I am taking the course on federal courts this semester. Often professors have reputations that precede them. Fed courts is one of the few courses with its own reputation: for being obtuse, difficult, tedious, impenetrable, etc. This seemingly stretches across schools. Nobody likes fed courts.

I don't dislike fed courts – it doesn't meet Thursdays, and the class time passes reasonably swiftly – I just have no idea what it's about. A law course usually has at its core, you know, some topic of law.

Whereas fed courts takes all these fiddly, annoying bits of con law, civil procedure and criminal procedure, sticks them together and calls it a 4-credit course. A local diner I frequent has a dish called the Big Mess where they take all the overcooked stuff that's been sitting on the griddle, throw it into a bowl and you eat it. That's fed courts.

Worse still, if you dislike reading supreme court opinions (I do – they're boring) this course treats you to some of the most confusing, tangled opinions ever written.

Also, though it's called "federal courts", it's just as much about state courts and how the two systems interact. So really, it should be called "Courts". If that sounds like a less-than-concise topic for 14 weeks of classes, you're right.

04 Apr 06