KARLAN, PILDES, PERSILY & TOLSON, THE LAW OF DEMOCRACY: LEGAL STRUCTURE OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS (6th ed. 2022)