Teaching Constitutional Law in a Crisis of Judicial Legitimacy

Abstract

Recent developments in the Supreme Court have prompted many professors to ask: How can we teach constitutional law in such a crisis of judicial legitimacy? How can we still teach students that courts are a place to seek justice?

These sentiments reflect a real challenge for teaching constitutional law today, and I offer several suggestions for teaching law in light of the current Supreme Court.

But I also fear that these sentiments demonstrate a lack of perspective. The real crisis in teaching constitutional law today is not in the Supreme Court, but in legal academia: the question is whether we can maintain the perspective necessary to teach effectively about the Court and the Constitution.

Keywords: constitution, supreme court, constitutional law, teaching, pedagogy, law teaching, judicial legitimacy, judicial crisis, Revolt of the Public, Learning in Wartime