Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Required texts
Course Rules
Unless a change has been formalized, class will meet in Room 302 on:
Tuesdays from 10:55 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. and Thursdays from 10:55 a.m. to
12:55 p.m. We will always have a 5-10 minute break in the middle of any two-
hour class.
Oh, and one more thing: there are no assigned seats, but I will ask that
you sit in the same seat starting in third class, when I will pass around a
seating chart.
1This is a “Required Text,” notwithstanding the fact that it is called a supplement. I expect
you to read the material in it with as much care as all of the material in the Casebook.
• You will be allotted FIVE absences per semester. I do not care if your
alarm failed to go off or if you have to go to Burning Man. FIVE.
• If you are going to miss class, you are required to send me an email to
my Maryland address, time-stamped and before class starts, letting
me know that you will be absent, and why. The email subject should
say “CLASS ABSENCE” so that I can put a filter on it.
• If you fail to send me an email before class starts, then I will
decrement TWO of your FIVE available absences.
• If you exceed your five allotted absences, I reserve the right to lower
your grade one level (e.g. from an A- to a B+). This will not happen in
all situations, but exceeding the FIVE-absence threshold triggers my
discretion.
• I am not insane. I reserve the right to exercise discretion over any and
all elements of this policy. That discretion will almost always inure to
the benefit of students.
• If I call on you in class and you are not prepared, on the first occasion
you may take a free “pass.” On each subsequent occasion, I will
decrement one of your FIVE allotted absences.
I will “cold-call” on people to help me show the rest of the class how to
think its way through a problem. In that respect, class will be similar to what
you have seen in the movies. You should conceive of your role that way when
you answer questions. You are expected to be familiar with the material (see
Class Preparation Policy, supra), but I will never use the cold-calling process
to embarrass or humiliate someone. In that respect, class will be unlike what
you have seen in the movies. I expect each of you to treat your colleagues
with that same respect. Be forewarned, I am terrible with names.
Please do ask the “what does that word mean” questions. Legal writing
is jargon and it is sometimes pompous jargon (see, e.g., my “see, e.g.’s”). I
guarantee that, if you raise your hand and ask what some word means, then
there will be 20 other students in the room that are grateful that you did so.
VI. Blackboard
I will hold office hours every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 p.m. (I might
step out for a couple minutes to grab lunch.) You can also call me any time at
434.466.8257, which is my cell phone. You can also email me any time at
lkovarsky@law.umaryland.edu. I am more than happy to schedule any other
time for face-to-face discussion. Having said all of that, my preferred meeting
protocol is over SKYPE or some other video-conferencing platform. This
allows me to schedule meetings a little later in the day, which is often easier
on everyone’s schedule.
I have one request. Please read the material that you are asking about.
Do not ask me administrative questions that you could have figured out by
looking at the Syllabus, infra, or by reading the material specified therein. Of
course I make (many) administrative mistakes, so you will invariably have
administrative questions. I just ask that you do your due diligence in
preparation for our conversation.
A good rule of thumb for emails is that you should email me questions
as long as they would be questions that you would feel like you might show
up to my office hours to ask. So, if this were Civil Procedure, “I don’t
understand why the change from Tyson to Erie is so significant” is a great
question. “What is the reading for tomorrow again” is not.
SYLLABUS
* Please note that I will update this syllabus periodically, so that I do not have to predict
where we will be, two months into the future. Check the date stamp on the bottom to make
sure that you have the most recent version. I will alert you in class and over email when I
post a new version.
Sovereign and
Official Immunity
Basics of Sovereign 3/13 (1 1027-39 (incl. Ex parte Young;
Immunity and hour) through note 2); 1042-43
Officer-Suit Fiction
Limitations on 3/15 (2 1043-53 (incl. Edelman v. SUPPLEMENT 161-167
Officer Suit Fiction hours) Jordan); 1054-55 (note 2); 1058- (Note 1A and Notes on
59 (note 7); 1060-62 (note 2) Federal Sovereign
Immunity)
Consent and
Abrogation
Abrogating 3/15 (2 1062-66 (only notes 1, 3, 7); 1066-
Authority by hours) 91 (incl. Seminole Tribe of
Reference to Florida v. Florida; through
trailing note 2); 1097-99 (note 1)
Constitutional
Provision I
Abrogating 3/27 (1 SUPPLEMENT 167-78
Authority by hour) (Inc. Armstrong v.
Reference to Exceptional Child Center
and trailing notes)
Constitutional
Provision II
Abrogation under 3/29 (2 1097-1112 (incl. Coleman v. Court
§ 5 of the hours) of Appeals of Maryland)
Fourteenth
Amendment
18 U.S.C. § 1983
“Under color of 3/29 (2 1139-52 (incl. Monroe v. Pape)
law” hours)
Official 3/29 (2 1158-69 (incl. Scheuer v. Rhodes;
immunities— hours) through note 5); 1172 (note 7);
Geenrally 1210-11 (note 1); 1213-15 (note 4)
Qualified 4/3 (1 1176-82 (incl. Brosseau v. SUPPLEMENT 179-80
Immunity—clearly hour) Haugen); 1184-85 (note 2) Notes 3 and 4
established law
Inter-System
Preclusion and
Abstention
Statutory and
Common Law
Abstention Doctrines
Introduction 729-31