POLS W3930

(1) 7 Page Paper and 75 pages of reading per week

The readings were Supreme Court cases, but he crossed out the passages that weren't essential to make things easier for us. Yes the reading would take awhile since it was quite dense (being Supreme Court caes) and lengthy, but the issues covered were interesting enough that it didn't matter since if you were interested in the topic, you'd do the readings throughly. Very short midterm that I don't think factored into the final grade and a 25-30 page final paper that was manageable if you planned ahead and used the Professor as a resource.

Professor Topkis is a professor at the law school who teaches an undergraduate 2 point class. The class is someone disorganized, but it is a lot of fun. He provides you all of the readings and leads discussion of key cases in American history, from civil rights to privacy laws to the commerce clause. The class is basically a 2 hour discussion of 2 or 3 cases, which is quite fun. The class also went to Washington DC to hear oral argument before the Supreme Court and we met with Justice Ginsburg, his friend, afterwards. It is not a time consuming class and worth the time if you can get in.

One of my favorite classes at Columbia. Professor Rosdeitcher truly cares about his students and despite his busy schedule, scheduled trips to the Supreme Court to meet Justice Ginsburg and to his law firm to meet one of the lawyers arguing the DOMA case before the Supreme Court next year. He was very willing to help us out with our papers and point us towards the right direction. The seminar started out being discussion based but the Professor soon realized that most of us had no idea what we were talking about even though most people did the readings. It soon became mainly him lecturing, which was probably better overall since Professor Rosdeitcher is very intelligent, knowledgable, and eloquent, although he does have the tendency to ramble at times (because he gets very excited about certain topics). Yes it would have been better at times if we could have more discussion about our perspectives and opinions on a case, but it probably would have been pretty hard considering our limited knowledge.

I had a lot of fun in this class. You basically just show up once a week and talk about Supreme Court cases for two hours. If you don't mind talking, and are interested in the Supreme Court, you'll probably have a good experience. It's only two points, and it's really not that hard a class. Topkis himself is a sweet old man. He was also a partner at Paul, Weiss for 40 years, a bigwig in the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, etc etc. (Watch for when he starts namechecking his friend Ruth, as in Bader Ginsburg). He knows his stuff, and knows it cold. Me, I'd say the class is worth taking just to hear some of his stories (the one about the creationism case he argued before the Supreme Court comes to mind); and if that doesn't do it, the trip to hear a day of oral argument at the Supreme Court certainly should. Yeah, it's only two points. But, seniors especially, if you're looking for just that little bit more to fill out your schedule, definitely consider taking this class.

Reading is about average for a seminar. One 25-30 page paper at the end. We also did a 2-page writing assignment in the middle of the semester, but he didn't seem to be factoring that into the final grade.

Professor Rosdeitcher's Constitutional Law seminar was my favorite class I have taken at Columbia. First of all, you should take this class for the field trips alone. In October, we went to the Supreme Court. We listened to three cases being argued, then afterwards we got to meet Justice Ginsburg and ask her questions. At the end of the semester, we went to Professor Rosdeitcher's law firm for a presentation by a lawyer arguing one of the cases on same-sex marriage. Aside from the field trips, the class was great, too. The cases are really interesting, and cover a broad range of topics. Professor Rosdeitcher kept the class current with cases that are making their way up to the Supreme Court right now (health care and same-sex marriage.) He is very mellow and understanding. He has also had an amazing career, and has argued a lot of cases before the Supreme Court, so there is no doubt that he is an expert. Definitely take this seminar if you get the chance.