Law & Courts Preliminary Exam Field
The field of law and courts encompasses scholarship and research in constitutional law and constitutional theory, judicial process and behavior, law and society, jurisprudence and legal theory, and comparative studies of law and courts.
Graduate students working in the law and courts field are trained in the intellectual history of the field as well as the primary research questions driving the field today.
The faculty emphasizes problem-driven theoretical approaches, empirical rigor, and methodological diversity in researching law and courts. In particular, students are trained to examine the connections between judicial decisions and broader, macro-level political developments, and to consider the connections between empirical analyses of courts and normative theory.
The department has 3 faculty members whose core research and teaching is in the law and courts field (Cornell Clayton and Mitch Pickerill in Pullman, and Carolyn Long on the Vancouver campus). Additionally, students often combine the study of law and courts with other fields in which the department has strengths, such as public policy, and those interested in courts and criminal justice can take advantage of the Criminal Justice Program, which is housed within the Department of Political Science.
Requirements
While students should consult with the law and courts faculty regarding appropriate coursework to test in the field, it is expected that students will have completed upper-division undergraduate courses in the judicial process, constitutional law, civil liberties, administrative law, and legal theory.
In addition to the core graduate seminars, students will generally be expected to take, at a minimum, Pol S 516: Seminar in Law and Courts and Pol S 512: Seminar in American Institutions.
Law & Courts Faculty
Dr. Cornell Clayton
Professor of Political Science
- Institutions of American government, focusing on the judicial system and the Supreme Court
Dr. Mitch Pickerill
Associate Professor of Political Science
- American national institutions, focusing on the judicial system and the Supreme Court
Dr. Carolyn Long
Associate Professor of Political Science
- Judicial and legislative institutions of American government
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