Prerequisites: None. No prior knowledge of constitutional law is required. Students with constitutional law background will gain fresh perspectives through this approach to contested constitutional spaces.

Exam Type: One-Day Take Home

Legal systems do not operate in isolation; they are shaped by power struggles, historical legacies, and transnational influences. Within these complex interactions, legal principles and human rights meanings become sites of contestation rather than fixed realities. This course examines constitutionalism in contested spaces, domains where the meaning, scope, and application of legal principles are actively challenged, negotiated, and transformed.

These contested spaces are particularly visible in the Global South, which we approach as a relational category rather than a fixed geographical designation. Through the examination of case law and other materials from Latin America, Africa and beyond—alongside decisions from Global North courts that shape or constrain realities in the Global South—we will trace how constitutionalism operates in a world of legal asymmetries and interdependencies, revealing patterns of influence that cross traditional boundaries.

To navigate these complex legal landscapes, the course cultivates legal imagination by integrating Critical Legal Studies (CLS), Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), and comparative constitutionalism. This theoretical foundation allows us to juxtapose thematic rulings from different jurisdictions and examine adjudication across various interconnected domains that exemplify constitutional contestation:

• Violence, Power, and Institutional Breakdown: We will examine cartel violence, attacks on journalists, and environmental conflicts as threats to state sovereignty and institutional stability. Cross-border issues, including arms trade and law enforcement challenges related to drug trafficking between Mexico and the U.S., illustrate how violence destabilizes constitutional commitments and reshapes legal institutions, challenging traditional conceptions of sovereignty.
• Migration and Borders: In examining forced migration, we’ll explore how legal status, territorial belonging, and constitutional protection become contested when human bodies cross borders, creating legal paradoxes that constitutional systems struggle to resolve.
• Social Movements and Rights: Constitutional meaning evolves through social struggle, visible in comparative analysis of Latin America’s “green tide” reproductive rights movement alongside the Dobbs decision, diverse approaches to LGBTQ+ marriage equality across jurisdictions, indigenous sovereignty claims that challenge state-centric legal paradigms, and environmental justice advocacy that reimagines legal standing. These movements transform contested interpretative spaces into sites of constitutional evolution.
• Corporate Power and Human Rights: Legal battles over extractivism, environmental justice, and transnational corporate liability demonstrate the tensions between fundamental rights particularly in resource-rich yet institutionally vulnerable regions.

Throughout our exploration of these domains, we will assess how constitutionalism both challenges and reinforces global inequalities. In essence, this course is built upon the premise that the space between the ideal and the reality of constitutional promises is where human rights are truly forged—a space that demands both critical analysis and bold legal imagination to navigate effectively.