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Constitutional Justice

Objectives

 



This course will explore whether modern clashes over civil rights and human rights may be resolved in ways that affirm the interests of all persons. Modern society has become increasingly fractured.  Lawmakers, policymakers, and the public encounter “culture war clashes” framed as zero-sum, either-or propositions. In this winner-takes-all mentality, the rights of some are pitted against the rights of others. Values that we share—such as mutual respect, justice, and dignity—are often lost in the discussion or resulting resolution.



 


General characterization

Code

33146

Credits

Available soon

Responsible teacher

Nausica Palazzo,Robin Fretwell Wilson (Fulbright)

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 0

Teaching language

Available soon

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Available soon

Teaching method

Class Structure. We meet from 3:00-6:00 pm Lisbon time at NOVA and 9:00-12:00 CT at COL (but please note the schedule will change for NOVA for Daylight Savings time on October 27th, 2024)




  • Generally, we will plan on a fifteen-minute break from 4:15 to 4:30 PM Lisbon time (10:15-10:30 AM CT).

  • Generally, group presentations from NOVA students of Portuguese or EU law will happen from 4:30-5:00 PM Lisbon time/10:30-11:00 AM CT.

  • Generally, guest lecturers on ZOOM will join us at 5:00 pm Lisbon time/11:00 CT.


Evaluation method

Option no 1: Continuous Assessment (CA)



 




  1. Students will be involved in the production of a research outputs and particularly in the drafting a report on Portuguese law or another jurisdiction to be identified in conjunction with the professor on one of the substantive areas covered in the course, up to 15% points (3/20). The report is produced by a small group of students (5-6 students) and each student within the group will obtain the same grade.

  2. 65% of your grade (13/20) will come from a three-hour assessment question, with the assessment taking place on the last day of class.



The Assessment Question will ask you to react to a short prompt we will provide, along with “canned materials” that give context or facts. The exam will be a space-limited (specified number of words) and time-limited, open book assessment.




  1. Student active participation will make up 20% the final grade (4/20). Participation points will be awarded at the discretion of Professors Wilson and Palazzo. A tentative allocation of participation points will be communicated at the end of October, giving students an opportunity to improve their participation if needed.



 



Option no. 2: Final exam



 



Three-hour exam: written essay up to two and a half pages. The final exam covers the whole list of material included in the reference list, that is all the material uploaded on Moodle (except for the folder “additional material”).



The final exam lasts three hours and will contain a question that allows the student to connect the material studied. The essay must be written in English. The exam is not open book, and the study material cannot be consulted during the exam.


Subject matter

 



This course will explore the relative competence of courts, legislatures and international bodies to find common ground between affected communities.  In particular, we will examine whether civil rights and human rights are like puzzle pieces that can be fitted together by legislators after promoting meaningful dialogue between affected communities - an approach known as civil rights complementarity. Human rights complementarity questions whether creative, “both/and” solutions can be found, at least with regard to some modern culture war confrontations.



This course will cover a range of culture war conflicts: from same-sex marriage to a path to inclusion for transgender athletes and access to abortion. In each controversy, the aim will be to articulate the conflicting interests and analyze whether there is an approach that respects all the interests at stake as much as possible - or reduces the friction points and trade-offs to as few as possible.