LPPP 3559

Constitutional Law is an oddly structured course that wouldn't work without the congeniality of the professor. The lecture hall of 150 or so students is asked to recite case facts and holdings every class (that they are expected to have briefed by hand the night before) in a crash-course style syllabus that puts up subjects in just about every possible area of civil rights or constitutional law. Prof. Moore would change assignments and exam structures frequently, much to the chagrin of her TAs and the class. And sometimes, she would ask us to 'debate' each case as if we were the Justices - once again, passing around microphones for 30-second quips in a giant lecture hall. The format was a breeding ground for misunderstanding. And God help you if you aren't a Democrat - Prof. Moore is open about her biases and frequently made fun of conservative Justices' opinions and demeanor. As someone who mostly agrees with her, I still wonder how the room's Republicans felt...

Spring 2025. Liked this class, didn't love it. Professor Moore doesn't teach from the blackboard like she does in Com Law, which is really where she's at her best. She did powerpoints but mostly just talking over the cases like you would go over readings in a small politics seminar. I learned some things from lecture, but 95% of what I learned was from reading the cases. And holy hell the case briefs take so long, some weeks it would be like 7 hours of briefing. Not complaining, but it was just a lot at some times. I'm sure you could cut corners but I actually read the 40 pages (in Word which means its a lot more than like a novel) for each lecture and did about a half page brief (required).

The TAs were mostly useless, i think most of them didn't take the class but were just her goons from Com Law. They were super nice but they were not effective in office hours, which really sucks because Professor Moore wouldn't respond to my emails or my friends'.

I ended up with the grade I wanted, but the exams were not fair. Specifically, she said wouldn't ask specifics about this long list of 4th amendment cases. Show up to the midterm, there's like 5 questions on them. Before the final, she says again they won't be on there, but again there were like 5 questions on it.

You should take this class if you're interested in Con Law. Otherwise, you might crash out.