This fall The Cooper Union Department of Public Programs offers a free, public ten-session course on the Constitution taught by Prof. Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School on Monday evenings, beginning Sept. 12 and ending Nov. 28. (There will be no class on Oct. 3 or Nov. 7.) Registration is free but required.

Each course will be recorded and released as a video on the internet approximately two weeks later. See below class list for a link to each video as it becomes available.

The course will be based on Prof. Amar's forthcoming book, The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era (Basic Books). In it Prof. Amar, a constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades and provides a passionate handbook for thinking constitutionally about today’s headlines. Class subjects are as follows:

 

9/12 -- The Presidency: A Return to Dynasty?

9/19 -- The Vice Presidency: Nothing but Maybe Everything

9/26 -- The Congress: How to Fix a Broken Branch

10/3 -- No class

10/10 -- The Judiciary: Who Judges the Judges?

10/17 -- Criminal Procedure: From O.J. to DNA

10/24 -- Citizens Dis-united: Race, Guns, Gays, and More

10/31 -- Constitutional Anniversaries: Remembering to Remember

11/7 -- No class

11/14 -- Bill Clinton's Drama: His Partisan Impeachment

11/21 -- George W. Bush's Drama: His Un-popular Election

11/28 -- Barack Obama's Drama: His Signature Statute

In each class Prof. Amar goes through the particular constitutional questions at stake while outlining his abiding views regarding the Constitution’s letter, its spirit, and the direction constitutional law must go. Prof. Amar offers an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand America’s Constitution and its relevance today...

Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. He is the author of several books, including America’s Unwritten Constitution, and the winner of awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society....

Please register here....

Photo of Prof. Amar by Howard Shapiro.