This course introduces students to the major intellectual trends that have shaped both theory and practice in American law since the early twentieth century up until the present. The schools of thought covered include classical legal thought, legal realism, Hart & Fuller, legal process theory, critical legal theory, critical race theory, feminist legal theory, intersectionality theory, law and economics, originalism and its critics, performativity theories of identity, post-secularist and anti-liberal theories of religion and law. Along the way, we will prise apart different versions of liberalism and different versions of conservatism, while bringing to the surface radical traditions on both the left and the right, which take aim at legal liberalism.
