American Jurisprudence: Ten Lectures & Analysis by Tanmoy Bhattacharyya

10 Lectures on American Jurisprudence

American Jurisprudence refers to the philosophy, theory, and study of law in the United States. This series of ten lectures by Tanmoy Bhattacharyya provides a comprehensive exploration of its foundational principles, historical evolution, and contemporary applications.

Outlines

Lecture 1: Introduction to American Law and Its Sources

• The three primary sources of law in the United States
  1. Constitutions (federal and state)
  2. Statutes (federal Congress, state legislatures, local ordinances)
  3. Common law (judge-made law, stare decisis)
• Secondary sources: Restatements, treatises, law reviews
• The dual court system: federal vs. state courts
• Civil law vs. criminal law; substantive vs. procedural law
• The role of precedent and the doctrine of stare decisis (horizontal vs. vertical stare decisis)

Lecture 2: The U.S. Constitution and Constitutional Interpretation

• Structure of the Constitution (1787) and the Bill of Rights (1791)
• Separation of powers and checks and balances
• Federalism: enumerated powers, 10th Amendment, dormant Commerce Clause, preemption
• Major methods of constitutional interpretation
  • Originalism / Original Meaning (Scalia, Thomas, Barrett)
  • Living Constitution / Evolutive interpretation (Brennan, Breyer)
  • Textualism vs. purposivism
• Landmark cases: Marbury v. Madison (1803) – judicial review; McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) – implied powers; Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – Commerce Clause

Lecture 3: The Common Law Tradition in America

• Reception of English common law after independence
• Swift v. Tyson (1842) → Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins (1938): the end of federal general common law
• How judges “make” law in a common-law system
• The role of the Restatements (Contracts, Torts, Property, etc.)
• Decline of common law in certain fields (UCC, uniform acts, statutes displacing common law)

Lecture 4: American Legal Realism and Its Legacy

• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience”)
• Jerome Frank, Karl Llewellyn, and the attack on formalism
• The “indeterminacy thesis” and the prediction theory of law
• Influence on later movements: Critical Legal Studies (CLS), Law and Economics, Empirical Legal Studies
• Realism’s lasting impact on judicial behavior studies and legal education

Lecture 5: The Rise of Statutory and Administrative Law

• 20th-century shift from common law to statutory/regulatory state
• The New Deal and the explosion of administrative agencies
• Chevron deference (1984) → Kisor (2019) → Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024): the end of Chevron
• Major Questions Doctrine and non-delegation revival (West Virginia v. EPA, 2022)
• The Administrative Procedure Act (1946) and judicial review of agency action

Lecture 6: Rights Revolution and Substantive Due Process

• Lochner era (1897–1937) – economic substantive due process
• Carolene Products footnote 4 (1938) and the “discrete and insular minorities” justification for heightened scrutiny
• Warren Court (1953–1969): incorporation of the Bill of Rights, Griswold (1965) → Roe v. Wade (1973) → Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) → Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (2022)
• The ongoing debate over unenumerated rights and the Glucksberg test

Lecture 7: Equal Protection and the Civil Rights Era

• From Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) “separate but equal” → Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Levels of scrutiny: rational basis, intermediate, strict
• Evolution of race jurisprudence: from affirmative action (Regents of Univ. of Calif. v. Bakke → Grutter → Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023))
• Gender: Reed → Craig → intermediate scrutiny; United States v. Virginia (1996)
• Sexual orientation: Romer → Lawrence → Obergefell → Bostock (2020)

Lecture 8: First Amendment: Speech, Religion, and Association

• Free Speech: Schenck (1919) “clear and present danger” → Brandenburg (1969) incitement test
• Content vs. viewpoint discrimination; time/place/manner restrictions
• Compelled speech (West Virginia v. Barnette, Janus) and corporate speech (Citizens United, Masterpiece Cakeshop)
• Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses
  • Lemon test → American Legion (2019) → Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022) – shift toward “history and tradition”

Lecture 9: Law and Economics and Conservative Legal Movements

• Chicago School: Richard Posner, Guido Calabresi, cost-benefit analysis in tort and contract
• Originalism and textualism resurgence (1980s–present): Federalist Society, Scalia, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh
• Libertarian jurisprudence: substantive due process for economic liberty (post-Dobbs revival attempts)
• Critique of the administrative state (Gundy dissent, West Virginia v. EPA)

Lecture 10: Contemporary Debates and the Future of American Jurisprudence

• The Roberts Court (2005–present): incrementalism, statutory interpretation, and the return of textualism
• Major current fault lines
  • Judicial legitimacy and public perception after Dobbs, Bruen, and the 2020-term shadow docket controversies
  • Nationwide injunctions and the scope of equitable relief
  • The future of the administrative state post-Chevron
  • Originalism vs. common-good constitutionalism (Adrian Vermeule) vs. progressive originalism (Jack Balkin)
• Whether American law is moving toward greater formalism or renewed pragmatism

Suggested Core Readings

1. The Federalist Papers Nos. 10, 51, 78
2. Holmes – The Common Law (1881) & “The Path of the Law” (1897)
3. Hart & Sacks – The Legal Process (1958 manuscript)
4. Llewellyn – The Bramble Bush
5. Dworkin – “The Model of Rules I” (Taking Rights Seriously)
6. Posner – Economic Analysis of Law (excerpts)
7. Scalia – “Common-Law Courts in a Civil-Law System”
8. Bickel – The Least Dangerous Branch (counter-majoritarian difficulty)
9. John Hart Ely – Democracy and Distrust
10. Vermeule – Common Good Constitutionalism (2022) – for the newest debate

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