Critical Evidence (Harris)
Faculty
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| Jasmine E. Harris Professor of Law jashar@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Expository Writing
Grading
30% Participation,
70% Paper,
Other (Please see syllabus for additional details.)
With Permission of Instructor
Please reach out directly to request permission.
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
Meeting Times/Location
M 2:00PM - 4:00PM
Tanenbaum Hall 253
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
The study of evidence targets conceptions and methods of proof of factual claims in American law. Evidence law espouses a set of neutral rules and principles applied by rational, neutral arbiters. Law and economics scholars have taken a similarly acontextual approach, asking whether the Federal Rules of Evidence correctly allocates the risk of error to the correct party. And evidence scholars seeking to improve rules on expert testimony or hearsay, for example, have often started their analyses from the premise of a rational system of rules designed around the search for truth.
This course will expose what the traditional orientation towards evidence law misses. The rules are neither trans-substantive or neutral in design or deployment.
A budding area of legal scholarship, Critical Evidence Law, deploys critical legal theories from critical race, feminism, queer theory, disability studies, and political economy to surface core assumptions and values that shape the legal rules, doctrine, and practice of evidence law. These theories offer epistemic opportunities to reimagine the regulation of proof and, ultimately, address existing inequities in institutional designs and outcomes.
What is a critical approach to evidence? A critical approach shows that evidence law is fundamentally about power. It sets the boundaries for whose voices will be heard in court and what types of knowledge will be cognizable in courts of law in this country. We will explore core areas of evidence law such as relevance, admissions, expertise, confrontation, and hearsay, among others.
Accordingly, the course will foreground scholarship that contemplates the ways that the system of proof is systematically failing certain groups, in particular people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people and others who are socially marginalized and sit at the intersections of these marginalized identities.
The structure of this seminar is unique in that it is part of a cross-institutional effort to explore these questions. Students at the University of Connecticut School of Law led by Professor Julia Simon-Kerr will also be taking the same seminar with the same content though taught by Professor Simon-Kerr. We will come together for certain classes to welcome evidence scholars and workshop their papers related to the unifying theme of critical theory and evidence. In-person attendance required and part of your grade. The design of the course depends on students' presence and active participation.
Students must have taken Evidence or plan to take it concurrently to enroll in this course.
Constitutional Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of constitutional law; Perform legal analysis in the context of constitutional law; Communicate effectively on topics related to constitutional law; Demonstrate an understanding of constitutional law affects other areas of law.
Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.
Criminal Law and Procedure Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of criminal law and procedure; Perform legal analysis in the context of criminal law and procedure; Communicate effectively on topics related to criminal law and procedure; Demonstrate an understanding of the role criminal law and procedure play in society and their impact on other areas of law and society.
Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Administrative and Regulatory Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of administrative and regulatory law and the administrative process, including the role of statutory authorization and work of administrative agencies; Perform legal analysis in the context of administrative and regulatory law; Communicate effectively on topics related to administrative and regulatory law; Demonstrate an understanding of the role administrative and regulatory law play in our legal system and in society as a whole.
Equity and Inclusion Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Perform legal analysis in the context of topics related to equity and inclusion; Communicate effectively on the legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Demonstrate an understanding of how equity and inclusion are connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.