Constitutional Resolution and Civil Rights

This seminar is based on a very simple assumption: Human beings are "hard wired" to distort information in the process of assimilating it. Thus, for example, it is "natural" for negotiators to act “irrationally,” for clients to make decisions "against interest", and for lawyers to fail to accurately assess benefits and risks of litigation. Learning a bit about the cognitive science of decision-making will help make you a better interviewer and counselor, allow you to be more successful in negotiation and other ADR processes, and increase your ability to persuade judges and other decision-makers about the "right" course of action. Moreover, an exploration of cognitive science may assist you in making sense of our "post-truth" world. Outright denial of objective fact—from climate change to voter suppression to pandemic risk and vaccine safety—has become a new normal. Why do so many people appear to respond to complexity with the easy shrug and slide from "it’s hard to know" to "it’s unknowable?" The law you have studied, flawed as it is, provides unrivaled tools for dealing with complexity: burdens of production and shifting burdens of proof, rigorous testing of evidence, procedures to qualify experts to name a few. We need these tools more than ever. And lawyers wielding them are incredibly important participants in a civil society dedicated to justice. But those tools are even more powerful in the hands of advocates who understand how psychology influences decision-making. The seminar will be highly interactive. Students should expect to lead discussions, present topics, engage in simulations and role-plays, and write a substantive research paper. This course qualifies as a Long Paper offering.