Legal Literacy: What Public Service Leaders Need to Know About the American Legal System

Policymaking in the United States often raises important legal issues. This course is primarily designed to help public service students understand the kinds of legal issues that can be raised in the context of policymaking as well as the key elements of the U.S. legal system through which these issues are often litigated.

The first part of the course examines the overall legal framework governing how federal, state, and local regulatory agencies make valid public policy, whether it’s the safe drinking water rules issued by the federal EPA or the outdoor dining shed rules issued by the local NYC Department of Transportation. If there is no legal authorization for a policy, or if the policy would be inconsistent with existing law, or if it was enacted in a procedurally defective way, it is not valid and cannot be enforced – at least not without a change in the law. This part of the course covers topics that range from:

• the constitutional role of (and limits on) each branch of government in the policymaking process including the rise (and potential fall) of the “independent” regulatory agency
• the basics of statutory interpretation including the “default rules” that determine the balance of power between agencies and the courts in interpreting regulatory statutes
• the substantive and procedural legal requirements for valid agency policymaking (comparing/contrasting to the requirements for legislative policymaking)
• the legal rules around overlapping and sometimes conflicting federal, state and local regulatory regimes

The second part of the course promotes legal literacy more broadly by examining a range of important policy areas where the law and the U.S. legal system play a central role. These areas include:

• individual constitutional rights (under the federal constitution and state constitutions)
• private “tort” and “class action” lawsuits, which play a significant role in the regulation of harmful activities (alongside government agencies)
• the law of corporations and non-profit organizations
• the law of contracts
• social media and AI regulation
• campaign finance regulation