Thomas M. Keck
Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics
Department of Political Science
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University
Professor Keck's teaching examines law and politics in the United States from a variety of angles. Most years, he teaches a two-semester sequence in constitutional law (PSC 324 and PSC 325). These courses examine the major constitutional conflicts that have shaped American political development from the framing of the Constitution in 1787 up through the most recent decisions of the Roberts Court. He explores similar ground at the graduate level in a seminar on American constitutional development (PSC 711), which is generally offered every other Spring.
In addition, Professor Keck regularly teaches an undergraduate course on the Supreme Court (PSC 316) that features a semester-long simulation assignment, in which each student is assigned to play a justice or a lawyer, and the simulated Court hears and then decides several cases drawn from the real Court's current docket. He also teaches a course on sexuality and the law (PSC/QSX 384), cross-listed with the LGBT Studies Program, that examines the legal rights of LGBT persons in the United States from the 1950s to the present.
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